Cricket Web Colts v Cricket Web Red
in Fardin Qayyumi Cricket Centre
Scorecard
Ball By Ball
Cricket Web Colts were upstaged in their own home, as they failed to pose any sort of consistent challenge with the bat to the Reds, who could paper over their own batting weaknesses after Håkon Mørk opened his seasonal account with a hundred. In part, Colts dug their own grave; however, it should also be mentioned that the Red bowling was top notch.
Colts opted to bat on a fine pitch, and scored runs at a healthy rate. However, after Pitt, Nayak and Towns had gifted away their wickets, Jasotharan chipped a return catch to Edmunds, and a bog-standard Robbins military medium delivery hit Burke on the knee, Colts were staring down the barrel at 86 for five. Bennett's leg spin offered no respite, putting pressure on the new batsmen, and the innings of Bharat, Hancock and Weber were creditable, but all too brief after simple errors were made. The tail had little to contribute with against Dave Watt's pace, and Colts were bowled out for 158 in a little under 40 overs.
Reds' batting hinged on two big partnerships, and was fairly circumspect otherwise. Thamba Mamesh looked solid but gifted an early caught-and-bowled chance to Thomas - that did not stop new recruit David Kearsley, however, who pounced on his chance to bat early. However, it was Mørk who stole the limelight. The veteran batsman had opened his account with a six, battered the boundaries, and had reached 36 off 43 balls by tea. Two more sixes later, and the half-century was confirmed.
After that, the pair calmed down. Kearsley was just letting himself loose when spinner Rai was introduced into the attack, and after striking a couple of boundaries in the previous over, Kearsley gave a limp edge to Jasotharan for 34. Rob Dauth followed shortly afterwards, but Mørk pushed onwards with Markus, as the two sent Red into the lead by stumps on day one.
Mørk kept hogging the strike on the second day, but fell for 143 before he was able to see off the second new ball for the lower order, and Thomas returned stunning figures of 6.1-2-12-4 in his spell. Edmunds had no answer to his pace, and his four-ball innings included three dropped catches before eventually managing to find Matt Pitt's stomach.
Still, Red led by 138, and there was swing in abundance. Kennett used it to manoeuver the ball through the gap between Pitt's bat and pad, and Colts' performed even worse with the bat than in the first innings. No one stuck around, Tarick Weber from No. 8 top scored with 20, while Red spread the wickets around - though Sean Bennett's first spell was near unplayable, where he reaped Towns, Jasotharan and Hancock for 24 runs. Colts were bowled out by 113 to lose by an innings, and looked to struggle with the same old problems.
Cricket Web Colts 158 all out (Burke 35; Edmunds 3/26, Watt 3/48)
Cricket Web Red 296 all out (Mørk 143, Markus 47; Thomas 5/66, Rai 3/48)
Cricket Web Colts 113 all out (Watt 3/15, Bennett 3/24, Kennett 3/36)
Cricket Web Red won by an innings and 25 runs
Man of the Match: H. Mørk
Points: Red 19, Colts 3
Cricket Web Blue v Cricket Web Black
in the PDV Dome
Scorecard
Ball By Ball
Blue will undoubtedly rue wasted chances in this match, though Black must be given credit for immense spirit and fully deserved to go top of the table after the five days of cricket in the Dome. Neil Pickup's relentless efforts, with eight wickets and 32 unbeaten runs, trumped Blue's much-vaunted batting line-up in the end.
Black won the toss and batted first, and after putting on 47 against the new ball bowlers, Adam Collins came on and took the pace off the ball. Nevertheless, the left-arm dobbers were magnificently effective, as Smith, Blackman and Butler departed to slanted awayswingers in quick succession. When Jennifer Law slashed Fuller away for two, Black were 77 for four, with Simon Fitzsimmons already having notched up a half-century.
With support from Ash Chaulk and Mike Wilson, Fitzsimmons began to turn the wheel. He batted past lunch and almost through the afternoon session, adding 113 runs before being adjudged lbw to a delivery from Liam Camps; but at 194 for six, there seemed like little batting was to come.
Only Mike Wilson, who had been "woefully out of form for a season and a half", according to Blue captain Liam Camps, could now save Black from a sub-par score on a fine batting wicket. So he did. Solid but brief contributions from Richards, Hoy and Borcich helped the next three partnerships to be worth 62, before the two lashed out. Pickup may have been lbw on 0, and he certainly was reprieved when Halsey let slip an easy catch, but from then on Wilson and Pickup dominated. Even the new ball didn't faze them, as they added 107 in 26.3 overs. Eventually, Collins broke the charm when Young held a catch at first slip, but the damage had been done: the total read a daunting 363, and Blue had wasted their first chance at taking an advantage.
Blue's second innings is summed up by the word "grit". After eight overs, they had added 27. Thirty overs later, and the batsmen had scrambled together a further 42 runs - only two of which were extras, though. Then, Rob Cribb inside edged Richards for 23, and the game began slowly to come alive again. Young reached his half-century, hit the occasional boundary, and started off the session after tea by smashing Hoy over midwicket for six. Goff also settled in nicely, before throwing his wicket to Chris Butler on 41, but Andrew Cloete took over the role seamlessly. 119 runs were added in the evening session, as Young matched his former Test colleague Fitzsimmons with a century, and Cloete closed the day on 53 not out.
With 50 more runs piled onto the total in the sunshine, the second new ball not having given any results, and Blue only needing 75 more runs to take a first-innings lead, Blue could have pushed their advantage for the second time in the game. Then, Cloete was given out lbw for 78, and the wheels fell off. Fuller was dropped on 0, but went on to make 29, but neither Crampton nor Camps managed to stick around and make substantial contributions as they needed to. Instead, Pickup tugged Black back, with Blue only gaining a lead of four runs.
Black followed this up with a patient batting effort. Fitzsimmons and Smith added 61 for the opening wicket after Cloete granted Fitzsimmons a reprieve on six, and dropped catches were to be the order of the day - Black batted through four sessions, and floored six chances. Particularly damaging were the drops off Blackman and Butler: the pair added 83 for the third wicket, and got three reprieves in the first hour.
Thus went the initiative: the remainder of Black's batting line-up stuck around to add useful runs, and as none of the Blue bowlers could find true penetration, Black piled on 376 before declaring with half an hour remaining on the fourth day. They received stick from Peter Young, but Nathan Hoy had the last laugh, and had him bowled for 17.
There could have been an intriguing chase set up on the final day, but Black's bowling was simply too good. With Goff and Cloete gone within the first hour, and then Cribb and Fuller removed just before lunch, Blue needed to preserve their last five wickets within two sessions, with Demeza batting 11: it was a hopeless task. Borcich cleaned up the tail after a final spell of 6-1-17-4, after the resistance between Crampton and Halsey had brought 39 runs in 14 overs for the seventh wicket, but it was Pickup's three wickets in the morning that really nailed the coffin.
Cricket Web Black 363 all out (Wilson 122, Fitzsimmons 113, Pickup 30*; Collins 4/43, Fuller 3/47)
Cricket Web Blue 367 all out (Young 141, Cloete 78; Pickup 4/85)
Cricket Web Black 376 for eight declared (Butler 61)
Cricket Web Blue 152 all out (Borcich 5/42, Pickup 4/32)
Cricket Web Black won by 220 runs
Man of the Match: N. S. Pickup
Points: Black 20, Blue 7
Really need to improve our batting!
