I've been selected again, I thought this might be my Mady Villiers moment, but seemingly not. Again, more players than there were places and for a moment, I wondered whether an old duffer like me might see another game, but I take wickets (So far) and I've been given another shot. What I probably need to do is learn how to use the scoring machine as that may help secure my position to some extent, but over and above that take wickets.
So Harry and Arvind are not playing this week - they didn't put their name down, so they've been replaced by two other lads Reece and Fharan Redgrave, both bowlers that can bat. Reece is an off-spinner and Fharan is a seam bowler, usually quite fast who plays in the 1st XI sometimes - one of the up and coming stars of the club.
I actually think this format of the game is quite nuanced and that hitting the ball hard and long isn't the solution as that'll potentially be caught. Again, I have to admit that I still haven't got my head around the rules, but what I observed last week was that a late cut that goes to the back wall is possibly worth four - 2 for hitting the wall and if you run one that's the additional 2. The same would be for a leg-glance to the back wall.
I reckon there's value in tip and run as well or getting your body in the way and going for byes as I was trying to do. But early wickets is the key thing I reckon to winning this game. With that in mind - My stock ball with the leg-breaks worked well and I reckon that if I can get the Top-Spinner going as well I'm going to be potentially effective? The Top-spinner if its working, means the small leg-break with far more dip is going to be a valuable ball as well. Bowling at the stumps is going to bring in all sorts of potential dismissals because they're looking to hit the ball every time.
On Sunday, someone bailed at the last moment and the captain, Lennon put the call out for another player and the position was grabbed by Kirby. She's a 5th XI player that takes wickets - one above me in the most wickets for the club with better strike rate and economy, so in a way a threat... This maybe my Mady Villiers moment/match. We'll have to see?
The game
The Opposition - Brookweald cc
So the team... Dan, Lennon, Kiegan, Farhan, Kirby and me. The others I reckon are 16-19 years old and me 64. Wish I'd got a team shot, but I'd forgot to do it. Again, I think we all went into this game still with no idea of how the scores work, just knowing that hitting the walls is important, plus the all important run between the wickets. We bowled first and as with the first game, the oppo got off to a flying start. Lennon started off with new bloke Farhan. Again this game is so fast - you're up against a clock and you can see it on the wall and you have to get through your overs to ensure you get through the whole innings, so my overs are a blur. I know at one point I was thinking 'He's not going to bowl me' but I got my overs in, one near the start of the game - maybe the 3rd over and the other were towards the end of the game. One of the wickets was off the wall caught by Lennon (I think - I really need to read the rules) and the other was bowled around the back of the legs again with a leg-break and again the bloke stood there in disbelief like he'd never seen a leg-break before?
They scored 123, which was a lot less than last week, but these blokes looked like seasoned pros and were taking it seriously so I kind of expected a decent attack with the ball.
Not grasping how the runs are scored half the time, it seemed we were going along OK with Farhan doing a really good job with the bat, hitting sixes, most of the others chipped in with runs. Keagan didn't do so well this week and was clean bowled by the bloke who seemed to be their strike bowler. I was out first ball, walking down the wicket, copped one on the foot and it went away to leg and I ran expecting Dan to be backing up and taking the run, but when I looked up he was standing there and needless to say he didn't get back.
My observation for what its worth is that, if the ball comes off the bat or even the body and you run, just the fact that you're running puts them under extreme pressure and for the most part these blokes aren't Jonty Rhodes and they rarely pick up the ball cleanly and get it into the wicket keeper effectively - it's just not that easy in such a dynamic situation. Whereas I'm playing with young lads and they did this so much better than the oppo, and again the oppo running between the wickets lack the fast burst reactions of teenagers and were run-out for 3 of their wickets.
Kirby batted well till she was out, but as I said last week, the 2 bowlers or me at least, shouldn't occupy the crease if you're not hitting the ball or running with blokes waiting to come in because they've been retired (happens after 25 scored). Thankfully me and Kirby went quickly allowing Dan and Fahran to come back for the final 2 overs. It looked like it might be a run or two too much 3 overs out, but the last 2 needed just over 20 off the 2 overs, there were some dot balls, but these were countered by some good tip and runs for 3 and a 4 or two and you could sense that the oppo were aware that they'd got it wrong and they could see it slipping away from them, there was some serious backing up going and some 'Mankadding' chances as a warning. In the 2nd from last over the bloke went right through his action - didn't let got of the ball and went back to the stumps as a warning to Dan for over zealous backing up. But on the last ball Dan hit the necessary runs and we won our first game at the 2nd attempt and this put us at 2nd place in the league (See below).
Our bowling figures for the game (Below)
League Top 10 Bowler rankings
I'm top of the league currently, but that's down to the fact that I've bowled the most overs. The bloke below me with a strike rate of 6 with a wicket per over is the one to watch and try and keep ahead of.
No games now for a couple of weeks, so we'll no doubt drop down the rankings. Can't wait for the next game. Hopefully I'll get picked again.
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