Cardiff Cavaliers Match Report
G E Aviation
Friendly
Thursday 16 May
Cathedral School
Cavaliers 95/5 lost to GEA 96/4
With some trepidation I put pen to paper knowing that those club members who have attended the John Arlott School of cricket reporting have set the bar impossibly high. And goodness I wish I knew everyones names!! In a pleasant break from the ark building of the previous Tuesday, a sunny and surprisingly warm evening permitted a game of cricket to break out and it was fortunate that the forecasted heavy showers slid by the ground.
The skipper lost the toss and was asked to pad up, and it was soon obvious that the wickets green tinge was not an illusion and coupled with the accuracy and full length of the opposition bowlers, runs came at a premium. Adi was the first to fall foul to a ball that moved in the air and off the pitch. Glenn & Taimoor then set about building an innings with the former playing an attractive knock including a big six over mid wicket, his fall brought in Hubbard, who forgetting anything from his coaching in the Spring scratched around for a few overs, whilst Taimoor at the other end continued onto a fine 28 and moved the score forward to 72 with wickets in hand and five overs left. However, that the end of innings onslaught failed to materialise was down to an opposition whos bowling remained accurate and challenging. At this point I should add that I am always grateful for assistance, and I am indebted to Kanaya for contributing the following extract which details events at the end of the innings “Kanaya Singh showed good form with the Bat by playing some great attacking shots, with the highlight being when he pulled a pacey short pitched delivery from Ex Wales Rugby Star Rhys Williams for 4 runs” The usual disclaimers are attached to this excerpt, however the latters belligerent 15 runs got the final score up near the century mark.
The defence of such a low score was not impossible on a helpful pitch, and all of our attack bowled well, however we perhaps offered a few more short balls than was bowled in our innings, and the Aviation batsman invariably despatched these to the boundary. There was a point around the 10th over where the scoring rate had slowed to permit some thoughts of a positive result, and this period included a superb run out engineered by Glenn and Steaders, however, when Sidding (24) joined the left handed opener Towell (41), he soon removed any thoughts of a victory, after some initial Hubbard like swishes outside of off stump, he settled down to some fine leg side hitting, including a six which cleared the boundary with much to spare. Our score was passed with nine balls left and ended a pleasant game of cricket played in fine spirit. Undoubtedly the best team on the day won.
I am reminded that the champagne moment is not a spoof award, however, it would be remiss of me not to record the remarkable multi tasking that took place during our innings, as square leg umpire Steaders also found time to coach the opposition on walking in on the bowlers run up! However, the true champagne moment must go to the catch taken by GEA virtually on the boundary, on the run and at waist height, chances that can be put down in county cricket.!
Batting details
Adi bowled 1
Chapman bowled 35
Taimoor ct 28
Hubbard LBW 2
Payne ct 1
Kanaya not out 15
Lewry not out 3
Bowling details + catches/stumpings
Fraser 1-9
Adi 0-9
Browne 0-20
Marchant 0-17
Joey 1-14
Chapman 1-11
Taimoor 0-13
Match Report: Cardiff Cavaliers versus Cardiff Bay Barbarians (CBBs)
Cardiff Cavaliers – 102 for 3, CBBs 58 all out. Cardiff Cavaliers won by 42 runs
Well done to those who played in our first game of the 2013 Indoor League. Thank you, too, to Mark Twaits, Andrew Graveson and Jeremy for turning up to offer your support.
The match ended in a triumphant victory for us, as we picked up maximum league points (for both our victory and because the margin was 26+ runs).
CBBs won the toss and invited us to bat. Adi and JT opened and got us off to a quick and solid start, before Adi was dismissed caught off the side wall. Steaders and JT kept the momentum going, before Steaders retired. Shortly after JT also retired.
Jim McArdell had been so helpful keeping the score that he had not even padded up when it was his turn to come to the wicket. He hurriedly put his pads on only to face a ridiculous first delivery which appeared to be going down leg side only to swing in, pitch and dart into his middle and off stump – bad luck! Many laughed at Jim’s dismissal, because they could see the funny side of him rushing to prepare for his innings and then for him to be dismissed with an impossible delivery. Jim himself laughed at his own downfall, as he too could see the humour in it.
Ross was selflessly run out as he helped The Cavaliers towards a competitive total, whilst Paul proved very useful as the glue that held the middle and later order together. He and Steaders were there at the end, with JT (already retired) ready just in case another wicket should fall. The running between the wickets was particularly good throughout the Cavaliers’ innings.
As though Indoor Cricket is not confusing and frantic enough, it appears that it is Jeremy who has introduced a “Superover”. Well done, Jeremy, for being innovative and introducing a fun element. It made a number of people quite grumpy, mind you, and caused some confusion amongst some players. That’s part of the enjoyment!!
The Superover allows the batting side to score double the runs for any scoring shots off the bat. The Superover also enables the bowling side to secure one additional bonus point if they manage to dismiss a batsman. There are no further bonus points for the bowling side if two or more batsmen are dismissed.
It is the batting side that is able to choose when to take the Superover. They can choose a Superover for any of overs 2 to 9 in the 10-over innings. If no nomination is made, the 9th over by default becomes the Superover.
Steaders and JT took the Superover perhaps in the fifth over. The result was unspectacular on this occasion, as not too many were scored off the bat (for double the runs) nor was a wicket taken (for a bowling bonus point).
When CBBs batted, Steaders as captain was either brave or foolish when he decided he would bowl himself. As probably the weakest of tonight’s bowlers (well certainly on one of his bad days) he bowled the initial over of the innings. This proved expensive, with a number of wides and extras. CBBs managed 17 from this.
But after this things did calm down, with all our bowlers performing well. Jim McArdell, Adi, Ross and Paul all bowled accurately, as well as producing a number of deliveries that threatened to take wickets. The fielding, too, was excellent. I think, too, the fielders were well-positioned. CBBs were under intense pressure from the second over onwards. Even in the first over, though, they had lost a wicket to a run out. With three run outs, two batsmen bowled and one batsman caught, CBBs were all out in the ninth over, the last batsman falling to a slip catch.
Perhaps CBBs were a little naive in not taking their Superover earlier than they did, as I believe they took it in the eighth over, with only one wicket remaining and – again not very wise – with Adi as the bowler. I noticed, too, that the batsmen who were running between the wickets when the Superover was taken were probably not the most likely pair from within CBBs to steal runs quick singles — and therefore double their scoring by this means under the Superover rules.
JT, by the way, was not noticed behind the stumps. And by this I am paying him the highest of compliments. As they say the best wicket keepers go largely unnoticed, because there are no mistakes to remember them by. I do not remember him missing a single take and he was very neat with his glovework. He was not presented with an opportunity to take a catch, but I am sure he would have taken one had one come his way.
So well done The Cavaliers in winning our first game of 2013 and well done everyone for supporting one another and playing the game in a fine spirit!!