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Game Comments
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Callum
8/08/2003 1:37:28 pm
Bowling:
Their first partnership got off to what we thought was a poor start, but turned out to be their second best partnership. They offered few chances, and we capitalised well - including a trademark return to the field from Steve with a leg-side-blink-and-you'll-miss-it-stumping.
I thought Chan and Damo bowled particularly well, both getting rewarded statistically (Chan bowled 5 dot balls in his two overs). Steve and I bowled pretty standard stuff.
Gatch and Simon seemed to be throwing down a varied assortment of pies, but both did statistically well with batsmen failing to get hold of deliveries well. Greg and Gary bowled alright, but got punished the most - I guess the lesson there is: get better, or worse. Alot of shonky balls get wickets in indoor, and you weren't bowling them.
Well done everyone for fielding excellently and rolling those guys for 65. Kinda makes me wonder how we managed to concede 126 runs to them in the final.
Shoutout to Damo for his extraless -1.
Honourable mention to Steve and myself for also bowling zero extras.
Batting:
Chan and Gatch got us off to an 'exciting' start, with their four wicket 19. A solid start given our overall chase, but just short of the 20 set by the opposition first partnership. Que cera and all that.
Well, if you thought it was nerve-wracking watching the first pair, you'd have needed a solid dose of valium to make it through Gary and Simon's outing. Five outs, including some running Chan would be proud of. The upside was they could have been out far more often, and salvaged 12 runs to give us the quad point.
Steve and I added 23 to nudge the team total to 54 and give Damo and Greg something to bat for. This was a deliberate ploy on our part as Damon said "I hate batting when there is no pressure". Very sporting of us I thought. Steve started off by being welcomed back to the crease with a slow pie, which he generously played around and was skittled. Apart from that abberation, Steve was unlucky to get -9, with three run-outs off direct hits. One of those was a 12-run swing as it was off a delivery Steve had just dispatched into another postcode - unfortunately it came back marked 'Return to sender'. The upside for Steve is that he now has 494 runs for all seasons, and has the rare opportunity to score 500 runs for the team, twice.
Shoutout has to go to Greg and Damo jointly for their partnership of 38. With just one wicket and only three backnets, they amassed a large total by working the ball around and not getting out. They were given no freebies with not one extra being bowled to them.
Personally:
Well, a bit messy getting to the game. Managed to keep Greg and Mel waiting, and show up mildly drunk. Still bowled tightly, and was able to let loose in the batting. Long live the Laver & Wood.
A 7-1 win over a team that's given us problems in the past is undoubtedly positive. Chalk up another win to the important stat.
Generally:
Try and observe what the batsmen seem comfortable with
- There's quite a few players who are competent enough to hit it when it's on the stumps, but if they have to free the arms and play a stroke outside the line they have difficulty.
- Some players (like Damo and Gary) are punishing when it's short and wide as they play a cross-bat shot for the backnet very well.
- Some batsmen have no backlift, and are constantly just leaning into the ball and pushing it around. That means any time they have to play a cross-bat shot (either short or outside the line of offstump) they struggle.
- Lack of footwork is another one - bowl where
Damo
8/08/2003 3:52:04 pm
Well Callum I must thank yourself and Steve for deliberately leaving Greg and I a decent run chase to wrap the game up. We love the pressue - we're like sponges - we just soak it all up (Greg also has this effect on bottles of alcohol apparently).
It wasn't the nicest of welcome backs for big Steve unfortunately - it's not often that every bastard on the field manages to make direct hits - however we must thank him as they couldn't hit a damn thing when Greg and I were batting - we would have had 3 or 4 more outs if they had hit with us - although I like to think it's all about placement of the ball....that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
I thought Chan bowled like a demon last night - he had a great line and length and from where I was fielding it was looking pretty good as it slid past the batsman's bat several times, perilously close to the stumps! Unluckly not to get a few more wickets.
Paul was at again - last week he nearly sconed the umpire and this week he gave it another couple of good attempts early on - all I heard from my position was the ball whistling like some kind of cruise missile as it zereod in on the umps head....hang in there Paul - you'll get that bastard sooner or later......a request if I may...save it for Ricky!
Personally...
I was much happier with my bowling this week - it felt pretty good coming out of the hand, although my best delivery of the night slipped out of my hand by accident but luckily had a nasty curve on it and it just happened to find the base of middle stump!
Fielding wasn't too bad but I really need to start getting more of my shots at the stumps on target - it's frustrating for all concerned to see the ball flying past the stumps :(
Batting - well I started off having a bit of a heave ho and after realising it wasn't really coming off changed tack and we started to play the sides nets a bit - far too sensible for my liking but hey it got the required result. Thanks Greg for the lousy second run call that eventuated in our only wicket of the partnership. Having said that I tried my best to get you run out by calling you back for a second when you were somewhere down by the backnet ;-) But it all ended happily.
A good start to the season (that being the first Competition Game - see the fixtures). So onward and upward!
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