For the second time in the league, the indoor team faced Galleywood, having beaten them earlier in the season. The game took on extra significance as next week it is a cup preliminary round between the two teams again. Making his indoor debut was Ed Vale, who had shown his commitment & dedication to the club by responding to the pleas for an extra player as Christmas events had accounted for Drew, Joe & Joshua (they'd all gone to see Santa at his grotto).
John started well by winning the toss & electing to bat. This week the captain thought that he'd open the batting as he hadn't done that yet, this season. Nick & John started well, with Nick taking 3 off the first ball & John managing to just about get bat on ball for 4 deliveries & then pinching the strike on the final ball of the over. Second over wasn't too different with Nick looking calm & assured, John looking frantic. But, the 3rd over saw a much better return for the efforts of the openers & this continued as the opening partnership blossomed. Most balls were hit for 3s & John managed to hit a particularly ugly-looking 6. John retired & Pooky joined Nick to maintain the momentum. Nick soon retired & Cheesey came in, keeping the run rate up. Pooky made a rapid 25, then retired, with the run rate above 15 per over. In came Jack, determined to make his mark on the game & he did.
Jack provided a masterclass to the England Ashes team, top 6 batsmen specifically, on how to leave the ball not hitting the stumps. All those slip & gulley catches that England succumbed to, wouldn't have happened if they'd followed Jack's example. He left the ball so well, that the opposition were not sure whether to bowl the ball at the wicket or try to tempt him with the line outside off stump. Cheesey offered advice, the rest of the team on the balcony offered slightly different, more graphic advice. Eventually, Cheesey showed initiative & tried to run Jack out, only to get run out himself, as Galleywood decided to ignore the end that Jack was running to. Enter Ed, for his debut innings. Jack came down the track to offer his words of wisdom, which Ed, thankfully, ignored. Ed scored quicker than Jack (not too difficult) & the score started to move on again. Ed & Jack were running everything , with Jack using the Cheesey technique to score 2s - better than dot balls. Ed was run out (why didn't Galleywood run out Jack? it's a mystery) & John returned to slog as best he could, sheperding Jack to a lifetime best indoor score of 14. The indoor team finshed on 150 - 3, a good score which should be hard to beat.
Cheesey was chosen to open the bowling, to see if we could keep the runs down before the cannon fodder came on later. Ball number one - yorked the opener & hit middle stump. Ball number two - yorked the batsman & hit middle stump. Ball number 3 (hat trick delivery) beat the outside edge by a whisker. Ball number 4 - hit past an old, slow John at short cover to go for 4. Ball number 5 - yorked the batsman & hit middle stump. Ball number 6 - no runs scored.
After one over the opposition were 4 runs for 3 wickets. Number 2 batsman has yet to face a ball.
What to do next? If Cheesey bowls again Ed won't get a bowl, so quick get him on. Ed bowled a good over, not quite up to Cheesey's standard, but enough to limit the runs. Jack then bowls, as he's no longer classed as a batsman. Ed's next over, Galleywood are in need of runs & take a chance & the batsman hits the ball ferociously at John, who tries to shield his nether regions from the exocet missile that is approaching. Only when he realises that the batsman has actually gently lobbed it to him does John relax & take a simple catch. Then Ed bowls a good line & length & gets another wicket with a caught & bowled. The last batsman is facing & needs 130 to win. Jack turns his arm over once more & the Galleywood batsman plays aggressively, hitting the back wall, until a chance of a run turns into a run out & Gt.Totham win by 126 runs, an excellent performance.
Last game I couldn't remember the players who feature on the seaons' stats figures, so this week I checked: Cheesey has 10 wickets, John has 118 runs & 5 catches, Nick has 105 runs & 4 wicket-keeper dismissals, Joe has 105 runs & Joshua 89 runs. No more Gt.Totham players were featured in the top statistics.
Next week, in the cup Gt.Totham will have to be as ruthless, as Galleywood will return with a desire to take revenge for today's game.
