Match Report

Every Cloud has a Silver Lining

I have chosen this title, to this match report, for a reason because on the face of it we were thrashed, losing by 9 wickets and on any other day we should be berating ourselves on a pathetic batting performance and running the London Marathon for charity in penitence – but we shouldn?t.

I saw glimmers of hope from a number of PCC stalwarts which suggests to me that we have players that are developing very well if only, on this day, others could have supported them more.

The day started well, I woke up and packed my bag leaving the house at 11:55! A little tight to be at the ground by 12.30! But with the wind in my sails and the traffic lights in my favour I arrived at our lovely home at 12:40.

Wimbledon won the Toss and decided to field. Leon thought this was a little defensive, which I comment upon as it shows Captain Leon has a positive attitude in his Captaincy! PCC would have batted if he had won!

Steve Hammer and I opened, the opening bowlers were true medium fast and bowled a good line. I going to mention this because I scored off the first ball of the day! A dab for 2 runs! Can life get any better? Steve played straight and true hitting some nice boundaries especially one back over the bowlers head. We put on 17 runs and then I got out, I didn?t move my feet across the line and played a lazy shot being caught behind. Leon came in a smashed a four. Looking good we thought, another couple of deliveries later and he flashed a ball through gulley, a definite four surely? until the gulley fielder diving backwards caught the ball 6 inches off the ground behind himself! Incredible catch! Leon departed 22-2! Hamster was then joined by Flash Heart and we all thought this partnership would be crucial in getting us a score. Sadly this was not to be and Hamster tried to guide a delivery through the gulley again to be wonderfully caught. At 24-3 the innings was not looking good. In came Ben Glover, who many of us had not seen for a number of years and we were treated to some fine batting.? Ben and Flash Heart ( LockHeart) rebuilt the innings with straight batting from Ben who looks like he was well trained and from Tom who I think now bats a little like Derek Randall.? ?Whilst Ben reintroduced himself to the art of batting Tom took the attack to Wimbledon and did so in a sensible fashion. Defending the good balls and waiting for the over pitched delivery or for the one that sat up short of a length which were then dispatched to the boundary with aplomb. Tom and Ben had a partnership of 38 runs before Tom was caught at deep square leg trying to hit the spinner out of the ground. This dismissal was a real shame as Tom was batting so well and should have gone on longer. In came Kevin, who began the silver lining that I recall this day as being because he batted so well. His batting has really come on, he stands tall at the crease watching each delivery very closely and gets himself into the perfect position to either defend or attack the ball as he sees fit. Kevin now has the foundation on which to build his batting in the seasons to come and it is a credit to him that he has worked so well on his game. He put on a partnership of 11 with Ben before Roo came and went to another wonderful catch! Then the silver lining continued with Matt Rees scoring 16, Matt Jones 28 and AJ 11 not out! These guys combined scored 55 runs which was tremendous! Wimbledon didn?t give us anything, they had competitive club cricketers who all wanted to win but these guys stood up and played really well. Matt Rees played some lovely shots straight back over the bowlers head and Matt Jones hit some fine leg side cover drives. All three playing genuine shots with purpose. I sincerely hope that these guys can go on and score many more .

So PPC were eventually out for 134 and without the silver lining we could have been all out for 80 odd!

What I love about this game is that it brings your character out and we have loads of it at PCC.

Teas was taken, John was there! And the dog

Wimbledon took Guard and we sped in take their scalp. Captain Leon has guile and opened with AJ much to the frustration of the openers. With Roo on at the other end we got off to a reasonable start. But in truth we all felt as though are score was not enough. This is when we miss Matt Ridgeway, he would have steamed in shirt flapping in the wind and given them some! As well as us! The bad ball was despatched for four and the total was soon within the reach of Wimbledon. AJ in particular bowled well and was unlucky not to take a wicket. At 43 Matt Jones took the only wicket of their innings having the opener plumb LBW. The other opener top scored with 86 not out but in truth if we had taken our chances, although sharp, he could and should have been out in his 40,s.

As we all know in cricket low scores can be defended if we take all our chances but today was not to be.

The game was played in a lovely spirit and I thank Wimbledon United CC for making it so nice. No one chatted to each other apart from saying well played.

Paddy X