“I am turning” - Farmery Florist Cup, Whitley Bridge (h)
Nostell St Oswalds vs Whitley Bridge 21st June 2009 Match Gallery
After the first league defeat the previous day Nostell had the chance to redeem themselves and push on to the semi finals of the cup when they hosted Whitley Bridge on Sunday.
The Young Captain won the toss and choose to bat first on a wicket that we hoped would play better than the previous day. We lost Rich early on when he was dismissed in similar circumstances to the previous day, the Ginger joined the king in the middle and the pair began to dominate before the ginger threw it away with one to many big shots when a big score was on offer. Slick joined the king and stroked an early boundary to show he still had the form of the day before. The king was dismissed for 20 soon after when he went across the line to a straight ball. I joined slick and thought we were in for a big score when I hit a boundary second ball and slick joined the four party in the next over. However it all ended there when the young spinner bowled with fantastic control and he claimed the wicket of Slick, caught on the boundary, myself bowled by a non bouncer and Dale who missed a straight on. He also snared the wicket of Mal, who as hard it is to believe, swiped at one and was caught….The captain and the young captain then stood up and showed the rest of us what a bit of discipline and nous can do when they put on a game saving 40 for the 8th wicket. The captain was run out in the search of quick singles at the end, and several more run outs ended the innings on 125, with the young captain top scoring with 30.
We knew as a side our fielding and bowling would have to be spot on for us to have any chance of winning this match and progressing to the cup semi finals. It started well when Slick removed one of the openers before the Whitley father and son combination settled things before Uncle Ken nipped one back to knock the young lads off stump back. Another young lad strode out to the wicket and was promptly dropped in the slips and behind before he hit double figures…drops that would prove costly. Ken finished his tidy spell and conceded only 14 runs. Slick was his typical miserly self and was not going for any as the run rate was pushed up. The ginger picked up the next and then reminded us why his new nick name is glass when he slipped in delivery and was carted off the field injured. The kiwi stepped up and fired down his first bowled ball in weekend cricket for Nostell….and was rewarded with 6 more overs from the intelligent young captain (more overs please!). At the other end the captain sent down 4 overs of his own in search of the wickets he snared against Fairburn the previous Thursday night. However the visitors proved they were just to strong for the home side on the day when they knocked over the runs with 5 balls to spare, with only the young captain getting any reward with 3 wickets.
Hopefully as a unit we will take the lessons this game has taught us and become a little smarter with the bat, and even smarted in the field….5% percenters win games!!
And as for the call of the day…well this went to Our Dale who has declared his love for the uncle and announced to all that the uncle is turning him…Best of luck to the Uncle.
