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The Green welcomed Alveley to Newland,
determined to atone for their heavy defeat at the hands of the visitors in
the first half of the season. Overnight covers had protected the pitch but
with a damp outfield and conditions promising to improve, upon winning the
toss stand-in skipper Kev Ratcliffe had no hesitation in asking Alveley to
bat first.
Rodenhurst and Jones started cautiously but well for the visitors,
determined to preserve wickets and see off the opening bowlers Chris Hill
and Jack Cullity. Clive Churchill replaced Cullity but the match was in the
22nd over with Alveley in control on 62-0 before he picked up The
Green’s first wicket with Ratcliffe catching Jones behind for a well-crafted
13. This brought to the crease Alveley’s dangerous overseas player Bent who
had been so ruthless in the first match and from the start he and Rodenhurst
tried to accelerate the run-rate. Attempts to keep Bent off-strike were
partially successful but big hitting on a small ground brought him runs
quickly. Roger Thompson eventually had Rodenhurst (44) trapped lbw and then
when he bowled Bent for 45 The Green felt that they were back in the game.
New batsman Smith went cheaply, Churchill bowling him for 9 and Dave Price
took the first of his three wickets trapping Weaver for 19 and leaving
Alveley 5 down for 140. With 15 overs still remaining the visitors again
took the attack to The Green with their captain Turford, supported initially
by Twigg (10) and then by R Taylor (15), hitting a succession of boundaries
on his way to a not out score of 34. Price broke two partnerships, bowling
Twigg and then having ATaylor brilliantly caught by Cullity at mid-off in
the same over. Despite stern resistance from Turford, when Hill disposed of
Mundie for 9 and Baddeley hung on to a catch to give Cullity the wicket of R
Taylor, Alveley finished their innings on 215 off their allotted 50 overs
with their hosts fairly confident of being able to chase this down.
Baddeley and Hill opened the batting with Baddeley perhaps needing to redeem
himself somewhat after an average performance in the field. The disastrous
run out of his opening partner for just 2 runs and some indecisive calling
and running between the wicket did not inspire confidence but Baddeley was
hitting the ball hard to all parts of the ground. Steve Alamutu (10) and
Julian Hall (0) were bowled by Turford and Bent respectively, and after 16
overs The Green were 3 down with just 38 on the board. With Adam Greaves
unable to bat due to a recurrent injury Roger Thomson joined Baddeley and
took the Alveley bowling attack apart, hitting 11 fours and 1 six before
surrendering for 64 having taken the score to 141 in a partnership on over
100 with Baddeley. Dan Metcalfe failed to trouble the scorers seemingly
having caught the run-out bug and leaving The Green still needing 64 runs
for victory but Baddeley was still there and was now hitting sixes for fun
including two huge blows which threatened the patrons in the nearby beer
garden. Ratcliffe (14*) supported Baddeley (97*) to the end claiming the
victory in the 46th over.
This was an excellent all-round team performance by The Green, demonstrating
strength in depth and the requirement to have more than one potential match
winner in a strong side. |
Barnards Green made the shortest away
journey of their season to kick off the second half of their first
campaign in the Birmingham and District Premier Cricket League returning
to North End Lane with another emphatic victory.McEwan struck two early
blows dismissing Rose and veteran Miller to leave the home side 32-2
with Lewis looking fluent despite the lack of support. After a close
appeal and a catch that fell just short of slip Lewis became flustered
and was well caught by McEwan off Dovey for 26. Tom Poole(5-16) entered
the attack to join his former Ramblers team mate and had an immediate
and devastating effect as he ripped the heart out of the Studley batting
line up in a hostile and accurate display of quick bowling capturing two
wickets LBW and three caught behind by Ash Brewer who also combined with
McEwan who took the final wicket of Rhodes(11), one of only two men to
reach double figures.Studley closed on 78 all out and the players
returned to the field for a 45 minute session before the scheduled tea
break.
The visitors lost makeshift opener Binks for zero as Hooper and Harris
scratched to 25 runs at the break. The dismissal of Harris to former IPL
seamer Singh prompted a slight wobble as both Hennessy and Hooper also
perished to accurate seam bowling for 3 and 16 respectively.
Liam Paddock provided solid support to McEwan at this point with the
latter racing to 40 from 34 balls and propelling his side to victory
inside 22 overs
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