Marsh Gibbon vs Holton & Wheatley
Sunday 15 August 2010
Original Report by Hugh Kitchin
Indians Impress as Holton Win by four Wickets
The sun and heat of June and July had given way to a wet August, so we were lucky to arrive at our northernmost game on a dry afternoon. Vice-skip Graham Nichols was looking for his first win. With one look at our tasty bowling attack and another at the damp track, he stuck the oppo in. Soon speedsters Arpit and Kiran had the batsmen quivering.
Their tidy figures show how hard they were to get away in these conditions. In the second wave Mahesh, sporting his newly developed seamers, was just as parsimonious. He probably felt picked on as he induced two skiers only to see them dropped. So Graham H. mopped up three frustrated batsmen instead to pick up a handy 3/25. Without the contribution of J. Leonard (51*), who shepherded some kids through at the end, Marsh Gibbon wouldn’t have made the ton.
Kiran, Binoy and Mahesh (+ Arpit) - good all round performances!
Still we thought 127 would need some getting. Not Binoy though, who smashed the new ball round the park in an opening stand of 36 (yes, your correspondent contributed just 4 of them) as late afternoon sun bathed the ground. But then came a stutter - three quick scalps, including Simon S, the season’s leading scorer. Some lusty blows from Simon L steadied the ship before another blip dragged us to 73/5. But Kiran clearly doesn’t know how past Holton outfits might have melted away. A spanking 32*, including a mighty straight 6, saw us home by a comfortable four wickets.
Stattos amongst us were quick to toast this win as our third in succession, and our fifth out of six. We’re almost getting like England. Except no one questions the validity of our imports from overseas – just as well really when they score 65% of the runs and bag five of the wickets.
