Match Report
Rather than do a detailed match report I thought I’d be better off summarising each innings.
Firstly the weather was glorious and in total contrast to the Ashford game. Sheen Common is a nice place to play cricket. I took a few photos especially during the 2nd innings so will post these up on the Facebook group.
Ok to the game itself. Having been “allowed” to bat first the SP innings kind of meandered a bit with only opener Ashberry really applying himself. He had a big score for the taking when he gave catching practice to Hector at deep mid on for 35 (7 fours).
Maghalles batted well for his 22 bringing out the sweep to good effect before a moment of carelessness. It was left to Patel’s brisk 36* (1 six, 4 fours) and George 18* to give the innings some impetus. Many batsmen got themselves out. One to a full toss (Ashberry), 2 to long hops (Maghalles, Arya), 2 run outs (though credit to neat fielding by Nigel accounting for opener Smith and Leon backhanded flick to dismiss George), 1 dragging on, and 1 given out lbw sweeping across the line (perhaps a bit unlucky).
The pick of the bowlers was Niraj with 7-1-28-2 and 15 of them came from his 1st over. Mo took 2 wickets in a brief spell. Nigel’s 7-0-32-1 was perhaps ruined with 3 fours coming off his last 3 deliveries.
The fielding was impressive on the whole and Parks captained the side thoughtfully and wasn’t content to let things drift.
A target of 174 was a little more than we expected but on a slowish wicket would be competitive at least.
Incidentally the SP scorecard and the one on the website do show some discrepancies to batting positions, names, & even runs scored. I have based my report on their scorebook.
After the loss of an early wicket Will Stevens and Leon batted with good commonsense adding 48 before Leon was bowled for 23. At this point I was circling the boundary taking some snaps and was luckly to snap a few boundaries here and there. With Will playing the anchor role Hector came in at no4 and played some big shots. Will managed his maiden 50 before a change in umpire (and no more pics being taken) disturbed Hector’s concentration. His 37 took a mere 25 balls as he and Will added 84.
There was time for Ollie Tenant to come in and play some “interesting” shots which drove the opposing fielders a little mad. It was pleasing to see Will realise his importance to the team in making sure he saw it to the end. He played shots of real quality during his 77 (95 balls, 12 fours).
Finally I’d like to say that in the 3 games I’ve played so far I’ve met 20 new team mates. That seems quite high but it also shows just how the club has grown since I was turning out regularly.
As an “old timer” I’ve been made to feel very welcome. I hope to see much more of them during the season.
Sheen Park 173/8 (35 overs) M Khan 2/8, Tailor 2/28
PCC 176/5 (33 overs) Stevens 77*, Hood 37, Parks 24
Result: WON BY 5 WKTS
(Match review by N Khan)
