The mighty Bexley CC use 2 pitches in the grounds of Loring Hall for their lower teams. A picturesque venue yet, sat next to the River Cray and with appalling drainage, this is a ground that bowlers love and batsman endure. On the pitch beside us, Bexley 4s romped to victory, bowling Cowdrey 2s out for 31 – that’s a sign.
Using the Irvine Turner technique of batting first, Milind strode out to bat with Vitlesh, not yet sure of how the pitch would play, but already with an inkling that the lush, long outfield may mean few boundaries. Once the first couple of overs were through, the pitch had declared itself low to very low and so slow that some deliveries still haven’t passed the batsman. So, it was soon clear that this may be more a test of endurance than a 40 over run-fest. Our cause was not helped by the early run out of Vitlesh, who was in on the adjacent junior wicket, but not on the track we were playing on. Krishna joined Milind and their 35 run partnership proved to be substantial in the context of the game. Krishna’s LBW decision did look a little like it might miss a second set of stumps down the leg side, but Milind remained, patiently accumulating. Sameer, in his usual style, perhaps this week called ‘I want to get home to watch the Wales match’, attacked from the outset. He smote one or two deliveries but missed several others before being out to a far more plausible LBW. Next up was Brandan, who battled his way to two before racking up the umpire’s 3rd LBW (I will comment later). Owen joined Milind, but only in time to watch Milind’s demise for an invaluable 29, bowled by Bexley’s wily old seamer whose first four overs were maidens. We had been hovering on or about the 2 an over mark through the first 25 overs of the innings, but once Hammer had bullied one young spinner back over his head for a relatively rapid 19, withstanding the loss of Owen, whose 10 featured a rare (on this outfield) swept boundary, Atlas strode to the crease, exit Hammer (LBW) and Antony, with Atlas, looked to continue to take the initiative. Atlas’ well-judged 38 featured trademark lusty blows and wristy flicks, and Antony provided excellent support. Once Antony fell, the league’s best number 10 – Vik, joined Atlas for the final knockings, but as Atlas fell Chris was undone by the low bounce and we closed on 147. It looked a competitive total on this surface.
Bexley’s innings began slowly, and then, with Antony taking two relatively early wickets, they slowed down. Antony’s figures of 7 overs, 2-17 look mighty economical, but, from the other end, Atlas bowled 7 overs for 2 runs – featuring 6 maidens (cue much wittering from the fielding side about hot, dot balls and scoreboard pressure). Though Bexley’s number 4 looed capable of scoring at a fair rate, Milind’s clever field setting kept him off strike. However, with an opener still there and the number 4 looking threatening, we needed a breakthrough. The breakthrough came from the bowling of Brandan as Vitlesh took an excellent catch that flew to him at point. With Vitlesh doing his thing from the other end (8 overs, 1 for 13), Bexley were well and truly bogged down with the rate required creeping up past 5 an over. Time for our spin attack to get the wickets column moving, and Vik certainly did that, with 3 for 25 in his 5 overs, ably supported by Krishna who chipped in with 2 for 29 in his 5. Indeed, both Krishna’s wickets came in the final over of Bexley’s innings, which also featured a run out.
Victory was sweet and so we turned to the discussion of the day’s awards. Man of the Match went unanimously to Atlas for the day’s highest score and his exceptionally tight bowling. However, Atlas also managed to scoop the DOD award. Elements within the team had decided that their umpire had diddled us with some dodgy LBWs. Despite some pointing out that a slow, low track may lend itself to this mode of dismissal, the ill-judged policy of appeal whenever it hits the pad looked silly. With 2 more LBWs given in their innings, the umpire did a sound job which is less than we can say for Atlas, whose desperate pleading for an LBW after the batsman had turned the ball down to fine leg off the full face of the bat did not impress the umpire. The JK Mani Breakthrough Moment of success award went to Vitlesh for the catch that broke up Bexley’s established 3rd wicket partnership.
The win moves the 2s joint top of their division – a position we should seek to consolidate over the next few weeks given the talent on the pitch this week and also to come back from their various activities in future weeks.