Chaos here,

Today we welcomed local rivals Mirfield Parish to the Memorial Ground, less noisy neighbours and more curtains drawn never put their bins out neighbours. Having spent a few hours on the roller this week preparing a new wicket along with Andy and Bozo, I was confident today was going to be a run fest. As eluded to in previous match reports, a fresh pitch at home can offer the bowlers assistance if you bowl well and this period would be crucial for the team batting first.

Once again, I won the toss and elected to bat first, the game plan to bat them out of the contest and pile on the misery on a hot day. Our opening pair knew the brief and went about building a solid platform for us in the first 15 overs. As predicted, the pitch looked to be seaming and when they bowled well it appeared difficult to score. M1 and Shoki have been a great partnership for us so far, batting well together, rotating strike and both find boundaries in different areas. M1 reached his half century first in just 64 balls, quickly followed by the 100 partnership in just 22 overs. Shortly after that we lost M1, caught behind, which brought JR to the crease. Shoki brought up his half century soon after in 66 balls, which is surprisingly slow for him but he was looking composed at the crease, giving away no chances.

There was a slight lull in the game for 10/15 overs, however, Shoki went to his first century of the season in just 101 balls, a magnificent innings from a man who is usually destructive but he played very intelligently and looked solid throughout. The ball after JR brought up his half century and we were poised to go ballistic in the last 10 overs with the score on 219-1. The set batters both went in close proximity which saw the introduction of Mogs and LC, the crowd sensed us suddenly shift into 6th gear. Disappointingly for the home crowd and the dressing room, LC didn’t get going and a few supporters were seen leaving as a result. Sirj replaced him and immediately went into boundary mode with Mogs bringing up their 50 partnership in 4.1 overs. Sirj was dismissed for an aggressive 34 off 17 balls, injecting exactly what was required in the latter stages of the innings. Mogs finished the innings with a classy 37* from just 25 balls, and we went into tea 335-6.

If I’m being critical, I would have expected us to put our foot down a lot sooner and shift into 5th/6th gear at the 25 over mark. Despite getting 330 which is a very good score in normal circumstances, with our batting order on that wicket I felt we were 40/50 runs short of what we should have got.

The end of the innings saw a bit of a kerfuffle, their spinner who 5 mins previously was holding his knee having been hit for back to back 6s, was suddenly injury-free and wanting a scrap. I think perhaps the hot sun and going at 8 an over had got to him, but we would see a bit more of him later on, albeit for 40 seconds. It was important we got off to a good start, taking early wickets and knocking the stuffing out of them. The wicket was now very flat and wasn’t offering much for the bowlers so we had to be disciplined and starve them of bad balls. We didn’t waste much time and they were 36-2 quickly, Rudgey picking up both lbw from the Road end.

Sensing they needed to get on with it to keep up with the rate, both Parish overseas played well and climbed to 80-2 off 10 overs. I was about to give Rudgey a rest when the ball split and our spare came on which was in decent condition. I decided to give him another over to see if he could get it swinging again, which he obliged. He swung one back into the opener and castled him, before letting him know what he felt about him. The next partnership put on 70 runs as I tried to rotate my bowlers to find a partnership who could provide me with some control. Nads bowled 14 overs in succession from his favoured bottom end, going at just 4.8 runs an over and providing me with the control I needed.

Unjustly, I have a reputation for bringing myself on against the Parish tail and burgling myself some cheap wicket, which is a myth and completely false. That being said, I came on as the 6th bowler and picked up 5 wickets. Rudgey followed Nads from the Park end and finished the game, picking up his well-earned 5th wicket taking him to leagues leading wicket-taker and purple cap. In the end we won by 92 runs which is a hammering at any level, however as eluded to previously, I felt there was definitely room for improvement for us. They got off to a good start and at stages in the game were up with the rate and we had to play well to stem the tide and knock the belief out of them.

We’ve played some great cricket this year in stages but I feel we are yet to put together a complete performance for the entirety of a game. That being said, we remain unbeaten and ended the day clear leaders going into next weekends massive fixtures. Special mention to Shoki, his first century of the season and a magnificent innings from a club favourite, when he plays well it’s very hard to stop us. Again, my man Rudgey picking up another 5-wicket haul, the sight of the flying archer is fast becoming a batters nightmare in this league. Long may it continue.

Til next time,

It’s been Chaos