Stour Provost 18/06/23

Our very own John Kettley (aka Big Dog) gave an almost certain forecast of rain at some point, but that did not dampen the pre-match beers. The toss was lost in a 35-over match and the Wanderers were in the field with Ben taking the new ball from the main road end. He was consistently accurate and got reward for efforts with the opening wicket when a full-length delivery straightened, clattering middle stump. At the other end Shan was proving difficult to get away and the opening 10 overs yielded only 25 runs. By this point the other opening batsman had pulled up with a hamstring injury (later diagnosed from the boundary as a gravalis strain by David), and a runner was allowed to enter play, causing plenty of havoc! Shan should have had reward for his endeavors when Simon put down a chance at slip. Foz (0-16) was now coming down the hill from the main road end with Stu at the other end, and the batsmen starting to play their shots. There was some indifferent fielding with a lot of feet being used, mainly failing to stop the ball, and both bowlers missed out on a C&B chance. However Stu (1-24 from 5) did manage to hold onto a C&B chance to give the Wanderers their second wicket. Stu looked to have got the wicket of the captain when he spooned up the ball straight to Simon at cover. He inexplicably dropped it! Ali bowled some delightful deliveries down the hill, landing in just the right areas to cause concern for the batsmen on a track that offered some variation in bounce. He got the crucial breakthrough with another full-length delivery bowling the batsman due to late movement. Simon (0-27 from 3) bowled from the exit end but struggled to make an impact on the batsmen who started to beast him to all parts of the ground. He could have had a wicket but put down a sharp C&B chance. Raj had 2 overs from the exit end but could not quite get the consistency required. Shan (2-12 from 7) returned and got the home skipper’s wicket when he got a leading edge that went high above Simon. After dropping a hat-trick of catches, Simon held onto this one. Skipper was having difficulty behind the stumps, especially when standing up with byes flowing down leg-side. However, he got his reward with a stumping off Ben (2-28 from 7) while the batsman stood on the line thinking he was in! The final wicket was a cool catch by Mike M from the bowling of Shan. The total of 197-7 from 35 overs seemed to be a considerable target on a variable pitch.

Raj and Tommy started the reply after a wonderful tea. They played their own version of Bazball, with Raj spraying the ball around the ground with ease. With an asking rate of 5.5 an over, the scoring rate was exceeding this. It came as a surprise when one attempted hook did not make the right connection and Raj was caught for a fine 34. Simon was in at three and looked in good shape at the crease, hitting the bad ball to the boundary and keeping the strike turning over with Tommy. Tommy (47) tried to drive over long-on, but could not get enough power into the shot, giving long-on a comfortable catch just shy of his 50. Skipper was straight into his scoring shots hitting fours and sixes both straight and square of the wicket. There were some moments, an edge flying past slip for four and a drive to long-on that went through the hands for four. However, the direction of the match was in no doubt and Skipper (56) retired when getting to his 50, bringing Dominic to the crease on debut. He tried a sweep with his back knee on the ground and, having played through the shot very early, the ball struck his knee in front of the stumps. There was time for Simon to be bowled for 27 to bring Mike M to join Stu. Mike played a couple of helicopter shots before making contact with one. Instead of running he stood adoringly watching it before realizing it was not going to get to the boundary. Stu hit the winning runs for a splendid 6 wicket win.