CURDRIDGE vs LOCKS HEATH - 8th July 2023
Curdridge were home this week to Locks Heath 2nds after last week’s loss.
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We all welcomed Jules back from his 2 weeks in France, so Jules took back his captain role.
Curdridge had its strongest 11 out, so this was the week to win, but let’s see what happened.
Jules won the toss and decided to bowl due to wet conditions, but like last week let's see if that was the right decision.
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Del and Dave started off the bowling, with Del bowling his 8 overs and Dave chipping in with 3 overs. The opening batsman was good and batted well. We bowled and fielded well, but runs ticked along until the No 2 batsman hit the ball high into the air and guess who was under it, yes yours truly. To say it was the catch of the season was an understatement. It went very high and behind me, but it was caught! Another great catch for the modest Mike Punt.
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Sam replaced Dave and bowled 8 overs to get three lbw’s. But the runs continued and the opening batsman was building a good score supported by other batsman.
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A few dropped catches did not help but we continued to get wickets with Dom chipping in with 3 wickets and Mark with 1 wicket. Dave also returned to bowl his remaining 5 overs and getting 2 wickets.
Rob got injured diving for the ball and had to go off the field but did return later.
Best bowling of the day was the one over off modest Mike Punt !!!
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Locks Heath continued to bat well and ended with 194 off 40 overs and all out with Mark getting the last wicket.
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Tea was provided by Jack and Eden and it was a lovely tea with plenty of fresh fruit. After a rest, Dom and Mark went out to bat.
Lock Heath bowled very well at the start with quick and bowling making it difficult to get runs. We struggled to get runs with 25 off 10 overs and 44 off 20 overs.
Mark added 11 and Dom 12 before both were out to being caught. Jules strode in trying to remember how to bat after his holidays and was joined by Dave.
Jules added 15 runs before caught and bowled, leaving Dave again to try to get the runs as per last week and the week before!
Dave added runs, trying to increase run rate which was now 10. Jack joined Dave but was out quickly for 8, so Craig was next in.
Craig did a great job getting run rate up with Dave and it looked like we were in with a chance. Craig added 31 quick runs before being bowled.
Now it was looking shaky as run rate was still around 8. Alan joined Dave but was out for 1 and at this point the game was slipping away.
Dave tried to keep run rate up but with most of their fielders on the boundary this was difficult. Mike went out to join Dave and added a poultry 3 runs before Sammy joined Dave to finish the innings.
We got 171 so 23 runs short.
Strike rate for the top batsmen was: Craig on 103 and Dave on 89.
I did make the comment below in last weeks report, so it applies to this game as well.
Again, a frustrating result as per last week, where we could have chased down the total. Maybe we need to bat first more often, just a thought !!!!
So, far from 8 games, we have lost 5 and won 3. onto next week.
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Next Week: Mansbridge
Man of the Match: Joint award for Sammy with 3 wickets and Dave for solid batting again.
Champagne Moment: has to be the catch from (modest) Punt, oh what a catch !!!
Donut of the Day: Unfortunately has to be all the fielders that dropped a catch, that’s 4 dropped and Rob for injuring himself.