Thursday 4 August 2016 Stragglers of Asia vs Bluemantles

Result: Match Drawn

Match Report:

The Stragglers XI again enjoyed the opportunity to play at the Nevill ground in Tunbridge Wells, I think it would be fair to say our side was a little light on the bowling front so it was some relief then when the Bluemantles won the toss and elected to field. Batting wasn’t easy, the pitch was fairly slow and the bowling accurate. After losing Joe Cavanagh early on Matt Shales and Tony Hooper dug in and were making progress but unfortunately after promising starts both fell in quick succession. The Bluemantles continued to apply the pressure with the bowling, this combined with some poor decisions and lapses in concentration led to the fall of wickets at pretty regular intervals. Many of the team got off to starts but none really applied themselves to turn a start in to a good score. Down the order Rob Goldsbrough, a guest, in only his second game in 5 years timed the ball superbly and made an aggressive unbeaten 51, supported ably by Willy Boulter, who was clearly inspired by the clean hitting at the other end and joined in with some valuable boundaries to help advance our total to a respectable if unspectacular 218.

We set about finding the 10 wickets and opened up with the flight and guile of RPH from one end who demonstrated control and skill from the outset and made life difficult for the batsmen. From the other end Tom Forsdike ran in hard and was the only bowler from either side to get any real carry out of a fairly low pitch. It didn’t take long for the first wicket to fall, some sharp work from Alex Asher behind the stumps backing up the bowling from Robert. Shortly after this the rain came in forcing us in for an early tea, something most were not too upset about. This took some time out of the game and left the Bluemantles needing to really go for it to try and force a winning result. This made for an exciting game and Robert took their top 3 batsmens wickets with more skillful bowling whilst Tony Hooper bowled with control from the other end to keep the runs down. In the end the run rate needed from the Bluemantles was too high and they fell short with us having taken 5 wickets. Alex Asher also deserves a special mention for some quick work behind the stumps finishing with 3 stumpings. The weather played a big part in the day and stopped either side being able to really go about forcing a result but it was an enjoyable days cricket nonetheless and I look forward to the 2017 fixture.

Team Batting First: Stragglers of Asia

 

Batsman How Out Bowler Score
1 J Cavanagh Bowled J Francis 3
2 T Hooper Bowled M Quaife 26
3 M Shales Ct A Bailey J Devine 24
4 A Asher (wkt) Ct D Gordon M Quaife 10
5 R Boulter Bowled M Quaife 3
6 T Forsdyke (g) Run out 18
7 J Allsop Ct N Aitkenhead C Edwards 21
8 C Brown (capt) Ct T Marriot C Edwards 26
9 R Goldsbrough Not out 51
10 W Boulter Not out 17
11

 

R Pollock-Hill Did not bat
Extras: 19 TOTAL: 218-9 (dec)

1

Bowler Overs Maidens Runs W3ickets
J Francis 5 2 17 1
M Quaife 13 1 36 3
J Devine 8 0 30 1
C Edwards 12 1 39 2
B Lester 6 0 25 0
C Borsoi 8 1 56 0
D Gordon 3 0 7 0

 

Team Batting Second: Bluemantles

Batsman How Out Bowler Score
1 G Skinner St A. Asher R Pollock-Hill 5
2 J Francis St A. Asher R Pollock-Hill 19
3 Toby Marriot (capt) Ct R Goldsbrough R Pollock-Hill 49
4 D Gordon Run out 29
5 A Bailey St A Asher M Shales 22
6 N Aitkenhead (wkt) Ct T Forsdyke R Goldsbrough 24
7 C Borsoi Not out 25
8 J Devine Not out 10
9 C Edwards Did not bat
10 B Lester Did not bat
11 M Quaife Did not bat
Extras: 19 TOTAL: 202-6

 

Bowler Overs Maidens Runs Wickets
T Forsdyke (g) 8 0 49 0
R Pollock-Hill 9 0 61 3
T Hooper 4 0 28 0
M Shales 2 0 15 1
R Goldsbrough 1 0 16 1
R Boulter 2 0 25 0

 

Umpires: I Fraser, Raj

Scorer: Diane Gittings