Sunday XI v Captain Scotts XI August 21st 2016
For the first time this season the Sunday X1's game was curtailed by rain. Having lost the toss skipper Armstrong was asked to bat, which he would have done anyway. Openers Alex Hess and Blair King were quickly into their stride. Hess flicked the first ball of the match to the square leg boundary and this summed up the first part of the M & B innings. Both batsmen were aggressive, especially Hess, but both batsmen were given plenty of poor balls to dispatch. To the seamers Hess batted out of his crease and was quick to drive the ball often in the air over the infield as well as flick the ball over widish mid -on. King generally played straight down the ground and was quick to dispatch the short ball as well as steer the ball through the gully region. Hess dispatched spinner Hawson over widish mid-on in the 4th over for 6. Hess should have been dismissed on 25 but mid-on missed a relatively easy chance off Thickett as Hess tried to hit over the top. The drop would prove costly as Hess went on to continue his wrecking spree of the bowler's figures. M& B posted their 50 in the 7th over quickly followed by their 100 in the 14th. Spinner Smail earned The Captain's X1 some respite by castling King middle stump as he inexplicably tried to hit a full length delivery through mid wicket when straight was the option, especially as he had been so strong straight earlier in his innings. Still 41, containing 5 4's and a 6 is not shabby and an opening partnership of 113 in less than 16 overs to boot. The platform enable colt Jai Chopra to enter the fray with no pressure, enabling him to build an innings, especially with Hess carrying on his merry way at the other end. Hess innings was terminated on 84 though by a goody from Smail which appeared to drift in pitch turn and hit the top of off, much to the bowler's delight. Still 84 inside 22 overs was a great effort from Hess, his innings contained 11 4's and 26's. He was dropped a couple of times and a few shots just managed to find the gaps, but fortune favours the brave. Fellow spinner, Patel, brought an early end to Louis Blackwell's innings as he attempted to sweep and was sent on his way lbw by the umpire. With 153 on the board in the 24th over there wasn't any actual pressure on the batsmen. Chopra started pushing the ball round for singles and was quick to dispatch the short ball on the legside as well as steer the ball through the gully region. Gunbarul missed out on a few slow full tosses early on but eventually bound his range on the legside as well as through mid off.. Gunbarul was eventually dismissed for 45, which contained 7 4's, as he was well caught at deep mid on of Patel, to leave M & B 224 for 4 in the 35th over. Faisal Aziz came in to support Chopra through to his maiden Sunday 50. The introduction of spinner Hawson brought two short deliveries which were both dismissed to the square leg boundary by Chopra to take him to 48. A driven single through mid-off brought Chopra his half century. Off the penultimate over a beautifully timed flick behind square leg and lofted drive over mid off brought Chopra further boundaries. In the end M & B posted 260 for 5 off their 40overs, with Aziz unfortunately run out off the last ball of the innings. Chopra remained unbeaten on an excellent 63 not out. Spinners Smail and Patel were the pick of the bowlers.
In response the opening batsmen looked to play their shots from ball one, Chandler was off the mark with a cut through the cover as well as playing a well timed off drive off a full length delivery. Joe Blackett bear the bat on the off side on a number of occasions in his four over spell. Fellow opening bowler Atif Amin though struggled with his length bowling a number of leg sides full tosses, which resulted in two official warnings from the umpire. When Amin did actually manage to pitch it he did cause problems, one such ball bowling Chandler through the gate. After around five overs it started to rain and after 7.3 overs the rain became too hard and the players left the field and the covers were put on. The persistent rain eventually caused the abandonment of the game after 40 minutes as there was no prospect of getting the remaining overs in with the daylight left and the fact that it was still raining ! Captain Scott's X1 finished on 54 for 1 in 7.3 overs.