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Paddy Foleys Cricket ClubMatch report: vs. Predators, Game 1 Japan Cricket League Division One, 25 April 2010By Jeff Flew A combination of inclement April weather and a number of players being on holidays put paid to any pre-season friendlies this year so our first JCA League match was also the first game of the season for most of us. The exceptions being Goldie, John and Sule who have already had a hit in the newly formed JPL mixed competition. Our opponents were our old friends and rivals The Predators and as our first match in division one we were keen to start the season off with a win.
With some regulars still unavailable we relied on some new members to get a full 11 together. Wayne Richardson, Bruce Darrington and Paul Quirk all played their first game for the club, and Udaya Athukorala returned to Paddys after an absence of 3 years. Welcome to the club guys and look forward to seeing more of you during the year.
We were greeted by a beautiful sunny spring day and made our way out to the ground in good time. Rob was leaning towards bowling first if he won the toss and as it turned out so were the opposition and we were sent into bat. The ground was a bit wet in places and with grass almost up to the ankles in the outfield looked like it had not been mown since last season. So fours would be hard to come by we figured you could probably deduct 20 runs form a normal score due to the slow outfield. Goldie and Sule opened the batting and Goldie wasted no time scoring 9 off the first over. Next over saw the first wicket fall with Sule bowled for a duck by the deceptive Francois, bringing John to the crease. Both players were looking in good nick and the scoreboard started ticking along nicely. Goldie struck a big straight drive over the bowler's head and a replacement ball was required. Some of the Predators were getting quite vocal and some ridiculous appealing was taking place, and one bowler in particular liking to try and stare down the batsman after he bowled. A caught behind appeal from Goldie went against them and they showed their displeasure yappering away at the umpire for what seemed and age and increasing their noise on the field. Goldie and John did not look too bothered and continued to push the score along nicely. After a fine partnership of 73 Goldie finally succumbed out caught for an excellent 51. He was given quite a send off with Younis jumping up and down and squealing around him and a few others chipping in yappering away like a bunch of girls, Goldie just smiled but no doubt deposited their faces in his memory bank for when it was their turn to bat. I was next man in and noticed immediately that the Predators captain and other senior players like Graeme were quiet embarrassed by this behavior, berating the guys involved and distancing themselves from their excessive displays.
John was next man down caught behind for a fine knock of 32. Udaya joined me at the crease but did not last long out bowled for 2 and the score had suddenly gone from 1-85 to 4-96 and the momentum of the match was starting to move away from us. Next man in was Wayne but he too was on his way quickly bowled without troubling the scorers. Adnan joined me at the crease and together we got us to drinks with the score now 5-107 after 20 overs. The run rate was fine but with 5 wickets down the innings was in the balance. We thought if we could get to 160-170 it would be a good total especially with the slow outfield, what we didn’t want was to end up all out for 120-130.
After drinks Adnan was next man out caught for 8, the total now 6-111. Rob came in and asked me about the bowler, I told him he's a spinner to which he replied "I don’t know how to play spin", he was shortly after bowled by the straight one for 1. Bruce joined me at the crease and together we knuckled down and put together a steady partnership of 28, milking as many wides and byes as we could before I was next out bowled for a patient 17. Bruce and Andy Welch continued to add runs putting on 13 before Bruce was out for a valuable 10. Paul and Andy put on another 6 taking the final total to 161 before Andy was the last man out for 4, Paul remained not out on 5 runs. Whilst we had failed to capitalize on our good start we were not unhappy with 161, the outfield was slow and with a good bowling line up we felt it was definitely a defendable total. But it would require us to be disciplined, keep the fielding tight and take our catches. Just a preface to what follows the score sheet provided by Predators was of similar standard to some of their appealing, quite atrocious so apologies up front if people's bowling stats or figures are out, I did my best to piece the missing details together from memory.
Goldie and John got the innings under way and it wasn't long before we got our first breakthrough, a flick to fine leg and the batsmen went for the second chancing Adnan's arm, but that proved to be a mistake and keeper Bruce had the bails of with the batsman a metre short, one down. I've rarely seen Paddys so fired up in field and there was plenty of chat with more than a few of us keen to give some back to those who'd dished it out when we were batting. There was some good sledging going on, one of the better ones from new guy Wayne who commented that "you'd get better batter in a fish and chip shop".
The next man in was one of their chief protagonists and Goldie noticing the lack of helmet promptly put a man close in at leg slip, sure enough a bit of chin music followed and the batsman was looking rather uncomfortable out in the middle. He did manage to stick around for a few overs but never looked like troubling the scorers eventually out bowled by John for a duck. The next pair put on 18 runs before Goldie picked up the next one caught behind. Goldie claimed the 4th as well LBW and we had them on the ropes at 4-30 but with opener Graeme still in and looking dangerous we new the job wasn't done yet.
Our good friend Younis was next man in and Goldie's eyes lit up as he looked to get reacquainted with the man who'd given him such an over the top send off. He was almost out before scoring except for my poor throw from about 5 metres at mid-on, in hind sight I could probably have walked up to the bails and knocked them off but never the less a life given. There was plenty of short stuff and the batsmen were needing to bob and weave but these two did put on 35 runs to keep Predators in the match. I came on to replace Goldie and in my second over got the breakthrough we required getting Graeme's wicket with Paul claiming a good catch at deep mid-off. I got my second with no more runs added to the total bowling their number 8 batsmen Vinit.
Andy Welch came into the attack and got Younis out with his first ball, the batsmen dollying up a full toss to me in covers, Predators now 7-65 and the game was well and truly in the bag. The last few batsmen got the score up to 84 with Andy getting one more wicket caught by Adnan and John finishing the innings off bowling the Predators captain Andy.
So the end result was a 77 run victory, the momentum of the game swung a bit at different times but in the end it was a pretty comfortable win. It was nice to see a few different guys contributing here and there especially some of the new faces. In particular we bowled very well and were very good in the field with only one dropped catch. We new this game would be a must win for us in the JCL 1st division this year and by bowling them out in less than 32 overs we picked up a bonus point which may prove valuable later in the season. The trip back was marred by bad traffic but we had a few celebratory beers at Paddys after the game, where they'd had a busy day being Anzac Day, Andy and Graeme from Predators joined us as well for a drink which was nice of them. We have always had a good relationship and rivalry with the Predators over the years, playing for the famed Golden Bat and many of us are friends or colleagues off the field. A minority of them went over board with their behavior and appealing in this game and that fired a few of us up as well. Let's hope we can keep a good relationship with them going forward and hope next game is played in a better spirit.
Batting Scorecard
Bowling Figures
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