Energy Exiles Cricket Club

Match Summary: vs. Spencer, Sunday, 07 Sep 2014

Ground: Fieldview
Captain: John Tither
Match type: 40 overs
Toss: Spencer elected to bowl
Weather: Mainly Sunny
Opposition: Spencer scored: 227 for 3 (36.2 overs)
Exiles Score: 224 for 6 (40 overs)
Result: Lost by 7 wickets
Man of the match: Simon Gundry 11 not out & 3 for 25

A strong looking Exiles line up returned to Spencer cricket club on what turned out to be a fine late summer's day looking to return to winning ways after yet another thumping at the hands of WICC the previous week.  In a slight twist to usual cricket procedures, the Exiles were asked if they minded batting first as Spencer had apparently batted first 8 times in a row. The Exiles agreed to this request, confident in the knowledge that most of the key batting personnel from this season were available.

Chris and Will were watchful and perhaps a shade too slow for the first 10 overs, on wicket that looked to offer bounce rather than any unpredictable movement. Not many of the deliveries from the opening Spencer pair were bouncing any lower than waist high, and with hindsight could have been dispatched more readily.  It looked like it was going to be a day of batsmen getting themselves out rather than bowlers unleashing a surprise delivery, and so it proved when the slow bowlers replaced the opening quicks as first Chris played on very tamely and then Jasper holed out at cow corner to a multi tasking sub fielder, who seemed to have either a mobile phone or a pint of beer in his hand while he lurked in the deep, although he annoyingly had neither nearby when he took his catch.

On or around the drinks break with the Exiles cruising along, but perhaps not threatening one of their now obligatory 200+ scores, Will started to accelerate the scoring, well supported by John and Dominic, as it became apparent that while boundaries might be hard to come by on a large outfield, there were plenty of gaps for 1s and 2s.  However the wickets did continue to fall just as various batsmen looked set for big scores, a couple of strange run outs certainly didn't help.

The Exiles score of 224, finished with a towering 6 by Simon, was felt to be possibly about par - long gone are the days of the team posting 170 for 4 and the hoping the bowlers are on their A game. Indeed at tea it was pondered if the average scores this season are the club's highest ever...one for the Stats Man do work on.

With plenty of bowling options on offer, skipper John should have been fairly confident that he had something for most eventualities.  Unfortunately even the best laid plans go to waste, as Spencer opened up with a brutal assault on Terence, Andy and the unfortunate Marcin. It has to be said the shots the openers played were true cricket shots, not mindless slogs but they only served to destroy the Exiles confidence.

Spencer were cruising after 15 overs, and John turned to Chris and Simon to try and ease the flow of runs. Unfortunately while they were both bowling superbly Chris was just plain unlucky, as a variety of catches were spilled as the bedraggled Exiles fielders seemed to wave the white flag. Additionally a couple of decent run out chances were missed and then Will's back packed in so it didn't just rain but pour.  Simon, having dropped a sitter took the wicket of the pugnacious opener a couple of balls later, something he was later keen to point out was part of his tactical master plan.

The scoring did slow down, but a Spencer victory was never in doubt, even though Simon took another wicket with them only requiring 3 runs, a blatant nick behind that for some reason the batsman initially refused to walk for, and made himself look even more foolish by hanging around waiting to be sent on his way while at the same time also suggesting he was actually walking off, although at a pace that meant he was almost overtaken by a snail on his way back to the pavilion. Overall, a fairly dispiriting performance, that left more questions than answers as to why we fell short, especially with such in form personnel available, on a flat track with a large outfield offering little protection from easy runs being scored with some decent hitting.

After a few beers the mood had perked up and the final words of advice were being dished out by the newly self appointed Exiles batting coach Phil Ling, as he first berated Bernard's unorthodox but highly effective technique, and then decided he had some further advice to pass onto the opposition captain about helping to improve their young player who had smashed us around the park earlier.  It was clearly a sign that it was time to head off home.

Report By: Jasper Searle

Last modified: 11 March 2018 14:31:46. Top of the page