Phillips Head Screw as Acton Can't Get
Out of Gaol.
With the Ones on The Green for their first game of the Sunday
League,
the Sunday Twos jaunted down to Broom Road for their
hastily-arranged
conference game against Acton II. With the intensity of the sun
apparent to all it was with much relief that stand-in skipper D
'not-so-FTEB' Henderson won the toss and elected to bat.
Don 'DJ' Campbell and G 'Dirty' Sanchez commenced proceedings, and
the
innings started well with Don's first scoring shot whistling to the
boundary. Alas things deteriorated in the second over when Gilbert,
having patted one ball with his new bat straight to cover, then went
back to a low one and was caught in front for a blob.
A 'Mr Angry' Donelan was thus into the fray untimely thrust and he
and
Don went about seeing off of the openers for the middle order.
Don took eight overs to play himself in and then started
accelerating.
Clearly not wishing to over-exert himself in the heat, he dealt
mostly
in boundaries bringing up his fifty in the 16th over before falling,
also LBW, for 65 in the 20th.
Nitin, last week's 87* hero, was his successor and the centre pair
continued to take the game to the bowlers with Donners, clearly
taking
the skipper's request to up tempo to heart, regularly advancing down
the track and going from 21 in his 20th to 42 in his 27th before
holing out at extra-cover.
P 'Chirp' Sheridan was next to try his luck, but found it in short
supply as he played around a straight one after boshing two through
the off side. If his was a brief cameo, A 'Morphine!' Crosby topped
it, sadly registering the second blob of the game with a thick top
edge off a forehand smash powering to mid-off.
Chris 'Not Andy' Phillips, in his second Twos game, joined in the
big
hitting, timing some corking straight shots early in his innings
before being unpicked on 16 whereupon keeper H 'H' Kriess sauntered
out.
Nitin fell for a classy 35, allowing, with five overs left, Holgs
(9),
J 'Dream Crusher' Thatcher (11*) and W 'Harold' Wright (1*) to put
some quick'uns on the board, closing the innings on 239. Perhaps 20
runs below par, but surely defendable.
Tea was, as ever, superb and served up by Adam Crosby in a fetching
pink pinny.
With the skipper having a bit of a mental abberation about the
type of bowling Chris Phillips offered (despite even nabbing a catch
off him the week before), Bing was invited to accompany Thatch with
new ball.
Thatch, hoping to exploit the variable bounce from the Road End
generated good pace and the height (low this week, sadly) caused
trouble for batsmen and keeper alike. Crosby plopped it on the spot
as
usual and kept things tight.
A Thatch short ball hurried the number one, who obligingly sent a
skier to Bill Wright who gratefully accepted at gully, before Bill
winkled out the number two, clean bowled.
There then followed an extended partnership that threatened to take
the game from the Ts. Bowlers were rotated with Hendo, Donners,
Thatch
and Nitin all failing to find way in. The skipper tried a few
gambles
that didn't pay off, and those that almost did, just fell short.
Eventually Chris reminded the skipper he actually bowls a bit of
seam
and five wickets later (Donald, two takes at midwicket including one
double-handed left-side scorcher; Sheridan, a high one at mid on;
Sanchez, a juggler at extra cover; one clean bowled) the Ts looked
in
a far better position all around.
Bill Wright picked up a wicket with a lofted shot taken by Hendo at
mid-off before Adam Crosby bowled out the last over containing the
visitors to 224/8 off 40.
The Twos won by 15 runs in a thoroughly entertaining game all
around.
Donald's fifty from opening set the tone for a high-scoring game,
the
Acton youngsters really excelled with blade but the man of the match
has to go to Chris Phillips for his efforts with the ball who
managed
to swing the game.
Not too bad for a spinner. |
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