It’s Getting Better (Man) – Week 8 Newton Hill
Nostell St Oswalds vs Newton Hill 14th June 2008 Match Gallery
Normal service was resumed this weekend after a comfortable home win over Newton Hill. With birthday boy Nic Oram (30!) and fellow Kiwi Jason Garrick missing we fielded a below strength side against a team riding high in the league. With the ground looking as well maintained as I’ve seen it captain Jimbob won the toss and decided to bat – “strap ‘em on lads…”.
After a cautious first few overs and not heeding my own “bat time” instructions I played around an inswinger from Chris Colley and the death rattle sent me on my way for 9 with Lee Hurst following immediately after for a duck to leave us in a bit of bother. Pinch-hitter Mal Green steadied the ship, with a typical mix of quick scoring followed by a rash swish at one on middle to leave us 45-3.
Cue captain James (59) and a well paced 103 run partnership full of strokes with Rich Hardman (64) to set up a charge for 200 and maximum batting points. A thigh-high lbw (John Cooling), no nonsense hitting (Dave Evans) and a spot of dab and run (Steve Reynolds) and we finished 185-9, a par score on a decent track.
Exprienced openers Ogley (24) and Peters (43) got Newton Hill of to a good start before Ogley tried one airbound flick to leg and was taken by one of our 3 midwickets, from then on wickets fell regularly with some tight bowling from Leroy and JC to restict the opposition to 143. Another 5-for for Statto ensuring the Excel conditional formatting gets another workout this week, and a welcome return from school duty for JC. Special mention to young Scott Bishop, who produced a tidy 6 over spell to help keep Newton Hill behind the runrate in the middle of the innings.
