We all agree - playing on plastic is not fantastic. It's not been the best of cricketing weekends for me with a cancelled game on Friday due to weather, terrible performance playing for the 2nd team at Gregson Lane, England losing against Pakistan and then we lost against Kirkham. We can't win them all and sometimes as in any sport you have to hold your hand up and say 'OK your team played better than us today but it doesn't mean you will play better than us tomorrow.' Every team has always had a less than good day but there were some good things that happened today and some key learning points.
The late change of venue will have contributed in a small way towards our performance. Our pitch was 25% fit but I couldn't put my hand on my heart and say it was safe so it was good of Kirkham to host the game. Playing on plastic is also a challenge, batters and wicket keepers have to adjust to a skiddier bounce. (The ball almost accelerates after the bounce and keeps lower.) For bowlers they have to run from grass to plastic - it's strange and it's different. Benedict, captain for the day, won the toss and elected to bat. Undoubtedly we were up against the best bowling team we have faced so how bad did we actually bat? Well not as bad as you might think, The runs we scored off the bat this season are as follows - 69, 31, 43, 54, 45, 53, 45 and in this game 42 and so it was not a massive difference. The difference is that this side did not bowl many extras. There were some very good batting performances today. Sam W scored a very good 8 smashing a great 4 and hitting a great off drive which, due to the wet grass, only went for 2 when on another day it would have gone for 4. But the shot of the day and possibly the best of the season was his Dilshan shot. This is where you basically angle the bat and scoop it over your shoulder. I've never seen it played at any level in a game other than at international level. So well done Sam for playing it. William E batted extremely well retiring after scoring 26. He held the innings together whilst the wickets were tumbling at the other end. 4 glorious 4's from William... Sometimes it's not the runs you score but how you bat and William E stood up to the mark and defended his wicket and picked off the balls he knew he had a chance of scoring runs off. Remember this was against a good bowling attack so this was a great knock and very well done. Benedict looked as good as ever and hit a scorching 4 by skipping down the track against their spinner and hitting a lofted drive through extra cover. It is rare that you would see anyone at this level have the confidence to dance down the track to hit the ball like Benedict did. It always takes a good ball to get Benedict out and today was no exception. Onto our bowling - William C bowled his most hostile over of the season but extras and lucky runs off the bat were still scored. We didn't bowl badly - the pitch as mentioned before was difficult to adjust to. Kirkham batted well and ran more or less every time they hit the ball. putting both our fielders and our bowlers under pressure. We need to learn from how Kirkham batted, bowled and fielded. Yes they were better than us today but today is now history so let's be better tomorrow. Thanks to Phil again for scoring and some great photos from Colin. Sorry not everyone got a bowl (at least everyone did get a bat even if it was for a short time). The great thing about our team is that win or lose we play with a smile on our face and we always play the game in the right spirit and that is better and more important than anything else! |
How we can improve
Run after hitting the ball and put the fielders under pressure not forgetting to back up every throw in.
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What we must learn from this game
We can't rely on the opposition giving us extras to raise our score.
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Magic moments!William E's magnificent 26 against some difficult bowling. True grit!
Sam W's Dilshan shot! Everyone playing in the true spirit of the game. |