The game started well, with the batsmen applying them a lot better than in previous weeks, Liam McLeod and John Price having a good look at the opening bowlers and picking off the bad balls. But then disaster struck for McLeod. Having had length balls flying up at chest height, a rank half tracker shot along the ground to trap him leg before. His opening partner Price soon fell as well. A couple of big shots on the leg side preceeded the nail in the coffin, a line and length ball swinging in from the left arm bowler to hit the top of off stump.
At this stage, Gavin Ward had settled in at the crease after an amusing break in play. A sharp off-cutter had brought an inside edge from the skipper’s bat into a rather painful groinal area. Although it was not amusing for him, it certainly was to everyone else. Once settled, Ward embarked upon an innings of control, composure, elegance and on occaisions, brutality. (Can I have a game next week please skip?) On a damp wicket offering variable bounce, Ward was never in any trouble, playing sensible shots to the bad balls, and despatching the regular bad ones to all corners of the ground. His innings of 125 not out included several huge hits over the bowler’s head for 6.
Throughout the innings, Ward was ably supported by all comers to the crease, firstly by Doug Newton. Always one to play himself in, his first ball was promptly sent flying over the ropes for a maximum, before he found himself playing an unfamiliar supporting role. He ended up with 16 runs, rather unfortunately getting out by spanking a short, wide delivery at gully, who seemed to close his eyes when the ball came at him over head height.
Enter Shaqeel Khan. “Shaky” continued Newton’s good work, ably supporting Ward whilst hitting some trademark boundaries between midwicket and mid-on, as is the kindest way of putting it. An important innings of 31 helped enable the following batsmen to score quickly. Alan Chaplin and Paul Kelly both sacrificed their wickets to score quick runs, and Matt Lock was the other not out batsman.
The Saint’s had built a score of 227-6 declared, which was a good effort in the conditions, despite the tame slow bowling served up by the oppo. Ward decided to use the new ball with the two medium pacers, Paul Chaplin and Shaky Khan. Early success was vital, and swiftly attained. Chaplin struck first, a nagging line and length with the occaisional lifting bounce lead to the demise of the opener, caught behind the wicket by Doug Newton. Khan followed suit, doing all sorts with the new cherry, and looked a constant threat. 4 wickets fell in quick succession, leaving the Saints on the charge and looking to seal the win.
Khan and Chaplin bowled with a variety of seaming, swinging deliveries that caused the Village batsmen no end of trouble. With Ward needing someone to burst through the lower middle order, the ball was tossed to Steve McCrum. Proceedings took a turn for the worse at this point, the youngster looking distinctly out of sorts. This, of course, can be entirely attributed to a combination of bowling down a slope that even mountain goats would have trouble scampering up, and having to bowl to 2 left handers, all of whom should be banned from all forms of cricket.
The drinks break came and went, and McCrum was still toilet. A change of ends failed to help and after bowling 6 overs his replacement, Ward, came 6 overs too late. Meanwhile, Gary Smith was bowling well from both ends, putting an end to McCrum’s feeble excuses. He ended up with 3 wickets, but he perhaps deserved more as the usual happened again. Smith bowls… the ball gets spanked to cover… (does this ring a bell?)… Price is there… (got it yet?)… DROPPED! The fielding had generally been up to scratch until this point, but as the Saint’s heads started to drop, as were the catches. McLeod had previously dropped a sharp chance early on off Khan, as had Newton when he spilled a tickle standing up to the same bowler. Paul Kelly shelled one at gully and Paul Chaplin also failed to clasp a chance. The old saying “catches win matches” would come back to haunt Westfield. Again. A couple of run out chances went begging, and Whitley Village had their tails up again. They took runs off bad balls, and blocked out anything else. They ended up boring it out just shy of a batting point for the loss of 7 wickets.
The Saints have to up their game, take the chances, back up the bowlers and put the ball in the right areas everytime. The batsmen have to keep this form up and post the big scores they are capable of. Room for improvement is still the verdict