BELT @ Plush 29/05/22

The fields surrounding the valley on the other side of the road were full of hoards of metal detectors searching for their fortune.  Fortune favoured the Wanderers as the sun shone for most of the day except for a short, sharp shower at around 14:45.  The toss was lost in a time match and our visitors elected to bat.  Ali (0-29) was struggling with his radar a bit which wasn’t helped by the away swing he was generating and made life difficult for Big Dog behind the stumps (Skipper had spent the previous day keeping for Corfe Mullen!), especially with the lack of bounce.  There was a half-chance that squirted away past Skipper at slip.  Shan struck in his first over with a fantastic ball that nipped back off the seam and took the top of middle and off stump.  The scoring rate was impressive, boosted by the large number of extras, but the second wicket came in the sixth over when a run was taken to Ali at mid-on when a superb direct hit from 25 yards at only 1 stump meant the score became 25-2.  An innings saving partnership now developed between the 2 batsmen.  Stu (0-14), in his comeback game for the Wanderers (having injured his thumb (twice) playing for Puddletown on Saturday), came on to bowl from the Pavilion end and was in his usually impressive rhythm of line and length, frustrating the batsmen, and nearly had the breakthrough when an edge to Big Dog was too hot to handle.  When Ben (0-23) came on he was liberal with the wides also.  David replaced Stu and following the drinks interval seemed destined to break the partnership with the opening bat seemingly stuck in front of his stumps with the ball hitting below the knee-roll.  James was unmoved as umpire!  He did get his man eventually with one that squeezed through bat and pad.  This ended the third wicket partnership that had produced 116 runs in 26 overs.  The visitors’ skipper seemed to be unlucky to be adjudged LBW when well forward to David, although an equally unlikely appeal resulted in another LBW for David, moments after a strong shout was turned down!  Leo (0-32) was unlucky to be bowling against an excellent batsman who placed his boundaries well.  Shan came back and got the crucial wicket first ball into his spell with a well taken catch by Ben at backward point.  Another wicket followed for Shan (3-28) and then, following some late order hitting, David (4-41) got his fourth of the innings in the over before tea.  188-8

Skipper’s parents served an excellent tea before Tom and Big Dog set about the Wanderers’ reply.  The scoring rate was high as both batsmen took a liking to one of the bowlers, taking 28 from his 3 overs.  Tom (30) attempted a drive-sweep over cow-corner off the new bowler, only to drag it onto the stumps.  Skipper joined Big Dog with the score well placed at 45-1 from 9 overs.  Big Dog (10) went soon after to the same bowler, this time LBW.  James (13) and Skipper looked to consolidate the inning and it was going well until James offered up a simple return catch.  With Mike M not troubling the scorers but refreshing our faith in his helicopter shots, the Wanderers looked to Stu (4) to provide some stability.  However, he was well bowled bringing Ben out to the crease.  This pair added a good deal of runs with Skipper in danger of catching Ben up on some of the threes!  It was this aggressive running that meant that the asking rate was well within reach, especially as Skipper was frequently finding the boundary.  Ben (3) tried to hook to leg off off-stump only to be trapped in front LBW.  Ali (19no) hit some glorious shots including a straight drive for four and a great hook for four – getting into position early.  Skipper (83no) hit 2 more fours in the last over to claim a 4 wicket victory with 6 overs to spare.

MOM: Skipper

Catch of the day: Ben – It was good but also the only one.

Quote of the day: Leo “Pete Foz is not playing as he heard James is umpiring!”