N2CC vs Willesden Green
Sun 29th May 2011
Tudor Sports Ground.

Desperados

The match against Willesden Green began with good omens and a toss won by the home team putting the opposition in to bat. A time game was against the oppo's wishes but it gave us a chance or so it seemed. The match started well with Shai Bhatt getting the top four batsmen out with some devilish in-swinging bowling and Willesden creaking on 68. No one would have believed the onslaught to follow! The visitors were peppering the ground with 4s and not wanting to run much although that may have been down to some good fielding. Then the opposition decided they all wanted to be Viv Richards style batsmen as they started hitting the ball all over the ground. Somehow we stayed in the match although allowing the Willesden Green team to amass a score of 268 for 7 off 33 overs! Time was flying by but overs were few due to lost time in retrieving the ball and the opposition batsmen deciding to confer after every ball!

A tasty tea was followed by a team talk by the day's Skipper to try to rally the troops in desperation of not losing! Quietly, with little belief, he hoped for a miracle and desperate not to be the first skipper to lose this season. A strong initial batting line up led the players to believe anything could happen… well except for a win! A draw was the aim and as the openers walked out it seemed inevitable that the Willesden Green bowling would win the day! Simon and Dave started well with the odd 4 here and there to break up the row of dots. Both openers stayed strong in the face of severe criticism from a wicketkeeper who never took a breath in case it interrupted his sledging! However, as Dave Parker succumbed there was still belief with Bobby Moore striding out. How wonderful to see Bobby resilient in the face of lots of sledging from his own team mates following the previous weeks brief innings. As Bobby returned to the pavilion after scoring only 6 he could only ask how he had managed to find another way to get out when his straight drive bounced off the hands and then head of the bowler and then into mid off’s hands!

Omens? Not good at all! N2 middle order collapse… words that have staid the test of time!

Josh fell to a catch and then Amit was given out by the standing umpire Parker caught behind off his elbow! The opposition would not allow square leg umpire to overrule and this only made N2 mad! Peter Barnes (skipper's bro-in-law) didn't trouble the scorer much but lasted more than a few balls to eat into the 20 overs. OMG! Simon Dyer, capitulated through tiredness or boredom after such a long time at the crease trying to score runs!!! WHY??? No matter - Crouchley/Bhatt/Jacobi - they can bat can't they? Well Robbie Crouchley managed to recover his batting skills and batted more than aptly. Bhatt fell to a quicker ball Jacobi to some spin and Crouchley to an LBW decision which was a correct decision for a ball staying low hitting middle and leg. Oh oh! Olly Butler in his first game of the season and Roy Venting were at the crease with more than 2 overs to go. It was only time before those bails fell. Not at all!!! Somehow we managed to last the 35 overs with the last men standing Olly Butler and Roy Venting defying the odds and holding out!

BRILLIANT!

Another weekend passes and N2 are still unbeaten in 2011 with a draw against what seemed, on paper, a much superior team!

The match was followed by some fine food and drinks at the Hadley Hotel for a post match analysis.

Man of the match Simon Dyer lasting 30 overs with a solid performance in the face of constant barrage of words from the wicketkeeper and three wickets.
Special mention to Olly Butler who prevented the skipper from getting his first 5 wicket haul by dropping a catch which my one month old would have had trouble dropping but then managed to block out at the end!

Batting:

D. Parker - caught 17
S. Dyer - caught 36
R. Moore - caught 6
J. Newham - caught 6
A. Patel - caught 4
P. Barnes - bowled 0
R. Crouchley - lbw 26
R. Jacobi - caught 1
S. Bhatt - bowled 6
O. Butler - not out 4
R. Venting - not out 0
Extras 17
Total 122 for 9 in 35 overs

Bowling:
Bhatt - 13 overs - 0 maidens - 62 runs - 4 wickets
Jacobi - 8 0 92 0
Butler - 3 0 34 0
Dyer S - 8 0 57 3
Crouchley R - 1 0 18 0