Port Rejects 25/04/21

On a glorious day at the end of April after a long lockdown and a few net sessions in Chetnole, the season finally started at Port Rejects.  A good turnout at the Coppleridge Inn before the game to welcome in the season.  Having lost the toss, the first ball of the season was given to Stuart who bowled accurately, conceding 9 in his 4 overs.  At the other end was a rejuvenated Mark skidding the ball through on the artificial surface.  With Simon T trying to exact some turn from the wicket and David finding a good rhythm, the pressure started to mount on the batsmen with some good close fielding led by Max on debut.  The first wicket came in the 15th over of this 35 over contest with David making a mess of the stumps.  Tommy replaced Simon T and bought a wicket in his first over with the batsman playing all around a straight ball.  Skipper found a good line and length off his 1 pace run up but claimed a wicket with a short delivery when a cross batted slash was edged to Max at cover.  Tommy continued to torment the batsmen with the perfect length on a bouncy artificial strip and claimed 2 more victims in his 3-23.  Pete Fawbert also got a wicket in his short spell and Stuart also took a wicket on his return spell, leaving Simon T as the only Wanderer bowler without a wicket!  159-8 was a par score for the pitch.

David opened the batting with the verve that he gained in the pre-season nets.  Mike M got a great first ball to dismiss him bringing Max to the crease.  Max got into his stride early hitting the ball with intent.  David (10) was given out LBW and Tommy mis-judged the bounce edging a cross-batted shot to the keeper.  With Pete bowled it came to Simon to develop a partnership to guide the team home.  He was dropped first ball when extra bounce caught the glove on the way through to the keeper.  He continued to have the luck of Bob being dropped 6 times in his innings which included lots of hobbling between the wickets!  Max was adjudged 1 short by Big Dog and his innings eventually came to an end on 48.  With Mike H failing to trouble the scorers, Simon T was in at 109-6 with 14 overs left to get the last 41 runs to win.  The 2 Simons made excellent progress until Skipper (53) picked out the slip with the easiest of chances.  With Mark putting up a pitching wedge to mid-on and Simon T (18) caught, Big Dog had to go to get some gear on quickly!  With scores level and the last pair in bat, the tension mounted.  A short ball to Big Dog was carefully pulled into a gap at mid-wicket.  A simple run was made complicated when Stuart seemed to delay setting off for a short tea-break.  During this time, the keeper managed to dislodge the bails and pandemonium set in when he unsuccessfully tried to run-out Stuart!

Fortunately the Virginia Ash at Henstridge was open for drinks.

MOM: Tommy for 3 important wickets

Catch of the day: Max – all the other wickets were bowled

Quote of the day: With Pete stating that he was struggling to score with the small boxes, it was pointed out that maybe he should use a biro and not his crayons!