Knockers Vs Linton Park

Lose :: Played on Sunday 31st August 2014

Knockers
131-10

Linton Park
132-4

Match Report

The scorecard makes fairly bad reading – what makes it worse is the fact that it was arranged that Knockers bat first, on the basis that we had a ‘strong side’. It proved to be a serious act of skulduggery from the Linton Park skipper as the opposition coasted home with 15 overs to spare.

Due to a breakdown in communication, Knockers arrived for a 1pm start and Linton Park for a 2pm start. With the exception of Guy Howe of course, who in a typical act of clairvoyance arrived just in time at 2.05pm. Striding out to bat for Knockers were the in-form Ted Darry and the less experienced Charlie Adam (who, disappointingly, wore a white T-shirt). The wicket at St. Lawrence was tired, to put it kindly, and the bounce was slow and low from the outset. Adam met his demise in the third over, falling victim to a direct hit from the boundary to be cruelly run out. Ed Darry failed to take his opportunity to become Knockers’ leading run scorer for the season as he played all around and over a straight one. This brought Chris Perera-Slater and Scott Landers together, whose partnership was the one bright spark in an otherwise gloomy Knockers batting performance. CPS took the spongy wicket out the equation by using his feet and launching three towering sixes over mid-on. Meanwhile, Landers made batting look like child’s play as he plundered a quick-fire 18. He was unlucky to be given out LBW to a ball that struck him above the knee roll. The same fate befell Guy Howe moments later as the pitch claimed another scalp. CPS continued on his merry way before eventually holing out on 49 (Guido did not provide his scorebook correction service on this occasion) to a fine catch inches in from the boundary. The wickets continued to tumble. After making some average bowling look unplayable, Watts hit a full toss straight to deep backward square. Sayem Ahmad hit a powerful four before clipping a leg glance straight to the wicketkeeper. All the fielders appealed, even Matt Watts at the other end appealed – Ted Darry duly gave it not out. In the following over, Ahmad was innocuously struck on the pad, the bowler offering a barely audible appeal – Ted Darry duly raised the finger. Unfortunately the tail did not wag, as Matt Watts and Harry Elliott were clean bowled in successive deliveries, before Ed Marsh could only spoon a catch to midwicket. Knockers were bowled out for 131, 45 minutes before tea was due to be taken.

Tea itself was straight from the top drawer. Freddie Young’s parents put on an excellent spread of homemade cakes and sandwiches. Guy Howe was particularly appreciative of Mrs Young’s fruity muffins and moist Victoria Sponge.

Knockers opened the bowling with Ed Marsh and Harry Elliott. Marsh bowled with good pace early on and beat the bat on several occasions. It was ‘him and us’ out there. Elliott found a good length early on and pitched his tent there, and was unlucky not to have the opener caught at mid-off on two occasions. Matt Watts continued the good start, making Linton Park work for every run. Despite this, one opener began to make the most of the short straight boundary and hit powerfully through the V. After an inspired change of ends, Harry Elliott finally made the breakthrough as Sayem Ahmad took a good catch at mid-on. Two balls later Elliott found himself in mid air, leaping to take a return catch but not quite holding on. Spin came into the attack with Freddie Young, who instantly found turn and had the opener stumped in his first over. Unfortunately amongst his many unplayable deliveries were a few that could have been served with his tea, and Linton Park edged closer to the total. Ted Darry’s leg spin was effective through the crucial ‘middle overs’ and he picked up the third wicket with one that turned sharply to have the batsman out LBW. Sayem Ahmad also bowled three tight overs on an unresponsive deck. With the opposition within 10 runs of the target, the skipper had no choice but to his secret weapon. Guy Howe did not disappoint, producing a perfectly flighted googly that bowled the batsman through the gate. Alas it was in vain, with Linton Park getting over the line the following over.

Despite the 6-wicket margin of victory, Knockers bowled very well, with Linton Park requiring 35 overs to get to 132. In fact, 9 maidens were sent down over the course of the innings, possibly a Knockers record(?) Had we managed to put more runs on the board, it could have been a much tighter affair.

 

Batting

Batsman	How Out	4s	6s	Runs
Edward Darry	bowled	0	0	2
Charlie Adam	run out	0	0	1
Chris Perera-Slater	caught	3	4	49
Scott Landers	lbw	2	0	18
Guy Howe	lbw	1	0	7
Tom Watts	caught	0	0	6
Sayem Ahmad	lbw	2	0	13
Matt Watts	bowled	0	0	1
Ted Marsh	caught	1	1	14
Harry Elliot	bowled	0	0	0
Freddie Young	not out	0	0	2

 

Bowling

Bowler	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts
Ted Marsh	5.0	1	10	0
Harry Elliot	7.0	1	39	1
Matt Watts	6.0	4	10	0
Freddie Young	7.0	0	33	1
Sayem Ahmad	3.0	1	5	0
Edward Darry	4.0	2	14	1
Chris Perera-Slater	2.0	0	2	0
Guy Howe	1.3	0	14	1