Yesterday saw Barts take on Beavers in our final JPS group game (rd 5) where only a victory would do to give ourselves a hope of progressing in the tournament. Despite the storms and heavy rain during the week the Reg Bartley Oval looked in reasonable knick. Barts lost the toss fielding first and in hindsight a good outcome as the deck was still a bit damp but with strong sun and breeze it was always likely to dry out in the second half. The ever-dependent opening duo of Banksy and Hollywood took the new ball. It wasnt long before Banksy made the first breakthrough, shattering the openers stumps. At the other end Hollywood aka Hoggard was nagging away with line and length deliveries, nibbling the new cherry both ways and giving nothing away. The openers hit rhythm beating the bat repeatedly and going for 1 or 2 an over. With pressure building Banksy got one to nip away taking the outside edge of Beavers best bat and skippers bat. Bevans snaffled the catch comfortably behind the sticks and that was 2 wickets down for very little. The pattern continued with the introduction of the first change bowlers of Robbie P and fat lad. At drinks Barts had restricted Beavers to 2-32 off 16 overs. After drinks Beavers swung the bat a bit more but the wickets column ticked over for Barts firstly with a superb caught and bowled from Robbie P which is becoming a bit of a signature move! Next was the turn of pup our debutant young spinner Mac Jenkins. Bowling with flight, loop and turn he bagged a wicket with his first ball as the Beavers bat skied a delivery to mid off. Not long after the next Beavers bat misjudged the spin and flight firing one to long off where Hollywood took a spectacular steepling one handed catch! Not to be completely outdone fat lad kept it tight from the other end firing one delivery to the base of off stump to remove another batsman. However young Macca wasnt finished yet, a big ripping delivery that caught the toe of the bat flew to first slip. The ever aware Sando spotted the batsman was well out of his crease and quickly fired the ball at the stumps to run him out! By now it was getting a little desperate for the Beavers batsmen and Jenkins Sr kept up the pressure consistently beating the outside edge. He got his just reward with a wicket of his own and was unlucky not to claim the 10th. Nonetheless Barts had bowled and fielded magnificently keeping Beavers down to 9-79 from 35 overs. It was now the turn of the increasingly stable opening batting partnership of Hancock and Baines. The Beavers bowling was tepid however the lads still needed to put the bad balls away and be watchful for the occasional good delivery. And this they did in style. Chris and Sim barely failed to put away a bad ball or profit from a run scoring opportunity not to mention thumping a few good balls too. Chris played his usual aggressive innings and Sim was happy to stroke the ball elegantly into the gaps. Ahead of the run rate from the first over the boys just kept going. Bar a couple of dropped catch opportunities against Chris the score was rattling along. Put simply Chris and Sim raced to to the finishing line very quickly notching up the 80 required inside 13 overs, Hancock finishing on 56 n.o and Baines 20 n.o - most importantly they kept their wickets intact. A special mention to young Mac Jenkins finishing with figures of 3-20 off 7 overs on debut. Who knows what might happen but we might one day look back and say we played with that lad after hopefully he goes onto bigger things. So Barts in the JPS: lost 1, drawn 1 and won 3. Such is the competition that there are many teams with similar Stats but fingers crossed we make the last 8 for the first time after a count back of run rate/wickets taken calculations. Only time will tell but by Monday evening we will have our answer for definite. Whatever happens congratulations to the boys who played today, you couldnt have done any more AND congratulations to all the lads whove featured in the club and cup fixtures to date. With one game before Christmas to go weve won 7 from 8 - a healthy win percentage of 87%!
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 09:03:47 +0000
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