It seemed like no time at all had passed since the last match before it was time to take to the field again, today back at the Bowl and taking on Trojans. Our first fixture against them this season was abandoned halfway through due to rain – no chance of that this week, as we were still on the tail end of the heatwave (which, incidentally, after having taken a couple of days off seems to be planning on returning again this coming weekend… Why do we bother having a weatherman in the club, I ask you...)

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I’m not sure whether Jules won or lost the toss, possibly because I was too busy admiring Mike’s handiwork with the bell as he attempted to screw it in but instead made a right screw up of it and abandoned it. After his efforts with the stumps a couple of weeks ago, a pattern begins to emerge… Still, pretty easy to decide on Donut of the Day this week!

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Anyway, we would bowl first, which made a bit of a change. Opening up the bowling would be George from the Equipment Shed End (I don’t think the name is going to catch on) and Harry (that’s New Harry, but I can’t keep typing that) from the Hillman End. Back into the side also was Dan Clark.

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As is becoming his habit, George kept things tight from his end, whilst at the other Harry injected pace and bounce into our attack, and both had the batsmen playing and missing and having to take it very carefully to get into rhythm. One of the Trojans openers has definitely been in form this season, though, and showed it with plenty of solid defence and picking off the balls which offered runs, whilst also enjoying fairly constant back and forth  badinage with our close-in fielders, which all seemed in rather good spirits but if the objective was to talk him out it was about as successful as me staring down the occasional batsman…

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Runs for the one opener were coming smoothly, but for the other much more difficult, and it would be George who would make the breakthrough, inducing a shot which spiralled in the air out towards point, and Rob running in and diving forwards down the slope took the catch to leave Trojans 19-1 after 7 overs. 

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The new batsman would join the set opener in picking off the runs, though, as they began to flow more quickly. Dan Clark came into the attack to replace George, and a couple of overs later it would be Sammy coming in to replace Harry, with the score having picked up and gone past 50. The first drinks break came with Trojans going along at a steady though not yet damaging rate, and there had been so far excellent energy in the field to restrict the runs, dives (mostly by me I think… hang on, where’s my trumpet) to prevent the boundaries, and everyone putting in efforts in chasing the ball down.

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The next breakthrough would come after 18 overs, with the score on 76, as Sammy got one through and knocked over the number 3’s stumps. We were still faced with the opener, still going strong, at the other end, though, and no chances were really being offered.

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With the run rate never really getting above 5 an over it felt like any moment we might get the breakthrough. However, the pressure was lifted slightly in the 22nd over; a 3 from the bat of the opener brough the number 4 back onto strike, and he hit Sammy for four. Words to the effect of “you won’t do that again” were uttered by the bowler. The batsman hit the next ball for 4. A similar exchange followed. The batsman hit the next ball for four. And Sammy was throwing his hat in the ring for Donut of the Day, busily getting involved talking rather than bowling…

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Matters were not helped a couple of overs later when Dan finally had a chance for a wicket as the number four struck a similar shot to that which had brought about a catch earlier in the innings as a spinning ball headed out towards point, and once again Rob was running in and this time rather more sprawling than diving down the slope, as the ball went into his fingers but then jarred against his chin as his arms hit the floor and hit the turf. Thought I say it myself a reasonably difficult chance, but as I also say we need to take our catches and can’t afford to put them down.

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Mike would replace Dan after a bowling spelling which deserved more reward than it got, and it looked like a reprieve would come as the batsman flat-batted it out towards Harry coming in towards mid-off, but the ball spilled through his fingers and another rare chance for a wicket was gone. 

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Despite these mishaps, the innings was still in check, the second drinks break at 30 overs saw the score still only on around 130-odd, and with a tight 10 overs we could restrict the total. Mike had other ideas, as the first over after the drinks break went for 19, and this seemed to herald an acceleration in the runs as the total began to mount. With Mark Emm having replaced Sammy at the Hillman End the third wicket we had been striving for would eventually come, as he decided the easiest thing was just to bowl the batsman, and the number four was gone, but damaging drops had let him score a valuable 50. In came a batsman who has been a bit of a bane for us in recent seasons with his big hitting, but the returning George and Harry soon sussed him, bowling into the legs and denying him the space to free his arms. 

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The opener would, slightly bizarrely, retire himself out having reached a well-crafted century; all power to him for giving another batsman an opportunity, but it would count as a wicket. 

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Meanwhile, harry was finally rewarded for his endeavours as the ball was clobbered straight back at him but quick reactions and solid hands (which had appeared from somewhere since his earlier escapade…) saw him pluck the ball out of the air for a cracking caught & bowled reaction catch.

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The final overs would see Trojans pushing for every run, and with sharp running and some lackadaisical fielding they would reach 224-5 at the end of their innings.

