"..A Good Win Against a Decent Team Provided Invaluable Match Practice .."

Saturday 1st XI versus Woodmansterene

Putney 1st XI travelled to Woodmansterne for their first competitive game of the season in the League Cup.

Having won the toss and putting the opposition in to bat Putney were rewarded with an early wicket when Grace deceived the batsman with a full length ball to disturb the timbers.

At the other end Peters G bowled an excellent spell down wind, collecting a well deserved wicket thanks to a sharp catch at first slip from Peters J.

Wickets continued to fall with James Peters the pick of the bowlers collecting 3. Despite this the runs came reasonably freely with Woodmansterne keeping their run rate well above 4 an over on a tricky pitch partly thanks to a quick outfield and some sloppy fielding, but Putney were still on firmly top with the opposition 120-7. Some lower order runs allowed Woodmansterne to reach 189 all out in the 44th over. Although the team felt it was 30 runs more they should have allowed them to get, it was still a par score at best.

Putney's innings started with a bang when Middleton and Lambswood taking 18 off the first over however despite the fast start, wickets fell at regular intervals and Putney found themselves in massive trouble at 96-6.

At this stage Gary Peters joined Bam Bam in the middle. Bam Bam initially took the game to the opposition in typical fashion, smashing his first two balls for 4 and hitting the dangerous leg spinner out of the attack with some sweetly timed offside shots and a huge 6 over mid wicket losing the ball in the process (probably not the last one he will lose this season!).

At this stage the opposition looked to frustrate Bam Bam by setting a very deep field and trying to keep GP on strike. However as Bam Bam helped himself to easy 1 and 2, Gary took advantage of the tight field set to him to strike a number of crucial boundaries, including a tremendous cover drive which particularly impressed the oppositions keeper.

With Putney now significantly ahead of the rate and now needing less than 50 to win it seemed the only way we would lose was by being bowled out. However the opposition continued to set defensive fields and use their less penetrative seamers allowing the batsmen to score 5 or 6 an over with little risk. in the Peters and Bam Bam turned the screw and when GP struck the winning runs with more than 5 overs to go, a situation which had been dire an hour before had been turned into a comfortable win!

All in all whilst it was a good win the team will need to lift their game if they want to compete for the league title this season. The slack fielding and lacklustre batting will be punished by better opposition!

That said, a good win against a decent team provided invaluable match practice going into the league season next week.

2 performances which stood out were Gary Peters 1-20 from 9 overs and 40 not out and Bam Bam's 75 not out, with Bam Bam just pipping Gary to the man of the match award!

A special mention for James Peters back in the team after his sabbatical captaining the 2's, his Wickets included both the danger men who could have improved Woodmansterne's score considerably.

Bring on round 2!

Man of the Match: Damandeep Singh




Doug Shaw

July 6, 2009