Harvel CC 2^nd XI vs Catford and Cyphers 2^nd XI – Match Report

Harvel won the toss, batted first and won by 49 runs.

A gloriously sunny day and a stonking track greeted us in this tucked away, picturesque and very leafy village ground. Not surprisingly the way things are going for us this year, Jasper lost the toss and we all collectively sighed at the prospect of chasing leather for the next 3 hours.

What was pleasantly surprising and in keeping with our improved performance from the preceding week was the excellent bowling and fielding effort. All the bowlers deserve accolade, while although Hasan and Kartik bagged 4 each, Chandra bowled cleverly in the conditions without luck.. Special note also goes to JGW not only for his bowling but moreso his excellent captaincy – giving the seamers short spells to keep them fresh and intelligently protecting the short far-side boundary. All the fielders did better, with special note for Dale, resembling a lanky Jonty Rhodes in the covers narrowly missing a couple of sharp run-out attempts in the middle of the innings The fact that not a single pull shot and the odd cut shot was played can be attributed to excellent bowling as well as the low nature of the bounce. More than individual performances, the most striking feature about Harvel’s batting effort for me was the way they patiently constructed an innings lasting 50 overs against good bowling. Let’s try and learn from this guys. Loose balls (few and far between) were put away, while not trying to belt every other delivery in the frenetic manner we have batted of late.

The Catford innings was a stop/start affair, where excellent strokeplay was mixed with stupidity. Where have I heard that before?! The most entertaining part of my innings was observing the ‘banter’ between the Harvel openers and fielders and a certain S. Browne. The third delivery of the second over went screaming along the turf to the mid-wicket fence, followed by a ‘that was licked, maaan’ by Mr Browne following through halfway down the wicket! There then followed some interesting verbal exchanges including upon an upish but middled pull through mid on, where the bowler screamed ‘catch it!’ followed by ‘catch it, he has to get near it first maan!’ Trying to play an expansive drive off the back foot through the covers, Selwyn was beaten by a ball that kept a touch low, inside-edging it onto the sticks. Lance and Dale showed some promise by attempting to rebuild with some good strokeplay, but both fell too prematurely for our liking, Lance skying one to mid on after an injury requiring a runner and Dale being run out after needless confusion between the wickets with Hasan. Hasan and Sasi attempted to rebuild with some more good strokeplay, but again their calling comes into question. Sasi’s innings of 36 was one of the few positives, finally his exuberance getting the better of him being bowled by a quicker one from the excellent left arm orthodox Glynn Mitchell, their only good bowler of note. Wickets kept tumbling regularly and with the run-rate climbing, our demise was finally inevitable.

Although the consensus was that our batting can be worked upon and that we cannot prosper in this division trying to hit our way to 300 every time, there were positives in the bowling and fielding departments, showing that our spirits remains high. Surely our next win is only round the corner.

Rohit Pratap

2/6/3