18th
June Hayes ECB
Cup
Don’t you just love the
feel good factor when you see certain names appear on team
sheets?
Radhi Nanalal is one that does it for me. Bless her – cutting
short a romantic weekend away with her husband (glad to see she’s got
her priorities right!), to answer the lure of the Cup. There’s
something about the more mature left arm spinner that makes them
invaluable – 10 overs for 13, with one over going for 11, as Hayes won
the toss and elected to bat. At the other end, Sarah Bartlett
was quickly into her wicket taking stride, picking up the first one in
her second over. The pair bowled with such discipline, that
Hayes, minus their Super 4’s players, were really struggling – scoring
at just under 2 an over. Things were looking good; as the
pressure mounted, so the wickets began to fall.
Leonie Shields was
thrown the ball, and looked more than useful, generating nice pace and
good swing, that had them playing and missing. She was unlucky
with a couple of edges that went to the boundary rather than to the
hand, but sometimes that the way it goes. Danni Warren
replaced her and was on the receiving end of some harsh treatment by
her own players. She could only stand and watch in frustration as
a shy at the stumps ricocheted off the bat and went for 4 (It was a
little worrying that the batsmen were actually contemplating going back
for a return run, until they realised it had gone to the
boundary). There’s nothing you can do about that – poor Emily
Jones, who was backing up could only shrug her shoulders, as the
deflection took the ball in completely the opposite direction.
Three balls later, another shy at the stumps, saw it bounce straight
past the keeper, and beat Debbie Stock, who was desperately
trying to make up the ground from mid wicket to backward square, to
back up. You guessed it – it went for 4. What made it more annoying, is
that the batsmen didn’t even run a single – the aggressive nature of
the fielding had been enough to send them back.
Laura Gardiner
was introduced and got some fantastic lift – I know Argyle Road is
helpful, but this girl really does get bounce. It wasn’t to be
her day, as somehow the batsmen managed to get gloves, thigh pads,
anything on the ball, and see it disappear behind. After a start
that promised so much for us, Hayes finished on 142, thanks to their
tail enders who came and ‘ swung the bat’ and some bowling and fielding
that was below the standards we’ve come to expect from ourselves this
season. Still, a very gettable target with 40 overs to bat.
Leonie and Sue
Donaldson started off well, but Hayes were prepared to sacrifice
players in front of the bat, for two behind. They had a deep
third man as well as a deep fine leg, on the boundary for the
entire 40 overs – anything the keeper missed, where as for them
it went for 4, for us, it was only a single. This was to prove
costly. Just when things looked to be under control, lapse’s of
concentration saw both the openers depart to the same ball – a nice
juicy looking full toss on leg stump, that just swung enough to miss
the bat but hit the stumps. Barts went out and together with Helena
‘H ‘Stolle the pair looked more than comfortable, but never really
managed to get the run rate down, just ticking along at 4 an over.
With 10 overs left, two
batsmen well and truly set, we had wickets in hand and 45 runs to get.
However, just when things were looking promising, disaster
struck. H departed, and a quick fall of wickets followed,
including Stockie, who, having played the shot of the day on her first
ball, then holed out with an ‘industrial’ shot to deep mid
wicket. Still, Barts was there in her 40’s and looking more than
steady. Keely Juster
walked out, to be given the advice that the left arm leg spinner was
moving the ball away from the right hander – not the most accurate of
reading from the left handed Barts, but well intended. With 34
needed from 7, it was looking like a good finish, until Barts
pre-empted her shot, having seen a huge gap on the boundary, and could
only watch in horror as the keeper took a fantastic catch to dismiss
her.
The field came in with 2
new batsmen on strike, and the opening bowlers came back. Their
line never strayed, and with the two back stops patrolling the
boundary, anything angled behind the stumps was only a single. A
direct throw saw Radhi Nanalal run out without troubling the
scoreboard.
One wicket remaining, 30 needed from 5, the field in and the bowling
tight. A couple of boundaries and some good running saw us
needing 15 from 3 – a well guided ball past third man was on it’s way
to the boundary, chased frantically by a fielder, who in her enthusiasm
to return it to the keeper as quickly as possible, forgot to indicate
that her foot was over the boundary line as she picked up the
ball. This was seen and signalled by both scorers and the rest of
the batting side, but to no avail – no boundary was given.