Yet another day week 1 that was not our best, but finished up far from our worst. In muggy and slippery conditions, the Gladdies had no hesitation in electing to bat, which seemed mighty foolish when we slipped to 5/11. Yes, 5/11. Pants.
The ball was moving and Scott Muller, counter-intuitively were bowling and catching well. Thankfully, complete disaster was avoided through a gritty and determined partnership from Jimmy D and Christian, who got us well past our lowest ever score, and safely to 52 before Chris finally fell. Jimmy was run out for 29 just 1 run later, and despite some hefty shot making from Centejas and Stradling, the best we could manage was 88. Not so bewdie. It also meant we had a full 14 overs to bowl at Scott Muller before the close of play, in a situation where they smoked us back in round 3.
Naturally, it started raining just as we went out to bowl, so the next 45 minutes were a bit of a character test, which I’m happy to say we passed with flying colours. Thanks to Jamie and Marty, we reduced them to 4/24 by the end of play, so while they have another 50 overs week 2, a few more wickets and they’re in serious poop.
A pretty dominant performance week 2 has us all but dishing our an outright victory vs the team currently second on the table.
Things started badly for them from the very first over, with Tim juggling but holding a skied chance from their skipper. Two overs later Soli had a second, cruising through the defences of their best bat. It was still very tough to score on that field, and the Gladdies disciplined bowling held them to just 12 runs off the next 12 overs. New recruit Hirak bowled with plenty of zip and got his first wicket, and TJ cleaned up the tail to have them all out 37 runs short. Given there was half a days play left, we figured we might as well have a hit and see if we could set up the possibility of an outright.
We tried to move the game along, but it was still tough to score and at 3/16 after 6 it was unclear whether we could get a result. But we had a bit of a swing, and ended up setting them a target of 79 to win off 14 overs. Sounds generous, and they had a lash, but it was always going to be tough. Hirak had a wicket in the first to get us underway, but they hit some good shots to get to 1/19 off just 3 overs, before Kunal held a catch in the deep to remove their biggest hitter. Patience proved the name of the game, and we held our nerve and our catches to have them 6 down. Unfortunately there just wasn’t quite enough time in the day, and they held on to finish at 6/48 at the close. An excellent win that should have us well and truly ensconced in the top 4.
