Lyndhurst and Ashurst 25/08/24

After a long drive through the bank holiday traffic, the Wanderers eventually congregated at the beautiful setting in the New Forest.  Having won the toss, Skipper elected to bat on a bright day with a chilly wind blowing down the ground in a 40 overs contest.  David drove the first ball to the cover-point boundary to set the Wanderers on their way.  Ben flirted with a swinging ball outside off-stump before trying to pull a good-length ball and top-edging back to the bowler for no score.  David (4) was bowled by a good swinging delivery to leave the Wanderers 9-2 from 5 overs.  Leo and Tommy set about a recovery and with some quick running between the wickets and some good stroke play managed to do so.  Leo (11 from 25) was fortunate with some drives in the air that missed the fielders but was eventually undone by a decent delivery taking middle stump (34-3, 11).  Skipper (2) was also deceived by an excellent away swinging delivery to leave the Wanderers innings in tatters at 36-4.  Brett had by now made it through the traffic and was preparing himself while Arnav joined Tommy at the crease.  Still no sign of Mike H.  Tommy (21) was bowled by another class delivery taking top of off-stump (52-5, 15).  With Brett and Arnav the Wanderers had 2 left-handers at the crease.  Arnav (12) cracked a couple of fours behind square on the leg-side but he also was bowled.  James fell in the same over without scoring (75-7, 17).  Brett was looking confident until he tried to cut with the ball hitting high on the bat and offering a simple chance to cover (77-8, 20).  With half the overs remaining the last pair were at the crease as Mike H had failed to arrive, despite receiving explicit instructions from Tommy on how to get to the ground.  PW (6) pulled a full-length ball for four behind square but was soon bowled trapped in his crease (90-9, 23).  L&A offered Mike the chance to bat as last man stands with no sign of the elusive Mike H.  He expertly played a solid innings, punishing anything of poor line or length, batting as an exhibition for 11 overs.  He was eventually adjudged LBW by the umpire (Ben) despite being outside the line of off-stump for a superb 37 – the ‘partnership’ worth 41.

Defending a mediocre total of 131 was never going to be a reality, but Brett (0-2) opened with a solid maiden and Leo found some in-swing – getting a wicket in the fourth over taking middle stump having pitched well outside off (6-1, 4).  James replaced Brett with the wind behind him and despite some wides, bowled well.  Leo (1-13) was replaced by Arnav who started to rip the ball from the get-go.  Ben struggled with the breeze, straying to leg too often with a 5 wides and a big six in his first over before a more solid second over.  Arnav got his deserved wicket with the batsman trying to send him far over cow, only to put too much into it and falling over with the ball hitting him in-front of the stumps (56-2, 14)!  PW bowled some tidy overs – his first 4 conceding 7 runs!  The new batsman lived on his lives – spooning a simple chance to Tommy at mid-off who claimed the sun (absent for most of the game) was in his eyes and then a straightforward chance to Ben at mid-on, both off the unlucky Arnav.  David put 2 difficult chances down off PW at mid-off and parried a ‘chance’ off an Arnav over the head no-ball!  Skipper had a strong shout for a stumping turned down. Arnav (8-1-32-1) was replaced by David (0-19).  PW was unlucky to finish without a wicket but had bowled a good spell.  James took the wicket of the opening bat who got tangled in-front of the stumps giving the umpire no chance but to raise his finger (126-3).  The incoming batsman hit the first ball for four and then the next out of the ground to win the match by 7 wickets.

MOM: Big Dog for a great innings.

Catch of the day: Many went down but none held!

Quote of the day: Where’s Mike Henry?  PW later established that, having hit the traffic, he gave up on reaching the ground!