St Peters (147-5) beat Undy & Magor (146-6) by five wickets, Undy 27 June 2009
St Peters made the journey to third placed Undy in high spirits,
despite not being in the best of recent form and with the batting leading
to one or two concerns amongst the players. Overall though, the
bowling and fielding had been generally good over the first few
fixtures and St Peters knew that it wouldnt be long before their
fortunes changed.
The boys should have realised from the outset that there was
something different about today, with Rob 'Bomber' Corsi arriving at
the ground a good twenty minutes before the game was due to start: it's
only taken him six seasons with St Peter's but at last he turned up on
time for a game.
With the sun shining and the temperature in the high 20s, skipper
for the day Tony Lewis re-assured his
players whilst in the changing rooms, "Boys, if we win the toss, we'll bat, no matter what the pitch
looks like."
Five minutes later Lewis returned and announced to some very glum faces,
"Richie, put your pads on, we're in the field", not having the heart too
tell them he'd actually won the toss.
Having seen the pitch, he took the gamble that, with the downpours
of the previous day, the bare-looking, uneven track, and an outfield
which can only be described as 'dangerous', he would like to know what
he was chasing before having a bat on the pitch.
Undy and Magor got of to a steady if unspectacular start,
and let's just say the pitch was 'interesting'. One ball would be around
your head, the next rolling along the ground, but the old addage was
heard: "It'll be the same for both sides".
John 'JC' Corsi and Paul Backhouse opened the bowling, with 'JC'
being his usual accurate self, going for a measly 12 runs off 8 overs,
although wicketless, and Paul, despite beating the outer edge on a
number of occasions, also ending wicketless after 8 overs, going for 20
odd runs.
Skipper Lewis then made bowling changes from both ends, 'Bomber'
replacing Paul and Matt Sweeney coming on for 'JC', and it proved to be
a good change.
Undy & Magor had moved onto the mid 60s without loss, when
one of the openers attempted hitting 'Bomber' aerially over mid on. However, he skied it, Lewis moved in for the catch and, with the words of
'Bomber' echoing in his ears "For heaven's sake someone catch it", held
onto a comfortable catch.
Matt Sweeney then took two quick wickets, removing Bats 3 and 4
without troubling the scorer, and suddenly Undy were 67 - 3 off 25
overs, St Peters, dare I say it, beginning to take control of the game.
St Peters continued to field like demons, 'Barney' Barningham,
Ian 'Sheriff' Berry and Gareth Jones putting thir bodies on the line
on a number of occasions, no doubt saving the rocks 20 runs or so
over the innings. One little tip for 'Sheriff': use your hands to stop
the ball, not sure how much more damage your knees can take.
Towards the end of the innings, one or two catches were put down,
both off the bowling of Lewis to his disgust. However, limiting
Undy to 146 -6 in their 45 overs was a good all-round team effort,
especially taking into account the relatively small boundaries.
Matt Sweeney ended with figures of 4-49 off 10 overs and 'Bomber'
took two wickets, although anyone with the time to listen to him can
find out why he should have had three wickets when he had a big LBW
appeal turned down off the last ball of the innings, which led to a
right ranting session all the way back to the changing rooms.
John HOBBS top scored for Undy with 67.
St Peters could enjoy there interval cup of tea and sarnies
knowing that if the batsman applied themselves, the target was well
within there reach.
St Peters went out to bat, with Oisin Clancy and Tony Corsi
opening the batting, both players looking to apply themselves and play
themselves in against the two opening Undy and Magor bowlers who both
bowled a good line and length.
Clancy unfortunately fell cheaply, before Corsi and Richie Elliott
began to look comfortable at the wicket, playing some positive
aggressive shots against the bowlers, until Corsi too found himself
caught, having played a good shot which he and many others believed was
racing for four; a well-taken catch saw him depart.
This saw 'Bomber' stride out to the wicket, still angry at having
his earlier appeal turned down and, as if to add insult to injury, was
adjudged LBW by Matt Sweeney without troubling the scorer. Next batsman in Lewis was walking towards the middle and had to evade
'Bomber's' low flying bat which had been tossed from the middle by him
in complete and utter despair.
Lewis joined Elliott, who was batting quite beautifully, defending
the good balls and smashing the bad balls to the boundary. With the arrival of Lewis, Elliott needed to be reined in as Lewis was turning
comfortable 2s into well paced 1s.
These too took the scoreboard onto 45 before Lewis's eyes lit up: he
went for the big hit over the top, but caught the toe end of the bat
and was caught well short of the boundary.
This brought Paul Backhouse too the wicket, a usual run machine
who has not been hitting the runs this year. At 45-4 it needed Paul
and Richie to knuckle down and get the Rocks out of the trouble which
they had got themselves into.
Paul, who had been telling the boys whilst waiting to bat how he
needed to play himself in, and then the runs would flow, did just that,
hitting the first ball be faced for 6, back over the bowler's head.
Obviously Backers now had his eye in, and the next 60 minutes were
a real pleasure for the players of St Peters. Backers went on to hit
58, which contained five 6s and a couple of 4s and Richie continued
to play the holding role, whilst despatching the bad ball to the
boundary. These two players propelled the score to 144-4, and with
just 3 runs needed Backers got himself bowled going for the big shot
to win the game.
Thankfully Matt Sweeney joined Richie and the two of them guided
St Peters home to a 5 wicket victory with almost 15 overs too spare,
Richie Elliott ending unbeaten on 46.
Thankfully during the second innings some of the demons had
disappeared form the pitch; whilst still not a great batting track, the
consistency in the bounce certainly improved.
An excellent all round team effort ended with the boys sat in the
bar, smiles on their faces, enjoying 'WINNING' beer, and what a
refreshing feeling that was.
Tony Lewis
