Team: Callum Bishop, Adam Fitzgerald, Joe Peppiatt, Jordan Jacobs, James Buckley (capt.), Callum Bond, Alec Bateman, Joe Barnett (w/k), David Watts, Harry Donoghue, Jess Walker, Ben Hart.
A re-arranged League game away at Wickford where we lost heavily in the pre-season friendly. Our team was quite different from last week’s – only one A team regular and an under 11. By a combination of incompetence and luck 12 players turned up with one needing to be away by 11 to go to a pre-booked show.
My captain for the day was going to be Jordan (his second go) but his Dad got lost. Jamie B was given no notice and asked to step up. Which he did valiantly.
We lost the toss and were put into bat. Joe Barnett and David opened the batting. Joe was looking for quick singles and unfortunately David was run out in the first over for 1. Harry batted number 3 and put on a good partnership with Joe. They scored 44 before Joe’s wicket fell with him on 16.
Callum Bond was next up having come back from holiday the night before. After 6 big swishes he was caught and bowled for 0. Harry also departed for 16.
Joe P and Alec were another good partnership with some good diving by Joe P on the quick singles. They put on 30 runs before Joe departed for 9 with three overs to go.
Jess had agreed to play on Saturday morning even though an under 11. He came out to face the bowling of one of Wickford’s regular A team players – a tall lad for his age as well. Jess played well, supported Alec and also got off the mark himself. Terrific stuff for someone playing an age group ahead.
After 20 overs we had scored a competitive 92 for 5. Those two partnerships were really crucial.
In the second half Callum Bishop and Adam opened the bowling and kept things very tight. Adam bowled a maiden whilst Callum picked up a wicket.
4 overs, 8 for 1. 85 needed to win.
The next pair were Joe and Jordan. Both bowled well with Joe picking up a wicket (of an A team regular). There was also a run out showing the advantage of fielding practice (always popular amongst the lads).
8 overs, 26 for 3. 67 needed to win.
James and Callum Bond were next up. James picked a wicket up in his first over quickly copied by Callum. Callum arguably should have got two since he bowled one lad with a ball that bounced twice. However I said ‘not out’ (even though we were playing on a full sized wicket) as the ball really shouldn’t bounce twice. [Note law 24-6 says that the ball should not bounce more than twice before reaching the popping crease].
As you may guess this turned out to be the best Wickford bat on the day who went on to retire having scored 25 runs. Hmm. In addition to depriving Callum of his second wicket I allowed a 7 ball over with a single being scored off the extra delivery.
12 over, 58 for 5. 35 needed to win.
During all this time Joe Barnett was standing up to every bowler and always looking for a stumping – at one point taking a catch and whipping the bails off just in case. Very impressive.
Alec and Harry were the final pair of regular bowlers. They bowled well, Alec in particular giving away only 2 runs in his first two overs. As the pressure increased our fielding came under pressure and responded well. Another run out.
16 overs, 66 for 6, 27 needed to win.
The final 4 overs were shared around. James had decided to give everyone a bowl. An approach I support and agree with. Whether he should have left David and Ben to bowl in the final 4 overs I am less sure but both tried their best. Callum Bishop had another over and things were getting tight. With one over to go Wickford needed 4 runs to win and had 4 wickets in hand.
Alec bowled the last over and picked up a wicket with his second ball. There was then the third run out of the day and with 3 balls remaining Wickford still needed 4 to win.
Two singles left everything on the final delivery and all results possible.
The Wickford bat connected with the ball, ran two but whilst going for the third there was a run out.
End of game, but what was the result?
I thought we had lost by 1 run but the scorers were being very quiet and studious. On checking back the total bowling figures and extras came to 93 (a Wickford win) whilst the total batting figures came to 91 (a Rayleigh win).
That 7 ball over and the incident of the ball that might have bounced thrice were coming back to haunt me. However Mike, the Wickford manager, and I agreed a draw. Probably disappointing to Wickford but I think a fair result – both sides had played well, in good spirit.
Wickford 92 for 9
Match drawn.
Overall? A good game for the B team. We had one A team regular, who was the wicket keeper, and an under 11. Wickford had at least two A team regulars.
We batted, bowled and fielded well with encouragement within the team to each other at all times. We lost 5 wickets compared to 9 for Wickford and conceded 27 bowling extras compared to Wickford’s 36.
It was a really exciting game to watch that came down to the last ball and the run out at the end, even though the game might have been lost, actually meant we drew. And we got 4 run outs in the match – good work in the field.
Next week Rayleigh Fairview. If I can find a wicket to play on.