Much the same as last week, the weather in May continued to be dark, cold and miserable, and yet again a hail storm arrived just before the toss was due to commence. Bentley, however, had decided to cover the wicket for their National Village Cup match for the next day, and so it was really quite difficult to differentiate between the outfield and the wicket until the stumps were in place.
Drew Whiting had provided us with an early pitch report from his office next-door and told us he had lost a key on a length. We all knew it was a bowl first kind of day, apart from FUGA who was strangely optimistic about batting first. “We’ll get the best of this wicket boys.”
Unlike last week, Captain Cooper lost the toss, and thus we were batting.
After some inspiring words from the captain, urging us to value our wickets and bat for long periods of time. Most of us quickly forgot this advice and as we proceeded to throw away any chance we had in this game. Another reasonable start was given to us by Liam and Harry scoring 21 and 19, before Liam started the collapse with a leading edge to midwicket. Harry was bowled looking to drive a yorker back over the bowlers head. Pooky edged a short and wide one through to the keeper. Drew smashed a four first ball and attempted to do the same again next ball only to sky it up to cover. Joe Davis spent over an hour at the crease, but only scored 9, and Paul Marks walked on an edge through to the keeper, which the umpire later conceded that he would not have given.
Badger and Will, 16 & 10, showed those ahead of them how to place a little more value on their wickets. However, once the spinners were introduced Will’s eyes lit up thinking some pies (or perhaps dog poop) might be coming down that he could gobble up. Unsurprisingly, he succeeded only in chipping a return catch to the bowler. Big-time scored more minus points for everyone’s fantasy teams, and Cheesey and Baron aren’t in the side to score runs, so the 1s innings closed on a well under par 99, with 10 overs unused.
During teas, the sun came out and significantly dried out the pitch, seemingly aiding the batting conditions. The bowlers didn’t bowl particularly badly, except for Will whose only over went for 12. Defending a score of just 99, it’s obviously more difficult to force a positive result, and Bentley had all the time in the world to get there! Lumpy took our only wicket, but by then the match was already a foregone conclusion, as the Bentley openers had put on 80.
Zero bonus points from this game leaves us bottom of the Premier League, however, we have played two of the best teams in the league, and so different results may not have been expected. Next week we play Great Baddow who were promoted alongside us last year, potentially the first winnable fixture of our summer. But if we are to maintain our league status in 2020, we will need a much-improved performance with the bat for victory.
