It was generally agreed that the match against the Centurions would be our toughest test yet in the SWFTL after they beat the Gladiators by 1 run. This was despite the fact that we hadn’t even come close to losing against Centurions since 2005 when their opener took 6 for 4 and reduced us to 51 all out.
The Canes were put into bat and despite a slow start against the fast openers the runs started to flow. Bowen, Jaffa, Imran and Greg all scored well before being caught and Sully got bowled for a golden duck. Nathan Rees was brought up the order to score quick runs and destroyed one of the bowlers in a devastating show of power batting scoring 41 off 22 balls eventually being bowled going for a big one. The opening bowlers came back on but Jimmy and Greg, then Garraway, continued to score. The damage had been done with score set at 162 to win for the Centurions.
161 looked a defendable score but with a good batting wicket and quick outfield the bowling and fielding had to be tight. The openers kept up with the run rate and the incoming No 3 batsman took the scoring above the required run rate. The Canes looked twitchy with balls bowled short and fumbled by the fielders especially down the leg side boundary.
With 12 overs gone the Centurions were well above the 8 an over required to win the match and the Canes seemed to have a few players that, despite not having GCSE maths, felt obliged to shout to the captain the current run rate every over, this in turn let the batsmen know exactly what they were required to do. The noise was further increased with two players in particular talking and shouting for the sake of it after every ball was bowled, good, bad or indifferent. This only served to gee up the batsmen and annoy our bowlers.
Jimmy was replaced by Chris Angle in a move that changed the course of the game. First Jeremy (1 for 19 off 2) C+B the opener on 49, then Chris Angle (2 for 6 off 2) took out the danger man bowling him around his legs (thats worth loads in the Chis v Chris battle). The new batsmen couldn’t handle the run rate and tight bowling from Garraway (1 for 7 off 3) saw the Centurions score 129 from 20 overs.
Another good win for the Canes and with 3 bonus points this takes them well clear at the top of the table with 3 games to play. Our nearest challengers are the Gladiators and the Centurions who both have 5 games left and so can still realistically beat us with bonus points.
Can we start a ‘talking shit’ box and fine players who do just that. At the current rate we’d be able to buy enough Old Rosie, Black Rat and Stowford press in the Clytha to keep us going for the weekend.
— Griff
jonty evans — July 2, 2009 at 10:26 am
getting a bit tetchy in your old age griff?
dropping the canes banter would be a great loss, but if the skipper insists we become a more professional outfit i’ll toe the line.
bah humbug mr scrooge
Jaffa — July 2, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Here here, grandad griffiths or what!!!