Entrecasteaux given a bashing
A beautiful warm September day greeted these young thrusters from across La Manche who the home side had been warned had come with a force that might prove irresistible. Entrecasteaux therefore fielded what looked on paper like a strong team but they were well and truly thrashed in what was an excellent game of cricket. Somehow with the captain not present the toss was made and in loosing the toss the home side were sent out into the field.
Gregory (7-0-71-1) opened from the Garden House end and bowled too many wides. Vishnu Muraleedharan Saraswathy (7-0-44-1) was rather more of a problem for the batsmen and he had Steel (8) bowled in his second over. This enabled Shaw (100 retired) to join Bradley (50) and together they made a match winning partnership of 103 runs, enjoying the hard surface which allowed the ball to race to the boundary. They were not extravagant with neither batsman scoring the maximum but Shaw hit the ropes 12 times and Bradley 6 times. Both batsmen offered difficult chances behind the wicket but when Harland removed his gloves at the end of the innings his middle finger was soaking blood and he must have been very uncomfortable, having suffered this collateral damage at the start of the innings.
Slack (4-1-21-0) replaced Vishnu and bowled 3 very tidy overs before Shaw and Bradley got the measure of him and Chaminda Perera (4-0-18-0) had taken over at the Garden House End delivering another good spell and so it was that at the drinks break after 17 overs bowled the home side had managed to restrict the visitors to 86 runs but only for the loss of 1 wicket.
After the break the tempo definitely picked up. Whereas the run rate prior to drinks was just over 5 runs per over, after drinks the final 18 overs claimed a run rate of 9.2 per over. Edwards (7-0-51-2) had Bradley well caught by Gregory at deep square leg and 2 overs later claimed the wicket of Noble (7) clean bowled. Gregory finally took his wicket in his second spell when Horn (28) was caught in dramatic fashion by Perera at midoff running backwards and diving to grab the ball just inches from the turf.
Shepperton (28 n.o) took up where Horn had left off and when Shaw retired on attaining his ton it enabled Bunting (2 n.o.) to enter for a cameo role before the 35 overs were completed and the Kirkwood Bashers had amassed an impressive 252 runs.
It was going to take some doing but when the opening pair of Slack (18) and Edwards (49) went out to bat and breezed to 70 runs after just 8 overs it looked as though the victory was a formality. Slack was seeing the ball like a melon, indeeed his first ball was smashed to the ropes but then in the sixth over, off the bowling of Pratt (5-0-25-1) he was not quite settled and so the yorker found its way through to the wicket. Edwards continued agressively and was now joined by Perera (8) who having hit two boundaries had to return to the pavilion having been tempted into playing a shot to a ball that left the bat, off the bowling of Faulkner (4-0-13-3), and he was well caught at third slip. Yes that is not an exaggeration, the opposition played with an aggressive 7:2 field, including 3 slips and a gully, throughout the Entrecasteaux innings. A sign of the skipper having confidence in his bowlers who did not let him down.
With Edwards falling to a well taken catch at cover point off the bowling of Sarre (3-0-17-1) the rest of the Entrecasteaux batsmen rolled over pathetically and they had only reached 113, having been 82 for 3, when the last wicket fell. Burrell (3) bowled, Karunarathnage (0) caught wicket, Vishnu (14) caught, Fife (5) lbw, Harland (1) and Gregory(6) both run out, and Crozier (0) bowled.
It was not an impressive peformance with the bat, or, with 29 extras including 18 wides, a particularly worthy effort with the ball. This side shows all the symptons of having some potential but with the lack of regular practice there is little chance of them demonstrating that potential.
Entrecasteaux were bashed, losing by 139 runs. Perhaps it is the age factor, the Entrecasteaux teams combined total age was well in excess of 139 years more than the visitors combined total age. Ah, salvation!
Sincere thanks to Ann Mitchem for producing her usual exemplary lunch and to Sian Crozier for her immaculate scoring. Thanks also to Maurice Mitchem and Mike Lomax for their control over the proceedings.
Entrecasteaux XI: Chaminda Perera (captain), Brad Edwards, Cliff Gregory, Anthony Slack, Vishnu Muraleedharan Saraswathy, Ed Harland (wicket keeper), Shalana Karunarathnage, Steve Crozier, Glen Burrell, Andy Fife.
Umpires: Maurice Mitchem, Mike Lomax.
Scorer: Sian Crozier.
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