Bilsthorpe (20) 194-6
Thoresby Colliery II (2) 77 a.o.
Fielding
only five of the previous week’s team, this was never going to be an easy ask for Thoresby. And when our problems were compounded by
the non-arrival of our proposed wicket-keeper, taking us down to ten men,
anything we could salvage from the game looked like being a bonus.
As it
turned out, although we lost comfortably, there were some pleasing performances
with new faces giving us optimism for the future. In particular, Jamie
Whiteside’s batting, Lee Willis’ bowling and catching and Norman Garden’s
all-roundedness were excellent features. Only Dougie Meldrum’s innate modesty would stop him from claiming that
he eclipsed all of those already mentioned with his stumping and batting show!
For the
second year running this fixture was without umpires and it was up to home
captain Kesteven and stand-in Thoresby skipper
Halfpenny to come to some sort of arrangement. Thankfully common sense and good
humour would prevail all afternoon, no doubt aided by the fact that after the
first innings the result of the match was never in too much doubt.
Bilsthorpe
won the toss and decided to bat – this was Thoresby’s
chosen scenario anyway. Hutchinson and Evans (into a stiff breeze) opened up
for Thoresby and it wasn’t long before Stuart’s devastating wide full toss was
reaping dividends, Hall slicing the ball to the ever-cool debutant Garden at
gully. He firstly parried, then pouched the ball to make a good impression with
the delighted Thoresby boys who, up until then, had been amazed by his array of
tumbles and somersaults as the ball had whizzed past him on its way to third
man. So far so good.
But then came the partnership that defined the match. Dunn was
looking to defend, take the quick single to square leg then unleash
a powerful drive over mid on. This he did successfully on a number of
occasions, being especially severe on Evans. However, it was Wyatt (M) who
stole the show with a fine display of watchful defence and brutal hitting, 8x4
and 3x6 being a major part of his scoring. Despite ringing the changes with the
bowling it wasn’t until the score was on 130 that the second wicket fell.
It’s
perhaps worth noting the magnitude of Wyatt’s innings when he said that, in
eight seasons, this was only his second fifty at home! The guy is obviously
playing below his station because if you can middle the ball like that on a
less than predictable track then he would score shedloads
batting every other week on somewhere like Thoresby!!
The Bilsthorpe innings finished evenly with Wyatt (K) hitting
powerfully at times but Chatterton (S) taking wickets
in successive balls, both caught well at gully by Willis. Lee himself had probably
had his best spell of the season, bowling tightly late on in proceedings.
However, the home side were well satisfied, experience
telling them that chasing a total is never easy on this track. Thoresby had
competed well with their ten men; unfortunately nobody could match Hutchy’s economy with the ball. Dougie
did an excellent job with the gloves, conceding only four byes in a big total –
not bad for a Sri Lankan lad.
After
another good tea and the bonus of not having to pay any umpires, Halfpenny and
Evans took guard for Thoresby. Things progressed modestly, K Wyatt hitting an
especially awkward length to make scoring difficult. The batsmen didn’t change
ends until the twelfth over when Halfpenny obligingly kicked on a ball from
Smith that was fully a foot outside leg stump. Evans was undone by Wyatt and
Case was out two overs later, well caught by Hall (snr) at gully. When Chatterton
drove through mid-on at Smith, it was Hall (jnr) who
made the catch look easy and Thoresby’s main batting
backbone was gone with only 25 on the board.
Survival
and enjoyment had to be the watchword now. Norm Garden rolled back the years
for a couple of well-struck boundaries before the slower and slower Hall (snr) induced a lofted drive straight to Dunn at deep mid-on.
Hutch, Lee and Paul Triandafilou (who had fielded, by
the way, superbly in his first ever game of cricket) swafted*
briefly but were all undone by Hall.
A spirited
last wicket partnership from Jamie Whiteside and Dougie
‘Sheer Timing’ Meldrum added spirit and entertainment
to proceedings. But with overs in hand, Bilsthorpe searched for the combination to unlock the final
wicket. As it was, it took only one ball from Chris Dunn to find Jamie’s
outside edge and the game was over.
No
complaints then – Thoresby were too few in number, depth and stability to take
anything more from the game. Wyatt’s innings was, quite comfortably, the
performance of the match. It’s a shame that all our unavailabilities
came on this fixture – had it been last week (Blid) or
next week (Ashover) we might have got away with it.
But Bilsthorpe are a dangerous side who know how to
bat and bowl on their track to best effect and it was certainly too much for us
on the day.
