Wield vs Medstead, Sunday 7th August
Weather - Sunny with the usual Wield tornado coming down the hill
Match summary – A testing draw against our local rivals
With yours truly becoming the 5th captain this year we won the toss and inserted Medstead. Simon Smith (borrowed from the Candovers) opened down the hill with young Aidan (borrowed from Perrins!!) bowling into hurricane Katrina up the hill. It was a steady start all round until the equilibrium was shattered by some of the worse fielding ever seen at Wield!!!! Difficult to believe I know but with his son bowling well, a reasonably well struck drive to mid off was somehow missed by Matt, an aberration we thought until he performed the same pathetic dive over the ball and another 4 had been racked up. 2 more woeful attempts later and the captain took off Aidan (Thanks Dad!!!!) and replaced him with the only slightly older Robin!!!
After a great spell from Simon he was replaced by (fresh from grade cricket in Oz) Jim. In a very surprising turn for Wield Jim started off with some actual bouncers which had the Medstead openers hopping around and the keeper (Me) leaping around. Slightly bemused by this new form of cricket the Medstead team started gifting their wickets to Robin at the other end. The runs were drying up apart from 3 or 4 bits of world class fielding from Matt adding to the score.
Toby dived full length to his right to shell a catch in the covers!!!!!! We all applauded his effort apart from the bowler who jotted the drop in his black book!!! This attempt at real cricket continued with Toby repeating the whole scenario and Robin jotting it down again.
With Jim making a reasonable impression of Chris Tremlett and Robin benefiting from some more gifts Medstead reached 100/4. I took a real stumping and Digby with a great bit of fielding got a run out. 3 more bits of embarrassing fielding later and Medstead were on the attack with Tim (It’s my first game in 5 years!!) reaching 50.
Jim finished his fiery but wicket less spell and was replaced by the equally fearsome Philip!!!! Who along with Digby made sure Medstead raced passed 150, more garbage fielding came and went as Tim headed towards a 100. The captain brought back Simon and Jim to try and stem the flow of runs. With the later moaning like a very big girl about having to bowl into the wind!!!! Jim finally picked a deserved wicket with the worse ball he bowled all day!!!!
No one bothered to mention to Tim he was on 93 and Medstead finished on a very good but probably unreachable 198.
A fantastic tea came and went before Toby and I walked down the hill to start our reply.
Toby’s weekend horribilis continued when he missed a straight one and I was joined by Digby. A few words of wisdom from the captain (along the lines of take your time we only bat down to number 3) and the partnership began to grow.
Digby and I reached 50 before I received a juicy full toss which I gratefully slapped straight to point!!!!! DOH!!!!
With the best bit of captaincy all day I had put Trigger (M H-T) at 4 only to make sure he couldn't umpire!!!!!
Trig played very well with Diggers until his departure which brought our fielding hero to the crease!! Owing the team tons of runs didn’t deter Matt as he went on to prove his batting was equally as good as his brave and athletic fielding!!!
Jim lurched down the hill to join Diggers and the amusing sight of 6ft 4” Jim facing pocket size Jamie Legg. Needless to say Jamie won!!! The procession of wickets did not stop Digby reaching 50 and with Simon they added some much needed runs. Digby finally took one swing too many and departed for an excellent 79.
Aidan did much better than his father before Robin arrived in time to see some lusty blows from Simon and grab a Yorkyesk not out!!!
In the end Wield gained a creditable draw finishing on 156/7 only 42 runs short of our target and incidentally about the same amount that Matt had dived over!!!!!
Tony
