Grace Dieu 138-8 dec. (30 overs) Alex W 3/27 S.Anselm’s 116-6 (25 overs) Ollie R 27*
I took a little too long to lock up the pavilion ... I missed my chance to see Gundry (Grace Dieu) paying up. Was the agreement £5 per dropped catch (?!). After a number of matches where we’ve taken every chance that has come our way, our fielding let us down today, big time, and, remarkably, it was Gundry who benefited every time. He was dropped at square leg when on just one run, behind the stumps on 2, was missed a simple run out when on 2, at cover on 9, another simple run out on 21 and at cover (again) on 27 before finally Ollie R caught him at silly mid on for 29. Gundry was 29-7 on his own!
The mistakes cost us the game as it allowed Grace Dieu to recover from the perils of 45-4 (with all their ‘big guns’ back in the pavilion) to the comfort of 90-4, 122-6, and 138-8 declared and from then on, unless we batted remarkably well, a draw was the best we could hope for. They had some very talented cricketers: Livesey has scored a 96 this season and is a mature batsman. I was delighted when Isaac S, our best fielder today, caught him well at mid wicket. Fieldhouse was aggression, confidence and arrogance and played some mouthwatering shots. Unfortunately Elliot T couldn’t find his rhythm but Alex W produced two splendid deliveries to cut through the Grace Dieu top order and when Fieldhouse charged at Edward S to be bowled, we were well on top ... whereupon the dropped catches took over. It was as inexplicable as it was disappointing. What wasn’t disappointing, however, was Edward S’s quite marvellous spell of off spin. His bowling figures may only look adequate, but the flight, loop, spin (at times considerable – a Calcutta dust bowl?! I’ve never seen the pitch so dry, the outfield so parched) were there for all to see. Ever so well done! Unfortunately the 30 minute partnership between Gundry and Harlow followed by Lee’s resistance ... I’m sure this will be his highest score of the season, he didn’t offer a lot, gave Grace Dieu a very competitive score. Bertie W bowled his best spell for the school too, Ollie R was only hit for singles in an accurate spell and Jonah G had his moments, but after those dropped catches and missed run out opportunities we were always going to be struggling to bowl them out.
We did our best to score 139 runs in 25 overs to win the match and Theo H and Matthew N produced a(nother) superb opening partnership of 47 runs at four runs an over. Some thought you might have scored a little more quickly ... when our middle order had to face Fieldhouse (in his second spell) he returned figures of 2-1-1-3, when Matthew N and Theo H faced his opening burst it was 3-0-11-0 for him ... I need not say any more. You were both excellent. Ollie R was correctly promoted to number 3 and scored 17 runs from his first 11 balls to keep the score moving forwards and when Edward S hit three of his first five balls faced for four the victory charge was very definitely on. Unfortunately the returning Fieldhouse had other ideas as Edward was too impatient and, having swung and missed at a couple, lopped up a simple catch. All you needed to do was to nudge a single and get down to the other end. Unfortunately when Isaac S was bowled pulling across the line, an ugly shot, and Lewis H pushed timedly forward, S.Anselm’s had slumped to 83-5 with seven overs remaining. A disappointing middle order collapse. 56 runs to win was now out of the question, but could Grace Dieu force the win instead? Bertie W showed some panache and put to good use what he learnt against the bowling machine yesterday before giving a simple catch whereupon Andrew C joined Ollie R to see S.Anselm’s through to the close with some confidence. A win was always out of the question at this stage, but our confident finish impressed. The dropped catches cost us dear. We need to focus on Friday now ...!
Posted on
Wed, June 30, 2010
by MAC