With a strong batting line up available, Farley Hill made the long trip to Middlesex to take on a Ruislip Victoria team that had started the season with 2 wins and 2 losses.
As the Farley boys are still unaccustomed to travelling for away games, only 5 players were present at 1:15pm for the coin toss. As a result, the Skipper hid from the opposition for as long as possible before being dragged out to perform the duties.
The rest of the team then arrived en masse just as Farley lost yet another toss and were asked to field in the warm conditions.
Trevor and James opened the bowling and proceeded to bowl a tight line as the game got off to a sedate start (compared to earlier matches this season).
The compact openers played circumspectly but made good use of the short boundaries and quickish outfield to take 35 runs from the first 10 overs. However the big highlight of early proceedings appeared to be the humour displayed by the slip cordon as Skipper twice dived over the ball at mid off, apparently in identical fashion.
Potts was brought on early to replace James in an effort to see if the openers were keen to hit over the top. They duly obliged on a couple of deliveries and the 15 over drinks break was reached with Ruislip on around 50 for none.
Soon after the resumption, Trevor induced one of the openers to loop an edge to slip where Chris took a (needlessly one-handed) catch. However the other opener was now in full flow and soon brought up his 50.
The opposition Skipper had come in at Number 3 and successfully looked to up the runrate by taking on John Cox with some lusty blows down the ground. Trevor finished an excellent spell from the other end – bowling his 12 overs for only 30 runs. However the score had by now raced well past 100.
Potts was brought back on to replace Trevor, and Richard was introduced to the bowling crease in order for John Cox to have a “little think” about things. In one of the more bizarre incidents of the season, Richard bowled a 7 ball over and we were then informed by the opposition umpire that there were still 3 deliveries remaining – so excited was he by the extravagant stroke play. Henry, our umpire, then stepped in to politely inform them that the over was well and truly at an end. Some may well like to add that a further highlight was another fielding calamity by the Skipper – who let yet another boundary through his legs.
With the score close to 150 for 1, and only 25 overs bowled, another big score beckoned. But Potts had managed to find a nice line and length and the openers long stay ended as he came down the wicket and was beaten by the turn. Simon whipped the bails off and Ruislip were 2 down.
Annoyingly, the Number 4 turned out to be left-handed – just adding to the headaches for the Skipper as he tried to marshal his withering troops. John Cox was brought back into the attack to bowl at the new bat, and Potts continued to bowl well as we reached the 30 over drinks break.
The score continued to grow and soon reached 200 with 10 overs still to bowl. Another bizarre incident occurred as the opposition umpire gave one of the batsmen out – run out – despite him appearing to be well past the return crease when the bails were broken (not only had his sliding bat made its ground, but I think his back legs had passed the crease as well!). A quick decision was reached to recall the batsman (no doubt earning us some Sportsmanship points from the opposition) and normal play resumed.
Potts was rested from the bowling after an encouraging 10 over performance, and James and John Cox were tasked with limiting the damage for the last 9 overs. And then with the score at 200 for 2 - the game changed rapidly…
The Number 3, having cruised past his 50, tried to launch a John Cox delivery into another county but could only skew it aerially to be pouched by James at a deep gully. 3 down.
Having crossed while the ball was in the air, the Number 4 then tried to charge the next delivery and was smartly stumped by Simon. 4 down.
Out to the wicket strode their Number 6 – a man whose brutal hitting in the corresponding fixture last season still scars many of the Farley boys. So concerned were Farley, that the field stayed out – despite it being the hat trick ball. Inexplicably, the batman played back to the first ball he received, missed it, and was given out plum LBW and John Cox had managed the first Farley Hill league hat trick in 10-20 years (depending on who one believes!)
With Ruislip wobbling, James joined the party by bowling the new batsman with a slower ball and then striking again with another LBW. John Cox claimed a 4th and suddenly the opposition were 215 for 8 from 41 overs. The score crept along for 3 overs as Ruislip endeavoured to bat out their innings, although not before the Skipper had capped a memorable fielding performance with a dropped catch at a shortish point position.
A last over slog saw Ruislip through to 235 for 8, but Farley left the field happy and optimistic as the belief stood that around 250 was a par score on the good batting track provided.
