A's vs F Tech

Our next 2 day game was at Jansen Park against a Fraser Tech team that we should have beaten in the one day game earlier on in the season. We had them 9 down needing another 50odd to win and they managed to snatch victory out of the jaws of the defeat.

I was quietly confident after seeing the team we had on paper, I was in the position for the first time of deciding who to leave out rather than struggling for 11! Unfortunately Mark B and Shabir got the chop and Thariq got the call up after his sensational effort the week before. We also had Aidan who had been the sacrificial lamb from the Prems poor effort the week before.

On arrival at the ground the news was all bad, the pitch was an absolute green top after the rain throughout the week. It might have been good as a putting green but for cricket it wasn't the best which meant whoever won the toss was definitely going to bowl first.

So to the toss, 'heads', was the confident call by myself, and down it came, tails... I could already see the smirk on the opposition captains face as he announced they would bowl.

I'm not going to go over each wicket but we ended up being rolled for 128 with the highest score being Commins with 33. The bowling wasn't that flash, they just let the pitch do the work and they were helped by some impatient and poor batting from us. We had a decent top order contribution but no-one carried on on a pitch that you were never really 'in' on. Too many single figure scores near the bottom also didn't help.

So to the bowling, and with a choice of 8 bowlers, it was always going to be a hard decision as to who to bowl. Dave L and Phil opened up and bowled superbly and were unlucky to only have one wicket before tea. Rowly came on and bowled a tidy line and picked up a superb direct hit run out off his own bowling. At tea they were 50odd for 2 after 25 overs.

From there we picked up steady wickets throughout the day and overall the fielding was very good. There were a few nervous moments as Josh ("He'll drop it") Autridge somehow held on to a skier, and Phil ("I'm just thinking about how shit I am") Hyde dropped a catch from the guy who made 50 for them.

We bowled them out for 156 with Ryan and Rowly picking up 2 each and Aidan picking up 3. You know you've got a good bowling attack when Rohit, the Prem spinner a few weeks ago doesn't get a crack, and Tariq only bowls 1 over.

At the end of the day we had 13 overs to face and were eager to knock off the deficit. Rowly wasn't hanging around and smacked the 5th ball of the innings for 6 but then was out soon after me to leave us two down at the end of the day. Ryan and Aidan will kick us off next week and are looking solid. So with a lead of around 18 we have it all to do next week. Hopefully the rain holds off and we can put a good total on the board for them to chase.