Wield vs Presidents XI, Sunday 27th June
Match Report: Wield Vs President’s XI - 27th June 2010
Conditions: could not have been better and on a hot and mid-summers day.
We sat down to eat a terrific pre match lunch organised by Nicola Robinson who was modest enough to say she had had some help but had clearly put in a lot of hard work to make the event just right.
Wield took the field and were gifted an early advantage when one of the President’s XI opening batsman mysteriously walked off the field unceremoniously in the 3rd over having done his back in. Dave Maltby and Colin Rydon opened the Wield bowling, Dave with his usual reliable, economical style was unlucky not to pick up the wicket of the other opening batsman when Phillip Geddes, fielding at gulley, put down a very difficult chance that shot off like a missile to his weaker left hand side. Colin started off waywardly but he managed to carve through the enormous and intimidating No. 3’s forward defence with an unplayable delivery and make a nice mess of his stumps.
Purslow went well for a while, with Evans, making light work of the bowling only to let himself down by spooning a simple catch to a smiling Rupert Cazalet standing at backward point for 24.
Robin Hunt and Phillip Geddes were brought into the Wield attack and Robin, having had Purslow (24) caught off his bowling sent the next batsman Graber back to the pavilion very quickly indeed, bowling him out for nought (0), followed two overs later with the dismissal of the other opening batsman Evans (40) caught by Phillip who managed somehow this time to hold on to another well struck shot diving smartly down to his left.
This rapid fall of wickets led to Keith Geddes taking to the crease joined by the precocious 15 year old Jansen with his fashionable, matching bat, pads and gloves and promptly set about dancing down the wicket to Geddes and disrespectfully hammering him to all parts of the ground until he was caught in the deep for 10 trying to be too smart with Geddes bowling. Geddes the younger was clearly determined not to be bowled out by his big brother (probably knowing full well that he’d never hear the end of it) and wily took advantage of the hot conditions and seized the opportunity to mercilessly lick his elder brother Phillip Geddes to all parts of the ground just like the kid did.
Jansen senior replaced his son and made 18 before being caught by Max McAlpine behind the stumps and the captain Andrew Yorke mopped up the tail finishing the President’s XI off with figures of 2 for 7 off 5, the President’s XI ending up with 137 all out.
The good tea was only marred by the sad yet unsurprising news that our national football team had again not lived up to expectations and had been thrashed by an inexperienced, young German side. England crash out of the World Cup 4-1? Who saw that coming? They all said we’d win 2-1. I’ve been let down again. They never win anything, that lot.
Toby Flack and Ben Robinson opened the Wield batting and fended off the smart and hostile opening spell from Jansen senior and Howard, only for the cunning Presidents to change the bowling and replace the smart bowlers with full tossers. I don’t want to talk about the dismissals of Ben (2) and Ed (4) Robinson. Alas - if only they could bat as well as their Mother cooks.
Flack forgot to play a shot and was clean bowled by a fairly straight and slow one that unfortunately did really rather little for 17. The Wield response was not looking good at 23 for 3.....
Colin Rydon and Dougie Butler moved the score along well before Dougie was caught in the deep trying to launch the ball into outer space for 20. Colin was bowled for 10.
This brought Wield’s star performers Robin Hunt and Yorke out to the crease. Robin Hunt played with so much flair the President’s were forced to bring back on their opening bowler to take control of the situation and Hunt was dismissed for a stylish 15 by a full blooded straight one that crashed through the canyon between bat and pad. Dave Maltby then came to the crease and minced about for a couple of minutes before scoring a home run over mid wicket, however the slug only filled him with over confidence and he was clean bowled two balls later, playing across a straight one with what looked like a diagonal bat. That slog for 4 made a really good sound though as it came out the middle. No one was going to stop that.
McAlpine was not out on 0 and Yorke chipped in with 41 who was fortunate to have been dropped earlier in the match by J Robson who fielded enthusiastically for the injured President player.
Wield finally limped to a victory in 33 overs finishing on 133/8
The day left everyone with two questions on their lips:
When was the last time Max gave no byes away?
And: Can Nicola Robinson bat as well as she organises lunches and auctions?
A great day with great food, great cricket and another win for the mighty Wield.......18 games unbeaten and counting.
Toby Flack
