Sat 7thNovember vs. Taita @ Fraser 1, 1 day game
Finally
some good weather in the capital and it meant that we were on grass for
the first time this season. After the usual team breakfast, we arrived
at Fraser with high hopes that we could turn around our earlier loss to
Taita in the T20 a few weeks back.
Clear
skies and what looked like a very nice deck greeted us on arrival at
the ground, I managed to win the toss for the first time this season
and we decided to have a bat.
We
started solidly with the new combination of Guy Simm (fresh off a ton
for 2a last week) and Vinnie Ward at the top of the order seeing out a
tricky and demanding first ten overs. In the 14th over
Vinnie was dismissed for 32 and the score was 50-1. Two overs later Guy
was out for 21, James Hill (34) and ChrisSpring (38) were at the crease
and started to re-build our innings. Both played good knocks with shots
all around the ground, but unfortunately were both dismissed after
getting in and getting a start.
After
Hill threw his wicket away again, Jono Sole confidently strode to the
wicket and continued from where he left off last week. Jono has an
uncanny knack of being able to hit the ball wherever he wants, and more
often than not it comes right out of the middle. He constructed a great
innings, starting relatively cautiously, but after he was in hit the
ball all around the park. I joined Jono when Spring was dismissed, and
a couple of overs later we took the batting power play. Unfortunately
Jono couldn’t make the most of it, and was caught for 60, however he
had helped us get through to a great position, being 204-5 in the 43rd
over, a great platform to launch. The power play continued on, I was
dismissed for 37, and the lower order of Stefan Allan, Nick Hearn and
Fletch Te Aika all chipped in in the last few overs.
After
50 we had made 277-8, with all the top order getting starts, and Jono
top scoring with 60. A great effort by all, pretty much going to plan,
and most importantly a good size total on the board. We knew now we had
to bowl and field well, as the wicket was a good one for batting!
The
Taita openers found it tough going in the first 10 being 29 for 2, with
Fletch and High Tower bowling very well in tandem, both were
restricting runs and took a wicket each in their first spell. The next
10 overs however, were Taita’s, as at the 20 over mark they were 88-2,
and starting to form a good partnership. Unfortunately for Taita, we
had an even better bowling partnership starting to form between Jimmy
Hill and Nick Hearn. A quick couple of wickets, and some great bowling
from James and Luck meant that Taita were battling, and it seemed like
they didn’t know what to do. In the 23rd over they were 101-3, by the 32nd
over they had only managed 7 runs and had lost 4 wickets, they were
showing absolutely no intent to try and chase down the target, it
simply seemed like they were trying to bat time!!!??!!!
It
was avery frustrating time in the field for us as the Taita batsmen
were very negative, and basically played no shots. Unfortunately we
couldn’t seem to bowl them out and get back to the sheds for an early
shower, but the guys stuck at it until the last ball. Eventually the 50
overs was bowled, and Taita had only managed 177-9, a disappointing
effort from them, but a pleasing day all round from us.
Bowling figures of note were High Tower 10-1-21-1, Fletch 10-1-39-2, Pat 9-1-47-1, Hearn10-1-18-1, and Hill 10-2-37-3.
Another good day for us, winning with a bonus point, and teaching Taita a lesson,
Cheers Matty A