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A gettable total, and with a strong-looking batting line up it felt like this was one where we had a good chance to get over the line for the win. We could perhaps has restricted the runs more, to be honest – the obvious culprits being the two dropped catches although nothing to say the Trojans line-up wasn't just as strong further down, but a couple of silly overs going and three or four times the run rate, and a frustrating drop-off in the fielding allowing Trojans to turn singles into twos and twos into threes allowed them to score nearly 100 from the last ten overs.

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The question being, first could our batting return to form and second could we chase it down? (Well, I assume you’ve all seen the result so you know, but do feel free to read on)

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With Rob’s batting form going up and down more times than the price of brent crude oil recently, it would be Dom and Mark Emm to open the batting again this week.

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Last week we had a bit of a collapse in the upper order, by which I mean it collapsed quicker than a somnambulant elephant on some particularly thin ice, and we couldn’t afford the same happening today.

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Dom got the innings off to just the start we needed, striking the very first ball cleanly to the boundary, and he looked like a man who meant business. Not sure what sort of business, but definitely some sort, as another boundary came in the second over and the run chase was off to a solid start. Unhappily, the first wicket soon fell, though, as Mark Emm edged behind and we found ourselves 12-1. With Jack coming in at number 3, though it was clear that he and Dom had no intention of letting a collapse develop, and after 10 overs the score stood at 50-1 with a solid platform developing. 

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The runs would continue at a consistent rate, keeping us on track, and the partnership passing 50, but disaster would strike just after the first drinks break, as Jack didn’t get hold of a drive and instead lofted the ball into the grateful hands of the field at a close-in mid-off. With the score on 89, though the chase was well and truly on, with Dom well set and Harry joining him at the crease. 

Dom passed his 50, and the 100-run mark was passed after 20 overs, but another wicket would soon fall as Dom hit the ball high and long out towards the Scout Hut, but it dropped inside the boundary and into the hands of the fielder for a solid catch and big wicket for Trojans given the form Dom had looked to be in.

 

George joined Harry at the crease, but unable to repeat his heroics of last week soon played almost a carbon copy of the shot which saw Jack dismissed and was on his way back to the clubhouse. The next five overs would see Craig, Dan and Harry all dismissed, and with Rob joining Alan at the crease the score had collapsed to 137-7.

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Still with a reasonable number of overs to go, all hope was not lost, but it would take something to chase the total down now. However, Rob and Alan started rebuilding the run chase and, helped by the occasional (in some cases more than occasional) extra, the milestones began to be ticked off, as we passed first 150, then 175, and approached 200. The overs, too, were ticking down, though, and Trojans didn’t seem to have a really weak spot in their bowling line up. Dot balls would cost us, which perhaps a batsman in better form than Rob might have taken advantage of, but the score crept ever closer and never quite out of touch.

 

The 200 mark was passed, and Alan and Rob kept grabbing the quick singles, but something had to give, and with fewer than two overs to go Rob went for a single which would have relied on a misfield, but the fielding was clean and Rob was run-out. In went Sam, and with 12 runs needed from the final over it was just a bridge too far despite Alan’s defiance to the end, with the run chase ending an agonising three runs short and another loss.

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The silence on both sides at the end of the match told just how close it had been, disappointment rife on the Curdridge side and relief on that of Trojans. Once again we perhaps have to look at how we lost it, but with 3 runs it could come down to anything, pushing harder in the field, a single loose ball, a dot ball faced, some singles not turned into twos… More disappointment in a season that started out with promise, so once again we have to look to next week to turn it around.

 

Thank you to Jon and Mike for getting the pitch prepared, especially as their planned schedule was thrown out of kilter by the shift of the Wednesday game to Thursday so we could all waste a couple of hours watching England lose the football, and thank you to Jan for scoring once again.

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Next Week: Away to Southampton Tuskers at the delights of the Southampton Sports Ground. 

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Donut of the Day: It’s a toss up between Mike and Sam this week. A cricketing perspective says give it to Sam for the pointless verbals teeing up the batsman – especially as just one of those boundaries turned into a dot would have seen us win, but having witnessed first hand Mike’s utter failure to perform a simple manual task with the bell, congratulations Mike, have a Donut.

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Champagne Moment: It looked briefly like the Champagne Moment might be us getting over the line, but coming up agonisingly short instead this week it goes to Harry for his caught & bowled.

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Man of the Match: Once again it’s difficult to see a really stand out performance. There was another great bowling spell by George, Dom was back in the runs with his half-century anchoring the first part of the innings to get us in position to go for the win, Alan anchored the chase in the second half of the innings when things were looking decidedly dodgy, and though I say it myself not a bad day for Rob both in the field (despite the drop) and finding something which might, if you squint hard and don’t think too much, be akin to a little bit of form with the bat. However, we didn’t get over the line, mistakes cost us, and no one performance stood out enough to take the award this week.

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