Good morning – first win of the season against Conwy 2nds, a considerably stronger team on paper than us. First win for Captain Meakin, who had to make some difficult decisions which included whether to recall wicketkeeper batsman Pugh or retain specialist wicketkeeper Applewhite.
We managed to score 140 for 9 off 40 overs, and Conwy chased this but only managed to get to 126 for 8 off 40. Outstanding bowling restricted their scoring, although we demonstrated lots of dodgy fielding techniques, some of which would have made one of our best ever fielders Simon Fryer cry (good to see you on Saturday Simon). Good game, well played and in good spirit. Conwy had 3 former Bodedern players in their ranks who remembered us all from the days of Division 6 and 7.
Positives from the match:
- Stu Applewhite. Dropped from his wicket keeping duties, despite an outstanding performance last week. 32 with the bat before having his middle stump destroyed by Mr Wobble, a slow bowler who first played at the Argoed in 1975. Made to stand at first leg to learn some wicket keeping techniques from our specialist wicketkeeper. Allowed to stand at mid-on for an over or two from where he took a Kris Patterson style catch (catch it or die).
- Amogh Patil. 1 with the bat before the fast bowler took a lucky wicket clipping the top of the stumps. Almost the 2nd runout victim of the season for S.Applewhite, but saved by Umpire Ford dozing off at square leg. Applewhite heard to laugh manically as he shouted ‘yes’. Fielded well.
- Will Webster. Batted incredibly patiently against Mr Wobble, playing high quality cut shots off scarily accurate Jim Scarratt like bowling. Had two balls to go before Mr Wobble departed but unfortunately undone by a ball that went straight. 40 with the bat. Fielded well.
- Andy Meakin. First win as captain and an important contribution with the bat hitting his highest score for a while of 27. Made important decision of not allowing himself to bowl more than one over after Conwy took a liking to his dobblies.
- Tom Hall. Outstanding spell of bowling 1 for 22 off 5 but in difficult circumstances. On another day Conwy should have easily knocked off the 140 but they were pegged by our trio of pace bowlers (it would be a quartet if Rahul bowled a bit quicker).
- Dave Markey – outstanding bowling at the start of the innings and at the death set the tone of the quality of our bowling. 0 for 27 runs off 8. Unlucky LBW victim of Trigger Happy Applewhite, still sulking at not having run Amogh out. (I’ve stopped writing “Quack” and “Golden” as its not a positive).
- Jonathan Fagan – 2nd victim of Trigger Happy Applewhite, still sulking at being bowled by mature bowler. Absent mindedly gave Mr Applewhite out before rescinding his own decision. Fielded as well as ever, bowled a bit and finished with good figures after Conwy took fright at his dibblies. 1 for 22 off 8.
- Peter Ford – nice batting cameo for 4, and outstanding bowling cameo, finishing with figures of 2 for 5 off 2.
- Rahul Patil – clever bowling which was clever because it confused the Conwy bowlers by being accurate. Managed to hit the stumps twice. 2 not out with the bat. 3 for 18 off 8.
- Stu Oxton – quickfire 0 not out with the bat and an absolutely outstanding bowling masterclass. 1 for 10 off 8, but the wicket was the main Conwy batsman, who departed after receiving a bouncer that hit the stumps (go figure).
- Steve Pugh – turned up, commented favourably on the high class wicket at the Argoed. Demonstrated his prowess at stopping all the random bowling going down leg with his chest, teeth, head and arms. Took a stumping, much to the amazement of the batsman, who threw his bat at him. Sanitised regularly.
Good to see our chairman Clive Price back on his feet at the game – hope to see you in whites soon Clive!