CURDRIDGE vs TROJANS - 18th July 2020
Trojans were the first visitors of the season to Reading Room Lane for a hastily arranged friendly fixture.
A Curdridge eleven was picked from the masses with several of the bright stars from last weeks inter club taking to the field.
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Win the toss and bat skip, was the request and the postman delivered his side of the bargain allowing the home side to put their feet up as Dimmy and Alex took centre stage.
A strong partnership then flourished with crashing drives and slow singles being the order of the day - (Dimmy doesn’t do quick!)
Just as the accelerator was pressed then Dimmy suffered a dismissal as dirty as his DM inbox, bottom edging a full toss onto the stumps.
Alex then followed after his second promising start in two weeks and Jay and newly recruited Usman took over.
After a few lusty swipes Jay then showed skills worthy of Arsenals front line as he top edged the ball straight up in the air, turned and volleyed it back into his stumps, great finish!
Usman and Dave then took the Machine through the gears, Dave leaning on his bat at the non-strikers end whilst Usman gave us all a batting lesson with some classy shots all round the ground, the highlight being a full toss that got the treatment into St Peters Close.
The masterclass was ended with with one caught in the covers and Usman left with a well made 37 to his name.
Dave then waited for the engine room to arrive and they promptly came and went with Skipper, Salmon, Samson, and Rob all failing to make much headway, leaving Dave to wag the tail alone, and nurse the score to a slightly below par 180.
Bring your own teas consumed the Machine took to the field and usual suspects Del and Tav kicked off.
Tav clearly hasn’t recovered from the change in diet that was enforced when Burgerking was locked down, and he struggled to find his natural rhythm, much to the pleasure of the opening batsman,
Del too hadn’t quite calibrated the radar and the Trojan lads were well ahead of the rate.
Breakthrough came with another top class piece of cricket, Usman taking a cracker one handed behind the stumps to give Del his first.
Wickets were needed to stem the flow and they continued to be hard to come by, until Del tempted the opening bat who had just passed his half century to lob one to Rob at point, who gave it a bit of Hollywood before he took the catch,.
Dave and Dimmy then tried to dismantle the middle order but were faced with resolute defence so skipper rang the changes looking for an opening to get Curdridge back into the game.
Sammy was the man, tempting a lob to mid wicket where Salmon (severely hampered by damage to his fins) took an easy chance.
The scoreboard was always running away from the Machine and despite Rob picking up a late wicket the Trojans lads got over the line with four overs to spare.
A good opening test for the Machine which was definitely carrying a bit of rust, but will be all the better for the run out.
Next week we enter a six week mini-league which sees Mansbridge visit the Lane.
Man of the Match
Not many contenders today, Dave with a solid knock but a stunning catch, and textbook batting display means Usman takes it this week
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Diet Coke Moment
Usman does the double, he can pick between his catch and the 6 into the close for the moment this week (champagne not allowed due to his age)!
Donut of the Day
Jay ‘Aubameyang’ Nandha wins it for his volley into his stumps