General news
The Curtis-Bennet Shield Final 2019
Rain, nah not today chaps, cos it rained last night. But the Groundsman had said, “rain not expected last night, so covers left off….”
But it did rain. “Sorry mates I’m off to another ground cos they may want their covers putting on for tonight”. And off he trotted. Next. Our inspection of wicket, at stake is the toss. Who wins it has got to be in the driving seat. Where have we heard that before? Course we have. Oh well life is just a bowl of cherries.
10.50 toss and to this day, and with others, I’ve no idea who won it except to say I understood HMRC were to bat, but no Bolton were, no it’s HMRC, no, no it’s got to be Bolton? Okay who won the toss? HMRC did. Put Bolton in. Thank goodness for that.
The Bolton innings
And so to war. Ring and Abbas against Berry and Murray. In the very first over Ring allegedly gloving, elbowing but ‘definitely’ not hitting the ball sent it on to the keeper Cooper, ultimately falling foul of the umpire. Promptly given out, wicket to Berry. Slow march off accompanied by much muttering from the spectators.
First over, no runs, one wicket. Bolton seething. Priestley to the fore takes it on. All was quiet as Mike Berry and Will Murray sought to keep the lid on. Whoa, Priestley 9 errs, offers to catch Green pouches, the second wicket to Berry. 16 for 2. Brings Wolfenden to the middle to join Abbas, who is very much the spectator so far.
The game is on
HMRC certainly in the hunt at this stage. Looking for more blood. Still, two hard-headed Boltoner’s at the crease. Two rangy HMRC chappies with the cherry in hand! Bit of give and take perhaps, who’s giving, who’s taking? Very interesting.
A couple of scares going in the batsman’s favour sees them gradually staking their claim to the crease. Runs now coming at a fair pace. Despite some good fielding, all was moving Bolton’s way. 50 up and passed. With the partnership worth 84, the score of 80, fortune moved towards HMRC.
Batsmen pegged down
Change bowler Scholey tempting Abbas to playback, caught and bowled for a solid well-worked 47. 100 for 3. Overs still aplenty. Nevertheless, the stand of 84 puts Bolton back into the frame once again. Wolfenden still there. HMRC exerting more pressure. Score on the wane, batsmen pegged down. Something’s got to give but no, not so.
Runs slowly creeping up despite further bowling changes. Oops, another 20 runs on and against the odds, Wolfenden puts one in Cooper’s direction. It’s snaffled up. He goes, but a splendid 55, score 120 for 4 wickets credited to Azam. This brings Partington and Fergusson together.
And so it came to pass
What could these two relative newcomers to the wicket do? Overs running down. Sense of urgency required. Six wickets in hand surely now the time to stage a breakaway and get some runs flowing. It’s “the scores on the board that count in the end” Good old Brucie!
Slowly, slowly catchee monkey. Overs running down. Reasonable score beginning to take shape despite keen bowling and good fielding. Last five overs, still some runs required. Here we go. Both batsmen decided to get on with it. They began to take their chances, throw the bat, see what could be achieved. 160, 170, 180 on the board. HMRC desperately trying to stem the run flow, managed to achieve some order. By now both batsmen hitting quite freely saw the 200 up and 9 runs later the overs ran out, leaving the innings to close on 209 for 4 in 40 including 2 extras, 1 bye and 1 leg byes.
For those of you into figures, here are HMRC’s bowling averages:
- M Berry 8-0-32-2
- W Murray 5-1-22-0
- R Greatorex 2-0-14-0
- A Clarke 6-2-25-0
- B Green 7-0-39-0
- M Scholey 6-0-47-1
- J Azam 6-0-28-1
A fair total, in the end, considering only a mundane score looked on the cards until the late 30s overs when at last the batsmen suddenly realised more effort must be put in, more runs were required and only a few overs left to get them in. In the event, the last five overs contributed significantly to the score.
The bowling and fielding effort and blimey, only two extras conceded. Not a no-ball or a wide, that’s something these days in overs cricket. Splendid you chaps’ take a bow. Now simply score 210 and you’re home and dry!
Away then for some well-earned sustenance, a sumptuous tea it was. Absolutely spiffing. Sometimes I wonder how the lads can walk back, run up and down on the pitch let alone run amok in the field after quaffing such a spread.
