TCC 3’s v. Winchmore Hill CC 3’s (Home)– Saturday 17th May
A very grey Broom Road Recreation Ground welcomed both teams for the second league encounter of the season. The weather was looking ominous as the council grasscutters removed themselves from the outfield just before the start. Newly promoted Winchmore Hill were the visitors and in the knowledge that the oppo had only managed a losing draw in the first match against Barnes, the T’s squad were confident of another good result. The only problem seemed to be whether or not we were going to get a full game in. WH’s new captain Paul Chapman won the toss and took no time at all in deciding do have a bowl because there were no immediate clues as to how the wicket was to perform. T’s included three changes from the previous week’s victory. A late forced drop out brought Nitin Parab back into the side (for Dan Leaney) for his first cricket of the season, whilst at the same time we were welcoming back Jacques Grobler and Phil Biggs to add penetration to the opening bowling attack.
However, the opening exchanges did not go to plan, and it was the youthful pacy opening attack of the visitors that threatened to grab the headlines. Both Colin Blunden and “the Don” Campbell did not look too comfortable as the wicket defied expectations and seamed about violently at one end with the odd one nipping off a length to shoulder height. The “Don” succumbed to a catch behind in the fourth over with the score on just 8 bringing Jimmy Liebenberg to the crease a little earlier than he might have liked. He began cautiously as might be expected in his first experience of Broom Road . The one consolation for the onlooking batsmen to come was that the newly mown outfield was rolling very well despite the heavy soaking that it must have endured in the past few days. Colin Blunden(8) was beginning to look like his old self until the seventh over when he too fell to a caught behind – departing with the score at 16 for 2 after 7 overs – was a mini crisis beginning to develop?
Jimmy was joined by Travis and it seemed that normal service was to be resumed. Jimmy was toiling in the difficult conditions but Travis hit form almost immediately and it was not long before his full array of shots were displayed. One sublime onside drive had “pure class” written all over it and suddenly the nerves on the boundary seemed to settle. The great thing about these two batsmen is that they like to accumulate their runs quickly and they very soon accelerated the run rate above 4. The WH bowlers continued to work hard from the lively end and just sought to contain at the other. But the pitch was always going to be the winner today and Travis eventually fell to another catch in the 17th over with the score on 68. His knock of 29 seemed to have settled the ship and Nitin Parab joined Jimmy at the wicket at this point. The bowling was certainly on top now but both Nitin and Jimmy knuckled down to hang on in there and only 15 runs were added in the next 8 overs. Jimmy unluckily played on in the 23rd over for a hard fought 24 – a true “baptism of fire” in his first Broom Road appearance! Skipper Parker then joined Nitin at the crease needing to build a partnership and 24 more runs were added in the next eight overs before Nitin fell to yet another catch behind the wicket off the glove this time (107 for 5 off 31). Both McCann and Burke came and went cheaply, both clean bowled, as the 16 year old Chris Chapman showed great skill off the seam moving the ball both ways at will. Parker’s experience, more than anything else, was standing him in good stead as the ball flew past the edge of the bat on a number of occasions and he took his runs where and when he could. The defining partnership was then between Parker and keeper Jon Trippett coming in at nine(135 for 7 in 40). Jon hung around for seven further overs and gave valuable support to his skipper as they pushed the score up over the 150 mark and towards respectability. But two quick wickets in the opening bowler Barrell’s third spell accounted for both Trippett and Grobler rendering us 156 for 9 after 47. Phil Biggs(5) offered four overs of resistance before being carelessly run out by Barrell in the 51st over as the innings ended on 165. Parker, left stranded on 48 N.O.(some call it jug avoidance) was unsure if his knock was going to make any difference at all as we left the field with what we thought was possibly 20 or 30 runs too few.
At the resumption the match was reduced to 97 overs due to a couple of squally shower delays thereby leaving the oppo 46 overs to chase their target or for us to take the wickets we needed for an improbable win. Grobler and Biggs took the new ball this week and WH openers looked resolute as they set about their task. The tasty first change bowler Chris Chapman played some strong forcing shots as he opened up the batting and suddenly there didn’t seem to be quite so much in the wicket for our bowlers. As ever, Jacques Grobler warmed to his task and cleaned up the youngster with a yorker when Chapman reached 15, at that point in time it seemed like a very timely wicket to have taken. The boys were ready as WH’s chirpy wicketkeeper came in at three, and was sent back to the pavilion first ball after a neat catch at first slip by Travis Birtwhistle off Jacques’ next delivery. Suddenly the oppo were 2 down for not very many and Avent coming in at 4 had certainly not set the world alight in the field and didn’t look like the sort to do so with the bat in his hand either! So it proved, as he soon also fell to Grobler to a catch behind by Jon Trippett. Amin, at 5, didn’t fill the T’s with too much trepidation and was also quickly dispatched as he took on the rapid arm of Jimmy Liebenberg trying to nick a risky second run. A fine throw by Jimmy gathered well by JT saw Amin run out and the score was now 57 for 4 with the weather looking very gloomy again and the outlook for the oppo not looking much better. But WH realised that all they had to do was get their score up to a rate of 3.3 or better and then they could get off the field with a winning draw if the elements were to take a hand. As we passed the twenty overs bowled stage at which a result would have to ensue, Parker knew that T’s needed the wickets urgently whilst WH just needed to maintain a higher run rate and wait for the inevitable. But the weather continued to hold and Barrell and opener Ashan kept WH’s hopes alive. Barrell was batting aggressively but Grobler (11o 1m 4w 34r) chipped in with another timely wicket having Ashan caught behind(again) by Trippett. Phil Biggs(10o 0m 0w 31r) had bowled heroically without any luck at all, including Mr. Trippett shelling the biggest dolly of the season when Barrell was only in single figures at the time, was replaced by Jimmy Liebenberg(6o 2m 3w 17r) who bowled an eventful 6 overs which effectively broke the back of WH’s resistance. Jimmy’s three included 2 “plum” LBW’s and tieing down the quiet River End following Biggsy’s tidy spell was key to WH not getting the runs they required. A great effort by the bowlers was finished off by Howard McCann(3.2o 1m 2w 8r) taking two wickets from skied catches firstly (ct. Blunden) the dangerous Barrell (31) and the final wicket (ct. Parker). With WH being dismissed for 110 a second win and another ten points which should leave us top of the league this weekend – other results allowing of course.
The game was memorable for two incidents. The first, for me, was our umpire, the venerable Gerry Brennan, introducing a new way of offering the elements to the captains – walking off the field and waving for everyone to follow!!! And the second was the introduction of the heavy roller late on in the oppo’s innings as Pete Burke(2o 0m 0w 14r) joined the bowling attack at the “slippery end” – unlucky Pete (and Happy Birthday!! – thanks for not telling us!!)
Phil Parker.
(Very stiff -again).