| Match Report |
Sparsholt 3's kept up their winning start to the season with an 8-wicket win over Shrewton 3's, chasing down the target of 177 with 5 overs still to go.
Sparsholt stand-in skipper Bob Selley (everyone else, including Alex Whiting in his first outing as actual 3's skipper, was still on the A303) lost the toss, and we were asked to have a bowl, which is almost certainly what we'd have wanted to do on a soft wicket with a lush outfield (much like last week's in almost every way...). Stuart Veal and Tom Procter opened up, and after 3 maidens it was clear that run scoring was not going to be particularly easy. Both bowled tidy opening spells, but neither were able to make a breakthrough. That changed with the first ball of Nayan Phagabi's spell, when he enticed a play on - 32-1 off 12.1 overs. Mungo Patterson (3-0-26-0) replaced Tom Procter up the hill, and got some prodigious turn, but mainly into the sweet spot of the bat as his spinners sat up and asked to be hit. At drinks, Shrewton had moved on to 85-1 and things were not quite as rosy as they had once looked. The first ball after tea was a just-legal waist high full toss from Adam Trivett (2-1-8-1), who like his father before him proved to have the ability to take wickets with his worst balls, as a fine catch was taken at deep-cow-corner by James Dorward tip-toeing along the boundary to stay infield...
James soon after replaced Nayan (6-1-24-1) and started to work up quite a head of steam (down hill and with the wind), whilst also swinging the ball quite nicely too. Three were bowled and one fell LBW as he ended up with figures of 9-2-24-4. Stu Veal (10-1-32-0) and Tom Procter (10-1-43-2) returned to bowl up the hill - Tom eventually got the opening bat (S Gillot) out for a decent 61, before Bob Selley (who may not move again this side of Wednesday) snagged a stumping. 176-8 was a fine response to restrict Shrewton who were 108-2 off 26 overs.
Martin Patterson and Tom Procter then opened the batting, and Tom was the first to go in the second over spooning up a chance to square leg (3). It was clear that run scoring was not going to be that easy, and at 12 overs, we were 22-1 (Nayan coming in at 3), and we also lost a wicket just after drinks with Martin Patterson trying to start the acceleration and finding mid-on (15) - the score was 53-2 off 22 overs... so having suggested to Alex that James Dorward be promoted to inject some urgency to proceedings, Mungo Patterson came out to bat. Slowly but surely the field went back, and also their opening bowler had to leave to go to a football presentation evening, which meant that there were more gaps opening up. Mungo and Nayan ran brilliantly, and slowly but surely the partnership grew, as did their belief.
124 were needed off the last 20, and they took 30 off the next 5 overs, then 46 off the next 5 overs, and at 129-2, 48 was still needed off the last 10 overs. With boundaries at a real premium, the youthful running really ground Shrewton down (combined with a slight lack of bowlers after the opening pair). Nayan was the dominant partner, racing to his maiden 50 as Mungo dealt in 1's and 2's to rotate the strike well. Nayan then proceeded to convert his maiden 50 into a century just before the close, ending on 102* with Mungo 28*, a partnership of 125*.
I hope that this will be a breakthrough moment for the 3's as this was the sort of game that we struggled with last season, with the juniors struggling in longer run chases. Well batted Mungo and Nayan, but also well bowled James Dorward, and thanks also to the old timers that meant that we took the field with 11 rather than the 7 we had at about 4pm on Friday... |