The HMRC reply
Cooper and Peat facing bowlers Wolfenden and Patel. An understandable and cautious beginning considering the distance to go and the fact HMRC have had some disastrous starts in recent games. Both batsmen seemed to be in no trouble, but out of the blue, Peat (13), was bowled by Patel. 21 f 1. Leaving Cooper to be joined by Azam.
Both carried on slowly in the face of accurate bowling and the score reached the half-century for the loss of the one early wicket. At this stage the run rate a healthy five an over. Looking good.
What a turn around
Spoke to soon. A run later, Cooper departed the scene caught by Ring off Mo Saiyed’s bowling. 51 f 2. Then followed a collapse. Azam out of his ground is run out by Patel for 17, 52 for 3. A run later Thompson 9 went 9 lbw to Mo Saiyed and it’s53 f 4.
Then, Greatorex, a duck caught Wolfenden from Mo Saiyed, his third victim, 62 for 5 and finally in this little round of frenetic activity Green (9) caught Patel off Mo Saiyed, a foursome for him. Suddenly 78 for 6, and it’s hellfire, to coin a phrase. Only 16 overs gone. Last five wickets falling for just 27 runs. Oh dear it will not do, simply will not do.
In fact, this score is reminiscent to that of HMRC’s semi-final game against Blackpool & Fylde. In a similar position that day at 35 f 5, but on that occasion recovered to post 183 and win the game. Today’s problem, both Green and Greatorex the chief architects of that great revival were already just mere statistics in today’s scorebook.
What a berserker
Not surprisingly Bolton were on a high, cock-a-hoop, chicken stew I believe urghh and now on a berserker! What’s a berserker, come now don’t you know? So what will Clarke and Berry do? Well, they put together an entertaining 50 partnership to start with. It rocked Bolton back on their heels. What had seemed to be a relatively easy exercise for Bolton suddenly looked as if they might have a late fight on their hands.
So it transpired. Berry 35 bowled Patel, Clarke, also 35, caught Ring off Wolfenden, then aided and abetted by the tail-enders. “Washington warrior” Darren Smith, he of a damaged finger, caught Ring bowled Patel 19 and token resistance from Murray (3) caught Priestley off Patel left Scholey not out 5, taking the final to 175 all out including:
- 20 extras,
- 2 overs to spare.
- 1 bye
- 5 leggies
- 9 wides
- 5 nbs
Here are Bolton’s bowling averages:
- L Wolfenden 9-2-51-1
- S Patel 9-1-44-4
- Mo Saiyed 10-0-44-1
- Mo Saiyed 10-1-30-3
Remember the last 4 wickets falling at 133 f 7, 150 f 8, 165 f 9 and the last one at 175 producing 98 spirited runs making a game of it. How different it might have been in the early and middle order could have gone some way to match that effort there it may well have produced a different result. Another 30/40 runs perhaps, could that have been the deciding factor? Ah well, it’s what happens on the day that counts.
Performances of the day
HMRC
The three batting performances of Clarke 35, Berry 35, and for his later heroics with “finger”, Smith with his entertaining 19. Of interest, the 20 extras represented the fourth-highest score. Of the seven bowlers used, Berry the pick with 2 for 32 off 8 and a close second co-pilot Clarke with his 0 for 22 off 6.
Bolton
Of the bowlers used, my pick is Mo Saiyed with 3 for 30 off his full whack 10 overs and S Patel his 4 for 44 off 9. A close call.
Batting honours difficult to separate all contributed in their own ways suffice to say Partington 56 no, Wolfenden 56, Abbas 47 and Fergusson 40 no. must all rate a mention. Between them making 168 of the 209 runs scored. Good all-round efforts.
Lest we forget
And finally, let us with remembering with appropriate sadness HMRC’s first CB final in several years ended in disappointment at Dunstable Town CC ground with a 34-run defeat. There was not a dry eye on the ground, for those perennial finalists Bolton Area CSSC. Congratulations to Bolton who on the day take the cake. I’d like a piece, please!
So, my dear friends, it’s time for me to hide away my pen and ink for this season at least. It’s been a merry-go and to say at least an all-round bucket of fun. Hope you’ve enjoyed the round by round reporting. More to come, roll on 2020.
As ever, best wishes, keep cool.
Peter
Hon Sec CB Shield 2019/2020