More
importantly, this was another game played in the right spirit. ‘No umpires’ is never easy but both teams accepted the
situation well. Many thanks, too, to Mr Hallam who stood square leg throughout
both innings and Mrs Hallam who helped keep our scorebook going.
Seeing the
glow on Dougie’s face after his afternoon I reckon we
might be looking for a new first-team scorer – many a player’s careers have
blossomed after the age of 40, and Meldrum’s may well
be the next!
*to swaft (vb) – to observe the ball in mid-flight, then close the
eyes and flail (in an off to leg motion) at the line of the ball, preferably
playing it behind square leg with high velocity, failing that, missing the ball
entirely to be castled yet again by a joke bowler
var – swafted; swafting;
swafter (noun) – one who swafts on a regular basis;
swaftee (noun) – bowler often on the end of swafts
Ref:
|
Bilsthorpe |
v Thoresby Colliery II |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bilsthorpe |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BATSMAN |
HOW OUT |
SCORE |
|
BOWLING |
O |
M |
R |
W |
|
Dunn |
c Chatterton b Evans |
49 |
|
|
17 |
4 |
39 |
0 |
|
A Hall |
c Garden b Evans |
3 |
|
S Evans |
10 |
1 |
48 |
3 |
|
M Wyatt |
b Evans |
81 |
|
Garden |
5 |
0 |
19 |
0 |
|
Hallam |
b Willis |
1 |
|
Chatterton |
6 |
1 |
44 |
2 |
|
K Wyatt |
Not Out |
40 |
|
Halfpenny |
2 |
0 |
16 |
0 |
|
Smith |
c Willis b Chatterton |
4 |
|
L Willis |
5 |
0 |
21 |
1 |
|
Kesteven |
c Willis b Chatterton |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
M Hall |
Not Out |
3 |
|
FoW |
1- |
2- |
3- |
4- |
|
Cotterill |
DNB |
|
|
|
5- |
6- |
|
|
|
A N Other |
DNB |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A |
DNB |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
EXTRAS |
13 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOTAL |
194 |
for |
6 WKTS in 46 overs |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TCCC II |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BATSMAN |
HOW OUT |
SCORE |
|
BOWLING |
O |
M |
R |
W |
|
Halfpenny |
b Smith |
3 |
|
K Wyatt |
12 |
7 |
16 |
2 |
|
S Evans |
b K Wyatt |
13 |
|
Smith |
11 |
5 |
14 |
2 |
|
Chatterton |
c M Hall b Smith |
7 |
|
A Hall |
8 |
1 |
20 |
4 |
|
Case |
c A Hall b K Wyatt |
0 |
|
M Wyatt |
4 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
|
Garden |
c Dunn b A Hall |
10 |
|
M Hall |
2 |
0 |
15 |
0 |
|
Whiteside |
c M Wyatt b Dunn |
16 |
|
Cotterill |
2 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
|
L Willis |
b A Hall |
1 |
|
Dunn |
0.1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
|
b A Hall |
7 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Triandafilou |
b A Hall |
2 |
|
FoW |
1-7 |
2-17 |
3-22 |
4-25 |
|
Meldrum |
Not Out |
10 |
|
|
5-38 |
6-40 |
7-48 |
8-50 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
EXTRAS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOTAL |
77 |
for |
9 WKTS in 39.1 overs |
|
|
|
|
Other results in Division 6
At
At Ashover: THURCROFT 2nd (13) 112 for 8, drew with ASHOVER 2nd (5) 43 for 8.
At
At
At
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wthr |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Division 6 |
|
|
|
Tie |
Draw |
|
|
Bonus |
Pts. |
Total |
|
|
P |
12 |
10 |
6 |
6 |
2 |
0 |
Bat |
Bowl |
Points |
|
|
14 |
8 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
46 |
42 |
220 |
|
Bilsthorpe |
13 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
34 |
41 |
183 |
|
Thoresby
Colliery II |
14 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
33 |
35 |
170 |
|
Marshalls II |
13 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
26 |
41 |
165 |
|
Killamarsh II |
13 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
35 |
35 |
164 |
|
|
13 |
5 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
31 |
33 |
162 |
|
Eckington II |
14 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
5 |
29 |
38 |
155 |
|
Rose Leisure |
14 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
8 |
20 |
45 |
131 |
|
Anston II |
14 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
5 |
3 |
26 |
23 |
113 |
|
Thurcroft II |
14 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
6 |
18 |
30 |
102 |
|
Blidworth II |
13 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
8 |
11 |
30 |
79 |
|
Ashover II |
13 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
8 |
8 |
21 |
59 |