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Hartley Wintney - Bank Holiday Monday, 6 May 2002 Some of the problems associated with Sunday's fixture resurfaced again the next day, with captain Pat Hounsell not sure right up until kick off if 10, 11 or 12 LNZCC players would turn up - eventually it was 10, although at least with Hartley Wintney fielding two young boys in their eleven, perhaps one could say the numbers were evened up. In any event, it was the lack of one fielder plus the well known difficulties of defending a total on the flat pitch surrounded by its miss-shapen sloping outfield ringed by ditch and roads, that encouraged Pat to insert the opposition in a 40 over match (10 overs maximum per bowler). Unfortunately, it didn't work! There was nothing obviously wrong with the bowling (albeit the exertions of the previous day restricted Philip Bartle and Vance Thompson to 5 overs each), and the ground fielding and catching proved reliable, but for some reason our attack just did not seem to fire. Hartley Wintney's Aussie import and his fellow opener, a Mr Gregary (who scored 98 before being bowled middle stump when Sean Martin landed his "slow ball" cum "top-spinner" cum "flipper" on the spot) put on 124 for the first wicket, and at one stage Hartley Wintney were 183-1 before Sean (2-40 in 10 overs) and tall, rangy newcomer to the club, Andy Mills (3-42 in 8 overs) belatedly got among the wickets - the opposition ending their 40 overs with 213-6. The other wicket-taker was partnership breaker Richard "Tricky" Keyse with 1-24 in 5 overs (1-5 in his first four). Rodger "the Rock" Finlay proved impassable at cover or midwicket. Given that 7 of LNZCC's 10 batters were facing up to their first innings of the season, a target of 214 was always going to be challenging, and the task got harder when the top order (Pat, Rodger and Andy Swann) did not fire, all three falling victim to the temptations of tossed up off spinners, leaving us 18-3. Proving his mettle with bat, Andy Mills (who also plays for Maori-Oxshott, so we now know what happened to one of the club's old regular opponents, The Maori Club) scored 25, steadying the ship with Gordon Harcourt (16), but Vance's dismissal for the (dubious honour of the) Jubilee season's first duck appeared to signal the end at 76-6 after 27 overs. However, the arrival at the crease of Sean Martin signalled a barrage of boundaries, firstly huge sixes from Sean and then fours from Tricky (who until then had been getting his eye in wafting at widish deliveries). The result was an Astle-esque partnership of 90 in 9 overs before Sean, connecting too well with a crack off the back foot, was caught on the extra cover boundary after scoring a very, very rapid 47. With 48 still required in 4 overs, and a hint of panic in the Hartley Wintney ranks, the last three LNZ batsman threw everything into the assault. Tricky blasted a few, Fishy sliced some runs to deep point before missing with a swing to leg, and last man Philip Bartle (yes, it was he!) smacked the Aussie import for 4-6-4 in four balls. 23 were needed from the last over, and Tricky, on strike, surveyed the scene. The spectators whispered that a 4 was required off each ball. Tricky had obviously gone for a different calculation as he lifted the first delivery high over the wide long on boundary. Sadly, he was destined to go out in a blaze of glory as the next delivery was straight and his flailing bat failed to prevent the ball hitting the middle stump. Tricky gone for 57 and LNZCC out for 197, losing by 16 runs. Ironically, almost exactly the same losing margin as last year in another thrilling chase. PS Food for thought? My estimate of the average age of the LNZCC players in this match was 38. Scoreboard Hartley Wintney 213 - 6 LNZCC 197 All Out Batting Runs Catches Rodger Finlay 12 Andy Swann 2 1 Pat Hounsell 1 Andy Mills 25 1 Gordon Harcourt 16 1 Vance Thompson 0 Richard Keyse 57 1 Sean Martin 47 Richard Fish 4 Philip Bartle 16* P. Handbell 0*
Bowling O M R W Sean Martin 10 2 40 2 Philip Bartle 5 0 30 0 Vance Thompson 5 1 13 0 Pat Hounsell 7 0 41 0 Andy Mills 8 0 42 3 Richard Keyse 5 1 24 1 |
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