Notts Libraries v Gedling Sports 30.7.09

After a dreadful couple of days of pretty much persistent rain it seemed very unlikely that we would be able to play cricket this week. However an afternoon of occasional sunshine and a strong breeze dried the pitch just enough to make play possible, though there were a few swamp like areas.

For a number of years now, King George V Park in Arnold has been a batters pitch and tonight was to be no different. After winning the toss NLCC chose to bat(partly because 3 players hadn't turned up in time, 1 of which never turned up). We scored freely reaching 139 for 1 in 18 overs. A good score on the majority of pitches but an achievable score here. Mike Hayward got a career best of 82 not out and Mike Berry, in an unusual supporting role, got to 44 before losing his wicket.

Gedling scored steadily and were always in touch with the required run rate. I came on to bowl the 9th over with the opening batsman still in and proceeded to get "carted" all around the park, taking the pressure off the batsman. My next three overs were much better, going around the wicket I was able to limit the run scoring and in the process took 2 wickets. They needed 6 off the last over and Mike Berry was unlucky to see the second ball smashed just over Tom to the boundary and Gedling reached their target with 3 balls to spare.

A shame to lose but a good tight game that could have gone either way, a bit of needle between the players (fueled by a few disputed LBW decisions) and a rarity this summer, some sunshine.

In a close match everybody ponders the things they could have done better, in my case that poor first over, batsmen wonder if they could have turned a few of those singles into twos, the keeper and fielders think about those few fumbles that allowed the batsmen to steal extra runs. But at the end of the day being one fielder short makes a big difference