Match
reports
Cavs vs Gaddesden Row
With St Albans pulling out of a scheduled fixture at late
notice, the Cavaliers were delighted to welcome last-minute
stand-ins Gaddesden Row to a rather bleak Woollams on Sunday.
Despite heaving rain the morning of the game, the outfield
had dried remarkably quickly and the covers had kept the
wicket in immaculate condition. Skipper Simon Foster lost
the toss and the visitors elected to bat, so Fraser Tant
and Lance Boyd-Clark opened the bowling in less-than-ideal
conditions. They did a good job, keeping the run rate below
three an over, but as seems to be the case at Woollams,
for the Cavaliers at least, not getting the wickets their
consistent lines and good pace deserved. Boyd-Clark got
the breakthrough after a dozen or so overs, and his good
work was continued by the fiery Matt Penhaligan who exploited
the wind in his favour to put the batsmen under real pressure,
Jim Burton and season debutant Tim Foster. This was Foster's
first appearance since the arrival of his daughter Edie
- named of course after the 11 year old girl that clean
bowled him on the 2006 tour to Chester - but there was no
rustiness from the Reading-based tyro, whose bowling was
right on the money despite being in to a driving wind. Dropped
catches were prevalent again, with Nigel Timms guilty of
particularly heinous effort, and while the bowling of Skipper
Foster, David Best and Ben Rankin kept the runs relatively
low, the Cavaliers spurned chances to dismiss Gaddesden
Row's primary run scorer. The captain turned to Tant to
shift him - a move which looked to have backfired with a
comeback over that went for 20 runs. Tant however had the
last laugh, sending the batsman back to the pavilion for
84 after a top edge was safely pouched by Todd Baines. Two
last-over run-outs meant the visitors finished on 172/5
off their 40 overs - perhaps 30 or 40 more than they should
have due to misfields, dropped catches, wides and a bit
of ill-fortune.
Baines and Timms opened the batting for the Cavaliers,
in an action-packed partnership. Baines hit his straps promptly,
punishing anything short or wide ruthlessly, while Timms
seemed a little ill at ease with the pace of the curiously
named Woof brothers. In only the third over, he reconsidered
his decision to spurn a helmet having ducked in to a bouncer
and taking one squarely on the cheek. He bravely picked
himself up and batted on, albeit for just one further delivery,
top edged back to the bowler.
Baines soon followed for a brisk 20, beaten all ends up
by a perfect outswinger that pitch on middle and just clipped
the top of off-stump, bringing to the crease Ben Rankin.
Rankin was the recipient of much consternation from his
teammates after his slow scoring the week before, but his
approach was no different this week. It nearly paid off,
with Rankin batting through a dozen or so overs for his
five runs, only to be dismissed from the last ball of the
opening bowler's spell. During this time, Boyd-Clark and
Best had both been and gone, leaving the Foster brothers
at the crease at 70 for 5 with a serious rebuilding job
to do. Their plan was to nibble and nudge until the last
ten overs, building a platform to push on later. However,
when the older brother was caught by a fine diving catch
at extra cover, soon followed by Gareth Lloyd, the game
was almost up. Three crisp boundaries from number 9 Tant
gave the visitors some late cause for concern, but when
he - uncharacteristically - tried (and failed) to put a
delivery on middle stump into the carpark, with him went
the Cavs last chance. Burton and Penhaligan gave it a go,
but eventually the Cavaliers were all out for a lowly 135
in the 36th over, with Foster T stranded on 18 not out.
"Disappointing." commented the captain. "Yes,
you could argue that the bowling conditions were a lot better
for them than us, but once again the old adage of catches
win matches has come back to haunt us. Plus, only three
batsmen getting double figures doesn't help at all. We'll
have to work hard in the nets and hope that we improve against
the Players & Jesters next week."
