Gamble fails in game of two halves

Playing on the back pitch for the first time in years, Skipper Flavell won the toss and elected to bowl. Darshan Raval, coming back from illness, looked rusty and took some time to get back in the groove. At the other end Naz Asif had Ian Cooper caught by Dan Penny, for what I thought would be a key wicket as he had scored 99 vs Flitwick the week before. Darshan soon removed number 3 D Knight LBW, bringing in Luke Holt. Holt took a liking to the bowling and Dan Penny got hit into the next county (Herts) several times over midwicket – definitely the batmans favourite shot. With the two deep catchers Crocker and Flavell posted at midwicket, Holt was finally caught on the boundary by Flavell, only to find that Dan had bowled a back foot no ball – Dan’s clown shoes were confiscated and burnt after the game. At the other end stubborn opener Tom Carr was finally out caught by George Lee off Nut’s offspin. Holt went on to club 84 not out before a prolonged heavy shower led to an early tea at 35 overs.

With both teams (apart from Claw) keen to get back out on the pitch, we went out with the wicket still looking decidedly soggy. With much time lost, it worked out that Preston had only 2 more overs to face and only a few more runs were gained to leave Preston on 163-5 from 37 overs, leaving us 33 overs to chase 163.

The Village reply was started by Lee Crocker and Dan Butcher, who was promoted due to having several hot dates and an appointment with a pizza that evening. Lee and Dan started fairly briskly before Dan was bowled for 10 in the 6th over by Tom Maxwell (19-1). Zaf Basit came but departed swiftly in the next over, bowled by David Allen for 2 (26-2). The even grumpier than usual George Lee also fell swiftly, caught behind off Maxwell (35-3), bring Boom-Boom Naz Asif to the middle. Naz and Crocker then proceeded to brutalise the bowling to take us rapidly (49 from 6 overs) to 83 until Crocker was well caught by Holt on the boundary for 52 off Taylor (83-4). Dave Flavell pushed and prodded while Naz continued the assault, hitting two straight sixes before being caught behind for 32 to give Taylor his second wicket (103-5). At this point the game was still very winnable with 62 to get from 15 overs and several experienced batsmen to bat. Dan Penny was soon removed by a yorker from David Allen (106-6) and Nut was removed for a Golden Duck, somewhat unfortunately clipping a leg stump full toss staright to the veteran backward square leg who didn’t have to move a muscle and pouched the catch well (106-7). Darshan Raval was caught behind for 1 off Allen to leave us on 116-8, bringing in debutant Raza Kazmi, who was bowled by Taylor for a rapid 8 (130-9) to bring Condiment O’Brien to the crease. Chris was left not out on 1 after Flavell was last man out, caught at point for 14.

Conclusions
Where to start….. It was nice to play against pleasant opposition after last weeks game. Winning the toss and bowling was clearly a mistake on a wet day, with Preston getting by far the better batting conditions. Darshan and Dan were rusty and Nut didn’t bowl as tightly as usual, though Luke Holt rode his luck well for his match winning 82 not out. Conditions for batting were tricky so perhaps it is unfair to blame the batting, and Crocker and Naz didn’t seem to have too many problems.

Preston III 30 points, Mill Hill Village IIs 2 points.

Next week, Ickleford 3’s at home.