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The
third match of the season, and the second on the new pitch at West
end. Once again, there had been some rain during the week. Not as much
as the week previous week though, and Norman Fostecute, our groundsman,
had been able to give the pitch some heavy rolling. Elthorne are
roughly our equal, despite the fact their captain, Nick Marsden, is
capable of large scores on a regular basis - how much would the new
pitch influence today?
The
pitch looked quite good and Marsden, having won the toss, put West end
out in the field. Adie Barrett took the first over from streets Heath
end, bowling five economical and effective overs. A quicker delivery
on a good length caught the edge of mark A's bat and sailed past the
wicketkeeper, Johnno, and into the captain's safe hands at first slip,
a great catch. Good length and line continued to pay off, Sanjay, the
No. 3, found one creep through off his pads and on to the wicket, a
tad unlucky. Rick P was removed in classic fashion, the ball moving
away to find a thick edge, Ben Pudney taking this one at second slip.
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 |
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| Great
to play at home |
Ian
B receives a stinker |
Phil
D has a go |
By
now, the gloomy skies had turned to what we hoped was a passing
shower. New recruit Phil Dawson checked the score at the other end and
had also beaten the bat on occasion but without luck and bowling
changes at both ends seemed to signal upping the run - rate by Marsden,
whose good eye and timing saw that the ball went to the boundary with
increasing frequency. Andy Horn and Neil Howarth also bowled well,
taking a wicket apiece. However Marsden seemed to hog the bowling and
removed any advantage West ends bowlers worked hard to gain. The
passing shower eventually ended as the first three deliveries of
Barrett's second spell were dispatched to the boundary. However he
then switched around the wicket and bowled Marsden for 102. Two
consecutive Yorkers in his next over finished Elthorne's innings at
182, Barrett finishing with six for 22 and Howard Turner surprisingly
taking none. Apart from the three listed, no-one else made double
figures!
Johnno
and Ben opened West Ends' account in upbeat fashion, indeed for a
while, Elthorne's bowlers were on the back foot as Ben wasted no time
in repeatedly finding the boundary. His sixth scoring stroke was also
his 6th four but his enthusiasm got the better of him with the very
next ball which skied for an easy catch, Toby doing the damage. Ian
Brown fell two balls later which brought in Neil Howarth who also went
for nought, two more to Toby - a shame, as both men looked good in
nets. Terry axe and Howard Turner put up dogged resistance before Tom
removed them and it was a case of Elthorne's bowlers bowling straight
and just waiting for the wickets to come, which they did in due
course.
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| Phil
thrashes another |
Scarface
Axe's seam marks |
In
retrospect, the difference between the two teams was one man, Nick
Marsden, whose century for Elthorne was pretty much the winning
margin. Although the pitch had displayed some uneven bounce,
especially at the Streets Heath end, Nick's innings proved that with
care and attention the wicket can be tamed. There's no doubt it still
has time to settle and if the difference seen just one week after the
pitch opening day continues, West end will have an excellent playing
surface for years to come. |
