Early disorder ends in victory
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They beat the Village CC: (standing L-R) Jo Swift, Will
Tennant, Ben Twiston-Davies, Paul Spackman, Richard Griffiths;
(sitting L-R) David Sultanti, Matt Seden, A-K Southey, Simon Tate, Ed
Paleit (capt), John Shaw.
Photo: Tim Castle |
| More pictures on pix website
here... |
By Ed Paleit
Played at Parliament Hill
Old Fallopians recorded their second weekend win of the season on
Sunday, beating Village CC by the comfortable margin of seven
wickets. Electing to field, they made good use of early,
seamer-friendly conditions as the bull dug in on a damp, slow,
unpredictable surface.
Griffiths and Twiston-Davies proved to be an excellent new-ball
pairing, and after ten overs Village were nineteen for three,
slipping later to thirty-one for four.
Some good hitting from the Village middle order threatened to
reverse the tide. A century stand for the fifth wicket was dominated
by a belligerent, though far from chanceless, half-century from
Bowman.
Eventually Paleit (the author of this excellent report and the
captain of the day) broke through with a terrible leg-side
full-toss which Page obligingly struck off the back of his bat to
gully.
Tennant, who had been unlucky not to remove both batsmen with his
legspin, held a fine self-preserving catch. Shaw added two scalps in
two balls before the return of the opening bowlers led to three of
the last four overs being maidens. Griffiths finished especially
impressively, with figures of one wicket for three runs off six
overs.
Village’s final tally of 153 for seven seemed a little under par for
a typical Sunday outing, but no-one was quite certain how the pitch
would behave in the second innings, and the opposition were keen to
tout themselves as a bowling side.
Indeed, Old Fallopians’ reply began in disorder with both
openers, Sultanti and Shaw, upset by the erratic pace and bounce of
the pitch.
Nought for two in the second over, the score struggled to five off
five before AK Southey, on debut, decided to throw caution to the
winds. A magnificent bout of striking saw him to thirty-six whilst
his partner, Paleit, was still struggling to locate the ball.
Alas, he eventually swung once too often and the off bail was
feathered from its perch by the slip-stream of the ball as it passed
over the stumps (see
pictures). Although he departed with the score only on
sixty-five, AK’s assault altered the character of the contest.
From then on it was fairly plain sailing. Village’s remarkably
well-greased patter dwindled gradually to muffled grumblings. Seden
batted straight and sensibly in his second innings for the club, a
couple of boundaries past the bowler delighting the afficionados.
Meanwhile Paleit, after a few close lbw shouts early on, built on
his ultra-cautious start with a flurry of cuts and pulls. He may
have been galvanised at being called Nigel Slater by the opposition.
Old Fallopians passed their target with nearly twelve overs to
spare, an emphatic conclusion to a match which had looked tight
until the last hour. Victory did much to salve the wounds from the
two beatings administered by the same opposition in 2006.
An excellent team performance bodes well for the encounter with
Chats Palace on the same ground in two weeks’ time.
Many thanks to all who played, particularly Simon Tate who flew in
from Qatar to keep wicket, and also Tim Castle who came down to
umpire and take photos.
To read an account of a completely different game played at
the same time on the same pitch by the same teams ... go to the
Village website
here...
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| The losers: Why are they so happy? And why have they changed
the score? |
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