Chaos here,

After a good result yesterday against the same opposition, we came into todays Sykes cup tie full of confidence and ready to hand out another hiding. Interestingly, Scholes have a hybrid pitch these days which allows them to play on 2 wickets all season. My first experience of playing on such a pitch so would be an education. Noise from the outside that this was an even contest with people not able to pick a definite winner, I saw it very differently. Notoriously a difficult place to play on a Sunday, as their lot seem to get up for it more and their half-wit supporters usually come out and start chelping. Read on to find out how that went for them..

Unlike yesterday, I won the toss and was keen to give my batters first go, putting runs on the board and applying scoreboard pressure was my thought process. M1 and Shoki both got ducks yesterday and went early, however, those in the ground were treated to an opening pair masterclass. Both were finding the boundary almost at will, Shoki hitting some big sixes straight and M1 getting the slog sweep out. Scholes struggled to cope with both men and were rotating bowlers every few overs as they went for more and more damage. On 50-0, Shoki hit an enormous 6 into the school over the road which I went to look for, when I got back we were 92-0. M1 was toying with the field, waiting for a fielder to be moved by their captain and then hitting it just where he had come from. Known in the game as “taking the p***”.  He was getting all the party tricks out, reverse sweeps and ramps off their medium pacers for 4 and 6.

Eventually Shoki departed for a destructive 64 (56) which brought our overseas man Mogs to the crease. Unfortunately for us, not long after M1 was given out lbw for a top drawer 80 (78), leaving us 162-2 from 24 overs. The game then changed when spin was introduced, the pitch played differently with invariable bounce, some turning and some not. The middle order found it difficult to capitalise on a great start from our openers. Mogs top edged a sweep on  18 which brought Chaos to the crease with 20 overs left in the innings. I potentially could have my name taken off me as my innings was nothing short of tezz. But I saw first hand how spin was a tough test on that wicket, timing and putting your foot down was hard work. Siraj, is a man operating at a different level at the moment and he seemed to be able to find the odd boundary and keep the scoreboard moving.

Our last 26 overs saw only 118 runs, finishing on 279-7, Siraj being caught off the last ball of the innings for 52 (74). The dressing room at half time felt a little bit deflated, we knew we had let slip an excellent start by M1 and Shoki, we should have got 300+ from the position we were in. Despite the disappointment, we knew we were in the drivers seat and for them to get 280 in a run chase would require something special from them and us being way off our best.

24 hours wasn’t enough recovery time for their opening pair who seemed to be suffering from PTSD. The sight of Rudgey and M1 with new ball in hand is fast becoming a Hudds League batters nightmare. I had the best view on the ground for the first wicket when their overseas flashed at a wide one from Rudgey which flew to third-man. M1 moved sharply to his left and pulled off an Iker Casillas style goalkeeping dive to pull off a worldy two-handed catch in front of their shell shocked dressing room. You knew it was a serious bit of fielding when Shoki, who’s usually asleep in the field, went wild in celebration. Shortly after, Nico aka Rudgey’s rabbit, was trapped in front AGAIN and Scholes were once again reeling on 10-2.

On a day where seamers struggled, ours were looking slick and creating chances regularly. However, learning from the first innings, I didn’t waste much time introducing Siraj and Mogs from both ends. Two class spinners in tandem, combined with the daunting task of chasing 7 an over was a mountain to climb and one that Scholes just aren’t up to. Siraj was getting turn and bounce from the changing room end whereas Mogs was keeping it tight and going through his repertoire from the “Shoki massive 6s end”. Eventually Sirj got the breakthrough, trapping their number 3 lbw with a smart piece of leg spin bowling. Sirj was in no mood to take his foot of the gas and he capitalised on some poor shots. Scholes slipped to 77-6 and the game was done, a case of damage limitation from them. That soon turned to 101-8 with Siraj finishing with a fine spell of 10 overs 6/28.

The next 11 overs were a bit odd with one batter just blocking it and the other trying to tee off. For some reason a handful of their supporters started walking round antagonising some of our players from the boundary edge. A strange decision from members of a club who have had two merciless beatings in a single weekend. They were soon silenced completely when their painful innings finished on 167ao and we made our way back up to the changing rooms for a well earned sit down. One of their lads went missing in action and refused to shake hands, placing a big round target on his back for when we meet again.

All in all a dominant performance from our lot and the game was pretty much done in the first 24 overs of our innings. If our opening pair set the game up like that we are going to be hard to beat. Man of the match was Sirj for his 52 and 6/28, he is looking a class above this season and enjoying a purple patch, long may it continue. Special mentions to M1 for his classy 80, Shoki for his destructive 64 and Rudgey in the 2nd innings for his spell of 3/26 which thwarted any chance of a good start for them. We march strongly into the next round where we look forward to continuing our defence of our trophy.

Til next time,

It’s been Chaos