Bride Vale 06/09/20

On a bright afternoon at Little Bredy, the Wanderers were asked to field first.  With Stuart making his debut and given the new ball, the Wanderers kept the early run rate incredibly low with the help of Paul from the other end (the square had been turned around 90^o).  Stuart took the first wicket taking off stump on an afternoon where batting was difficult.  With David (3-22) coming into the attack and keeping a tight line, he too got success.  His first wicket was an extraordinarily strong LBW appeal and then Tommy (retaining the gloves) took 2 sharp stumpings.  Luke bowled well without success and then fell victim to the opening bat’s increasingly attacking play.  Simon, at mid-off, was fast onto a single firing the ball to Tommy just above the bails with Tommy taking them off with delight.  Simon (1-13) took a wicket when the batsman played on and then controversy reigned.  The opener was still going strong but backing up well in front of the bowler.  Simon stopped and asked the umpire to stop this.  Next ball he raced forward and again Simon stopped this time taking the bails off.  No action was taken by the umpire and he continued to back-up in front of the bowler illegally.  PW struggled to be consistent, so Stuart and Paul came back to conclude the innings.  Paul was desperately unlucky not to get a wicket, but Stuart continued his success, getting the opening bat out for 103 and then a stumping by Tommy.  Stuart (4-34) got the last wicket with a delivery that kept low but the total of 154 all out was dominated by 1 batsman (next highest score 14).

David and Tommy opened the reply and the exchange of runs was a useful start to the innings.  When Tommy (23) was caught in the 10^th over the score was 44.  Mike M was LBW next over for no score bringing Simon to the crease.  It took Simon a while to adjust to the batting conditions before he was able to open up and play his naturally attacking game.  With David a rock at the other end the innings began to frustrate the opposition who were busy providing betting odds on a DWCC victory!  The partnership was worth 67 when Simon (50) was bowled leaving 43 runs to get in 15 overs.  PW (9) was in at 5 and added some useful runs including a great pull for 4.  Luke was bowled for no score and Mike W tried to force the ball through cover only to hole out.  David (20) had batted superbly to keep one end tight but the pressure was on Stuart to provide the runs.  When Paul was bowled for no score hope seemed to drain away with Dane coming in with a bad leg and Mike H waiting his turn.  However, Stuart continued to try for the last few runs but ultimately could not get a straight ball away to mid-wicket.  It fell to Mike H and Dane to see out the last 8 balls to claim a draw, 6 runs short of victory.

MOM: Stuart 4-34 with the ball and 15 runs that nearly saw the Wanderers home.

Catch of the day: None

Quote of the day: Paul “David’s got more blocks than Minecraft”