Paddy Foleys Cricket Club

Match Report: vs. Serendib, 06 Sep 2009, Twenty20 Gold Cup

These games were our last scheduled Twenty20 matches for the year and it seems unlikely we will progress to the finals in this particular competition. But with just one week before the JCA semi-finals it was a great opportunity to get some practice in before then.

We were supposed to play two matches but ended up winning the first one by default as the opposition team (Lions) no-showed. This was disappointing but we used the time to get in some good practice amongst ourselves. With players pairing up to face 4 overs each and giving everyone a chance to bowl we all got a bit of time in the middle and it turned out to be a good relaxed start to the day. John and Leon were the pick of the batting pairs picking up around 45 runs.

Serendib would be our opponents for the second match and they did turn up, albeit only 8 of them. We had 2 players playing there first games for Paddys today James Dewdney-Herbert and Simon Gibson, welcome to the club guys, hope we will be seeing a lot more of you in the future. In addition it was the farewell game for James Hills who leaves Japan for Finland soon. James has played the last two seasons for Paddys and has been a valued member of the squad, we wish him well for the future.

Serendib batted first and Andy and Peter got us underway opening the bowling. Both bowled with pace and control and although we didn’t pick up any quick wickets the run rate was being restricted well. Andy was to get the first breakthrough bowling one of their openers. Myself and new guy James came on next. James was proving quite a handful for the batsmen with his effective wrist spin and once again the batsmen were not able to really push the scoring along and at the 10 over mark they were 1- 57. Still we needed some wickets, John came on to replace me and bowled a very good line outside off stump and was very economical. James got the next breakthrough after Rob took a sharp chance at gully. I came back into the attack to finish off the innings with John. I collected two wickets in my third over, one bowled and the other out to a fine catch by Peter diving forward. That was to be the last wickets and although they got away a bit in the last over the final total of 114 form 20 overs was one we were comfortable chasing and with only 8 in the field figured there'd be plenty of gaps around. All bowlers did a good job, and our ground fielding was quite good but 5 dropped catches was a worry.

James Hills in his last game opened the batting for use with Simon Jelfs. The pair out on 6 before Simon was out caught to a real beauty of a catch, point fieldsman stretching at full length to take it near the ground. John came in next and looked comfortable from the word go. James pulled off two nice shots for four before being out bowled for 9, score then at 2-19. I joined John at the crease and the two of us put on 28 runs together which had a us sitting quite nicely before I got out bowled for 10. Adnan was next in but did not last long getting run out at the bowlers end backing up too far and we were 4 - 48 and in need of a good partnership to steady things. Peter and John gave us that partnership and together they put on 31 runs. Both players playing sensibly, respecting the good balls and pushing for singles but putting the occasional bad one away for four. Serendib played an interesting tactic of keeping what appeared to be 2 of their best bowlers till later in the innings and this made it a bit more difficult to score after the 10 over drinks break.

At 4 for 79 we appeared to be cruising along a mere 35 runs short of our target, but as is often the case with Paddys some surprises were still to come. John dabbed a ball in the direction of point and Peter called him for a run, there was confusion and the result was John being run out well short at the bowlers end. It was a shame as up to that point John had not looked like getting out. Still a fine knock of 30 runs, well batted John. Captain Rob joined Pater at the crease but was gone first ball for a duck. Simon Gibson was next in for his first bat with Paddys and suddenly survival was the order of the day. Peter was still there and looking comfortable but with overs and partners disappearing fast the game was looking like going down to the wire. Simon tried to rotate the strike and scored two singles but was eventually bowled for 2 with the score 7-88. Next was James for his first appearance for Paddys and during his stay Peter hit a big six and the score did progress to 97 but then James fell caught at mid on for a duck. Andy followed soon after out bowled for a duck with no addition to the score sheet and at 9 for 97 with less than 3 overs to go we looked in big trouble.

Keeper Ricky was last man in and having picked up an injury to his foot while keeping, played with a runner - the fleet of foot James Dewdney-Herbert filling that role. Ricky tried his best to pick up singles to allow Peter to get the strike and Ricky did finish on 3 not out. But in the end the chase for needed boundaries proved too much and coupled with tight bowling we finished 10 runs short, all out for 104. Peter the last man out bowled for 27, a good knock.

It was a disappointing end as we had looked in a good position for most of the match. A couple of key wickets and the failure of someone to hang around with Peter after John's dismissal probably cost us in the end. Still a lot of us got some good practice in over the course of the day which should hold us in good stead for next week.

After the game the majority of players went down to Paddys to enjoy a few pints together and farewell James.

There are still a number of games left in the season. Apart from the JCA finals we are also still in the Pacific Cup, Japan Cup and Golden Bat competitions. Most of the dates are yet to be confirmed so keep a look out for mails from captain Rob and I will update the Web site when dates are confirmed.

Scorecard 06 Sep 2009

Jeff