Wield vs Lynchmere, Sunday 26th August
Weather - A pleasant autumnal afternoon in summer!!
Match summary – Wield avoid defeat....somehow!!!
A stunning Wield team of 10, consisting of a limited number of cricketers took to the field after another arranged toss!!
Dave and Aidan opened the bowling with Dave taking the first wicket with his second ball, as usual the byes rattled along as did the 2nd wicket partnership. Suddenly Lynchmere's opener top edged a pull shot it floated to around 20 ft before slowly desending towards Max, a dolly we thought but with a turn of foot only seen in an old peoples home Max failed to make the 4ft walk to where the ball landed!!!
Showing his frustration Aidan preceded to bowl shorter and the batsmen after his reprieve preceded to smash him to deep backward square.
Dave got Lynchmere's No.3 as he smashed one to point and Jack showed Max how to catch. Robin replaced Aidan but failed to replace the bowling as a few more long hops were smashed to the boundary. Feeling left out our skipper came on and more long hops ensued!!! It crossed my mind that maybe the pitch was 24 yds!!! Finally Lynchmere's No.4 hit one straight but high to mid on were a confident looking Matt (Not!!!) made sure he failed to get a hand on the catch.
Lynchmere's opener passed 50 and was then dropped by Toby in the covers. The score raced past 100 and then 140 before Yorkie brought on Toby!!!!! More long hops until on 75 Lynchmere's opener smashed one to deep backward square (imagine my surprise!!!) only to be surprised himself as Jack took a steepler on the boundary.
Max missed another stumping and Toby was gifted another wicket as Lynchmere finished on 165/5.
After another great tea our new established opening pair of Toby and Jack strode down the hill, as I was injured I went to umpire and one of the oppo asked if 165 was a reasonable score, I replied I thought it might be 100 runs too many....he laughed I did not!!!
For the second week running the opening partnership was a good one but with the score on 30 Toby popped one up to midwicket. Will joined jack and added a few more runs before he played across a straight one. Yorkie joined Jack and the score reached 50 before Jack drove one to mid off. Harry R came to the crease (aged 10) and lasted a few balls before falling to Lynchmere's ringer (their opening bat who was also bowling big spinning off breaks) spun one past his outside edge.
Completely out of character and against his usual 'batting for his average', Yorkie lofted one to mid off and the Blackman's were at the crease together. This father and son partnership lasted 3 balls until the spinner threw one high in the air and Matt's eyes lit up, one large slog across the line and a slow trudge up the hill followed. Aidan hit a couple of nice shots before falling the same way as his father!!!! Not to be outdone Dave followed the Blackman's back up the hill to the same bowler and Wield were one wicket away from defeat only 110 runs behind!!!
The dream team of Robin and Max had 8 overs to cling on for a very undeserved draw. Ball after ball came down only to be met by no backlift but no wicket. With Toby now umpiring (he gave a couple of wides!!!! but at least it nudged us up to 60) the tension mounted. Max actually ran a single!!!! as the crowd cheered. With a field of 9 around the bat Lynchmere's ringer should have got his 6th wicket when Max tapped one to short extra cover only for a Toby like juggle before the ball slowly dropped to the ground, as the crowd cheered!!!
The last over was a tense affair but Robin somehow managed to keep his wicket in tact, as the crowd cheered!!!
A great game against good opposition and just how village cricket should be... a bit rubbish, a lot of fun and then we all headed off to the pub!!!!
Tony
(Umpire)