With a “strong batting” lineup available, Simon was elevated to open the innings alongside Ross. With significantly more cloud than earlier in the day the ball was swinging quite a bit but the openers laid the foundation with a steady start. Ross finally re-discovered his bread and butter – the “off glance” – while Simon impressed the opposition with a couple of spanking drives through the offside. However the first ball of the bowling change brought a wicket and Simon was caught at mid off for 17 – leaving Farley at 49 for 1 in the 13th over.
Richard, returning to the side after a month of “socialising”, was quickly a victim of a ball keeping unusually low and was bowled for 5, but Ross and Matt saw the score through to the first drinks break at 65 for 2.
With Ross lunging and missing at the swinging delivery from one end, Matt brought hope to Farley with a couple of spanking boundaries – but then fell victim to a slightly lower delivery as he was bowled while looking for the pull shot. Out for 11.
Trevor came in at Number 5 and couldn’t have picked a worse time. After a glorious lofted straight drive for 4, Ruislip introduced their 4th bowler – a “spinner”. Not having settled yet, and preferring a bit more pace on the ball, Trevor tried to pick the ball up and over a wide mid-wicket but succeeded only in leading edging it high into the air for the keeper to come around and claim. Ali came in at 6 and looked in quick good nick before being “adjudged” LBW for just 1 to Ruislips new bowler – who seemed to grunt after every delivery like a Professional Woman Tennis Player. Farley’s much vaunted batting lineup had been routed, and the final drinks break at 30 overs was reached with the boys on 90 for 5 and only pride to play for.
However with Chris coming in at Number 7 – Farley were showing their batting depth. Ross finally brought up his second half century of the year and the two started to slap the off spinner to the cover sweeper and boundary as the run rate picked up.
The opposition Skipper, frustrated at some of the short pitched bowling, brought himself on to bowl some flighted deliveries in an effort to induce a false shot or two. It was a strategy that paid off as Chris was soon bowled for 21 after a rapid 60+ run partnership had brought the score along to 150 for 6.
Greg was quickly given LBW for 0 in one of the easier decisions an umpire will ever likely make, and James Harvey came to the wicket with Ruislip now buoyant that a win could still be achieved.
Their Skipper then brought the field in to try and tempt Ross to hit a false shot, but he managed to pick the gaps successfully in clubbing 5 consecutive boundaries (missing out on the sixth when he picked out the long off). The fourth of the boundaries brought his century and a polite round of applause from the sidelines as the dismissed batsmen contemplated the runs on offer and the missed opportunities.
With 50 runs still required from just 3 overs, the win was not realistic, but Ross and James continued to slog looking to achieve every last point available for Farley.
In the penultimate over, Ross was finally snared at slip – one off glance too many – out for 115 with the score on 206.
Now it was James’ turn to launch an attack as 14 runs came off the first 3 balls of the final over to secure another point for Farley. 220 for 8 with 3 balls left. A win still technically possible, but one more point (upon reaching 224) the more realistic goal. Unfortunately James was then bowled for 18 – resulting in a chuntering John Cox sloping out to the middle to face the final 2 balls with Farley Hill 9 wickets down. A single blow to the boundary would have resulted in an extra point – but a dismissal would have seen all the good work of the last few overs undone and the 4 draw points achieved would have disappeared. Instructed to see out the over, John successfully obliged, and Farley ended on 220 for 9.
A losing draw resulting in 20 points for Ruislip and 13 points for Farley (more than double our previous average!).
So a step up in performance by the Farley side – although we continue to leak far too many runs in the bowling / fielding, and the “powerful” batting line up underachieved somewhat.
Congratulations especially to John Cox for the rare achievement of a hat trick – his first in a long and distinguished career!
Dick of the Day Award – for the second week in a row this goes to the Skipper for a “memorable for all the wrong reasons” fielding performance (although I should really give it to Matt for his mode of dismissal…)
Next week sees a crunch game versus fellow strugglers Goring.
Regds Skip
Match Stats
R Ditchburn 115 S Longfield 17 R Hammond 5 1-0-13-0 M Salter 11 T Clacey 4 12-2-30-1 A Jalil 1 C Garrod 21 G Coney 0 J Harvey 18 11-1-51-2 Potts 0* 10-0-64-1 J Cox 0* 11-2-64-4
2 x Stumpings for Longfield, 1 catch for Garrod and 1 for Harvey
