Wonersh @ Little Bredy 29/07/23

With the tourists stuck in traffic, the start was delayed at Little Bredy. The tourists elected to bat on a typical Bride Vale pitch and were soon in trouble with Leo encouraging the opening batsman to drag a full-length delivery onto his stumps in the opening over. With Stu bowling a beamer in the next over, the batsmen got into a mess in the middle and even though Leo overshot the stumps with his throw, Skipper had plenty of time to roll the ball onto the stumps to make it 7-2 from the first 2 overs. Stu was soon in the mix with Shan taking a catch for the third wicket (16-3, 5 overs). Big Dog was unfortunate not to capitalize on a stumping possibility off Leo, but Leo took matters into his own hands with a full delivery that did not bounce much and took middle stump (24-4, 7 overs). Ali replaced Leo from the pavilion end and Stephen replaced Stu. Stephen struggled to find a full length with the new batsman hitting hard off the back-foot. Stephen (0-18) tried to catch one such hit, only managing to injure his middle finger, preventing him from bowling again, with Shan coming on to replace him. Ali was consistently beating the outside edge with his variation balls and Shan (1-15) was proving difficult to get away. A high chance went to Stu at mid-on and it appeared to be going over his head when he stuck out an arm and took a magnificent catch (60-5, 14 overs). Ali (0-15) was unfortunate not to get a wicket to reward his endeavors but his replacement, Matt, was soon getting the key breakthrough with 2 wickets that took advantage of the low bounce, bowling the batsmen conclusively (101-7, 26 overs). PW (0-9) was very unlucky when Stephen had been put in just the right spot by Skipper, only for a standard catch to slip away. Next ball was edged behind but didn’t give much opportunity for Big Dog to gather. Leo had another good spell before the Brill showed his brilliance taking the last 2 wickets; one bowled and one with a fantastic catch from Matt, who had allowed it to spiral over his head before he too took it one-handed with fortitude. Wonersh all out for 117.

Mike Moore opened with Matt and it was Matt who fell caught in the opening over. Next over saw Mike crash a boundary before he departed in the third over. The ball went past the keeper and Leo called for a run. Mike hesitated and this cost him as he was comfortably run out. Skipper tried to push through the line but got an inside edge and dragged it onto his stumps (8-3 from 3). Leo was then caught in over 5 to leave the Wanderers 12-4 (with 3 ducks). Ali came in intent on playing some shots, but Max was caught (18-5, 7 overs). Shan kept Ali company until the loopy spinner came on, and Ali’s eyes lit up. Ali (18) saw himself hitting him out of the ground. Unfortunately, this was way before the ball arrived and it then went on to hit middle stump (28-6, 11 overs). Stephen played some nice shots before he was bowled (41-7 from 13). Shan (1) looked to accelerate but he was caught trying to pull to square-leg and PW was caught first ball (45-9 from 14). Big Dog went in to face the hat-trick ball but was unfazed with a no-ball relieving the tension. He and Stu settled into a rhythm together of defending everything and occasionally scoring. However, the runs were flowing in the extras column with 15 no-balls and 8 wides. Eventually Stu fell LBW to end the inning on a slightly more respectable 81 all out!

MOM: The Brill 3-14, a ridiculous catch and a solid batting performance.

Catch of the day: The Brill’s was even better than Matt’s.

Quote of the day: It has taken years for us to learn to play on this pitch!