Match report :: Anza Div II vs Island CC, 25 Jul 2010

History was made on Sunday...and without a ball being bowled. Mark won the toss and took ANZA Div 2's coin toss season average above .500 for the first time in living memory. It was also the first fine afternoon for what seemed like weeks, so why not make the opposition sweat it out in the field. The Turf City outfield was still soggy and anything north of 200 would be challenging.

Richie & Corbon again led us off, and again Corbon was in a hurry. He let his intentions be known early by lofting his first ball down the ground and soon followed with a glorious flick off the legs that sailed over the Turf City grandstand. Both opening bowlers were copping some stick but got a measure of revenge when Corbs tried to swat a fuller one and was bowled for 22. Chris Walker came in at #3 and he and Richie took the total to 72 at the first drinks break. We were cruising along nicely at almost 6/over with only 1 wicket down. Richie was happy to turn the strike over and Chris was starting to find the boundary. The second session proved a lot toughter than the first as Island brought on their spinners and slow-mediums to really take the pace off the ball. The boundaries dried up on the slow outfield but we had wickets up our sleeve. Richie fell for 23 just after the break but Chris & Dave Jacq batted steadily and took us through until the 23rd over when Chris was unlucky to be run out 5 short of his half century. DJ (24) was even unluckier, given out lbw attempting to glance one that would have missed leg stump by a mile. Four for 128 in the 27th. The run rate had slowed due to the constant barrage of nude balls, hand grenades and dippers but the outfield showed little signs of quickening and we were still on track for a 200+ target. A few quick wickets brought Ash & Mark to the crease and the pair put on a rapid fire 65 in 8 overs, mixing quick singles and twos with a handful of sixes. Mark fell for 40 off 25 and Ash finished undefeated on 28. Our total of 9 for 226 looked pretty adequate given the slow ground.

And so it proved to be. The Island top order was pinned down by Mark & Clive early and were 1 for 22 after 10 overs - Clive claiming the wicket with a nasty outswinger that the batsman played all around. Clive again bowled his 8 overs straight and finished with a fine 2 for 31. After the drinks break Ash & Tony bowled non-stop for the next 16 overs and, aided by some watertight fielding, they effectively took the game away from Island. Their batsman couldn't get any partnerships going as wickets fell consistently. Ash bagged three of their middle order and Tony picked up 1 while only going for 28 off his 8 overs. Our ground fielding was sharp and though a couple of difficult chances went to ground the batsmen were made to work for everything. We picked up 2 runs out including a superb one handed pick-up, spin and throw from Ash at short cover. Chris Sweet came back to snare their last man and Island were dismissed for 146.

Nine points to the good guys!

Andhra CC up next this Sunday at TC A.

MC