Club Statistics
Match Summary: vs. Innings, Sunday, 16 Jul 2006
Ground: King's House Sports Ground
Captain: Andrew Wingfield
Match type: 40 overs
Toss: Innings elected to bat
Weather: Sunny & Very Hot
Opposition: Innings scored: 168 all out (35 overs)
Exiles Score: 156 all out (38.3 overs)
Result: Lost by 12 runs
Man of the match: Keith Roberts 66 runs
| Batsmen | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keith Roberts | ct. | 66 | 105 | 8 | 0 |
| 2 | Quentin Davies | ct. | 3 | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Mark Bradshaw | b. | 8 | 15 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 | Dom Herrington | ct. | 10 | 23 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | Wil Scott | b. | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Amil Patel (W) | run out | 35 | 34 | 3 | 0 |
| 7 | John Hodgson | b. | 3 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Pablo Palao | not out | 9 | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | Andrew Wingfield (C) | ct. & b. | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Marcin Zieleniewski | b. | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | Naren Patel | run out | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Extra(s) 5w 5b 4lb | 14 | |||||
| 156 | 231 | |||||
| Bowler | O | M | R | W | Avg | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrew Wingfield | 8.0 | 1 | 35 | 1 | 35 |
| 2 | Naren Patel | 6.0 | 1 | 22 | 1 | 22 |
| 3 | Pablo Palao | 8.0 | 0 | 30 | 2 | 15 |
| 4 | John Hodgson | 6.0 | 0 | 32 | 4 | 8 |
| 5 | Marcin Zieleniewski | 7.0 | 1 | 32 | 1 | 32 |
| Player | Catch | Run Out | Stumping | Penalty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amil Patel (W) | 1 | 1 | ||
| John Hodgson | 1 | |||
| Marcin Zieleniewski | 1 | 1 |
Exiles contrived to lose a match they really should have won against a talented Innings side, thereby upholding a worrying tradition of being unable to chase achievable totals. Even the slightly comic nature of the ending could not disguise an underlying irritation that we should not have lost after having dominated the first half of the match.
The usual collective groan went up when Andy lost the toss for the 553rd time in a row. The thought of fielding in the heat had most of the team grabbing their water bottles before they ventured out onto the bone dry wicket and took in the appealing vista that awaited them: the shortest boundary possible at the Civil Sports Ground.
Innings, unsurprisingly, batted first and after 8 overs had raced like hares to something like 50 for nothing (although it felt like 500). As the ball was dispatched with carefree abandon to the short boundary, a total of 250 looked on the cards and Exiles began to resign themselves to the usual aimless banter and positive encouragement.
They then turned in a bowling performance of which any Exiles side over the years would have been proud. John Hodgson's first over disappeared for an entertaining 18, but he recovered admirably to take 4 for 32 off six overs. The captain's first spell received some brutal treatment but he came back with an excellent second one. Pablo's spin tied up some talented batsman with some superb overs. And Martin and Naren chipped in with a wicket each.
The Innings below par total of 168 all out was the result. Exiles even had time to drop four catches, although John took a blinder to dismiss one of those opposition batsmen who looked like he was going to score 50 from when he took guard. Overall, it was a superb effort by the bowlers and fielders and set up the Exiles for what looked like an eminently 'gettable' total.
I don't know whether it was the appearance of Phil Chamberlain at tea time with his new offspring, or Pablo donning a fairly outrageous shirt, but Exiles batting - with a few honourable exceptions - didn't live up to its billing.
Exiles - as usual when they are deemed to have a 'strong batting line up' - underperformed. Although Innings bowled steadily, Exiles batsmen contrived to get themselves out too cheaply when simple application by a few more of them, author included would probably have seen them home.
The exceptions, who merit a separate paragraph, were Beefy Roberts and Amil Patel who played contrasting innings, but demonstrated what was possible given the bowling on offer. Beefy, hobbling constantly after a painful blow on his toe, made a resilient 66, punctuated with those trademark off drives which ooze class. Amil played a wristy, invaluable supporting knock of 35, which mixed his usual beautiful drives with a few near misses.
However this proved to be insufficient. Amil was rather unluckily run out by a direct hit from one of the more senior members of the opposition. Beefy departed going for a drive and the rest did not make much of an impression, Exiles finishing with 156 all out to lose by 12 runs.
The amusing ending was provided by Naren who had clearly been watching too much 20-20, and proceeded to run himself out for a duck by trying a sneaky single - after hitting the ball back to the bowler!
Report By: Dominic Herrington