Saturday 31st
May
Thoresby
Colliery 203-9 [10 pts]
It was the hottest day
of summer so far as Thoresby travelled to Kiveton with hopes of winning the
toss and batting on the excellent pitch. This was not to be, as Martin lost the
toss and consigned us to a long spell of sunbathing.
With Patel on holiday,
Winslade and Willis opened the bowling and Winslade bowled very straight and
quick as usual, beating the bat on numerous occasions. It also seems a new rule
has been brought in that prevents Kiwis from getting lbw decisions as yet again
Winslade struck the opener Burgess in front on the full and was not given what
should have been a simple decision. To compound Thoresby’s misery Burgess was
then missed on a stumping off Evans, who had replaced Willis. The other opener
Grainger was then dropped again of the luckless Evans before he was eventually
stumped off Evans. Nash was then introduced to replace Winslade and struck in
his second over. Coxon played some lusty blows before becoming Collington’s
first victim. Winslade returned for a short spell and immediately struck after
which he became frustrated by Burgess and lost his line. Nash was again brought
into the attack and he finally removed Burgess who, despite being given a life
by the umpire, had batted very well. Thoresby then bowled and fielded well to
keep the opposition down to 250, taking nine wickets for full bonus points.
Collington and Nash did particularly well
bowling at the end. Winslade again was excellent and sooner or later his luck
will change as he can’t keep beating the bat without taking wickets. Evans also
bowled without luck and is getting back to his best.
In reply, Thoresby started disastrously
with Chesh clean bowled first ball by a jaffer. As now seems customary, Hughes
went in and played shots all round, and got out just when he looked set. This
brought Birkett to the wicket and unfortunately his bad run continued, spooning
a long hop to square leg. Nash then edged through to the keeper. Chatterton and
Willis briefly looked like they would repair the damage before the umpire again
intervened, giving Willis out to a chest high fast full toss that he had little
choice but to play. Wilkinson then played some glorious shots before a fine
catch saw his end. Winslade and Collington took the score to 102 before Collington
was out. Evans then joined Winslade and the two batted very sensibly but also
put the bad ball away. When Evans was eventually out the score had moved to 186
and there was hope of a draw. Winslade was joined by Dickens who managed to
survive and take the score past 200 for maximum bonus points. Winslade remained
unbeaten, in what was an innings of high quality, coming in with the team in trouble.
Although disappointing
that the game was not won we should take heart from the way we fought back
after a terrible start; this underlines the strength we have in depth. We just
need one of the upper order to get in and post a big score each game; also, the
bowlers will start getting the odd decision and the edges. Spirit is good
within the team and we just have to keep pulling together and the results will
come.