Skipper’s Report – Llandudno 2nds v MIMCC 31st July 2021. After some last minute selection headaches we travelled with a full compliment to one of North Wales crickets’ big clubs to face Llandudno. The question before the match was whether we could extend our winning start to the season to 11 matches but having won the toss and electing to bat, the question changed to ‘where the f@#k is Abs?’ Our number 3 was stuck in traffic on the A55….schoolboy error. Even the normally reliably late Rahul was there 15 minutes before the game commenced…much to all of our surprise!
So, with a slightly rejigged batting order, we got our innings underway and we were faced with some very tight bowling and excellent field placing which meant for a slow start. Neither Siva nor the stand in skipper could get going, Siva eventually perishing to an excellent yorker for 14. Apples was joined by Hall who was suffering from post COVID jab fatigue and was struggled for rhythm at first (apparently there was talk of a certain dot record being at risk at one point) before the pair limped to 75 for 1 at drinks…helped by the ball hitting the keepers unused helmet, proving that it doesn’t just happen to us!
The pace picked up slightly after drinks and Apples was next to go, bowled for 42 trying to hit the opposition skipper into the sea. Webster came next and appeared to be batting on a different wicket as scored quickly and easily from the off, including one massive 6.
Tom meanwhile was progressing nicely and eventually found himself on ‘Will’s curse’ (49). The boundary conversation turned to whether – despite his consistent scoring all season – Tom had actually reached the magic 50 mark yet this term, ‘No’, cried the now arrived Abs with a element of smugness, ‘he hasn’t got to 50 yet this season!’.
I’m sure you’ve guessed what happened next. The bowler threw down a rank pie and with the whole ground to pick his spot, Tom smashed the ball straight back to the grateful and rather surprised bowler who took a smart catch. He then exclaimed something along the lines of ‘Haha, you got out for 49!!!’ which understandably didn’t sit well with Mr Hall, leading to a few verbals being exchanged in what was otherwise a good natured game.
Abs came next, hit a few nice shots and refused to run any 2’s before departing for 8 to an excellent catch on the boundary. By now we were in the last 2 overs and had plenty of wickets still left so next batsman Mr Markey was given licence to swing from the off. He attacked his first ball as if it were a tee shot on a wide open par 5 but rather than the ball travelling 250 yards back whence it came, it flew past him and knocked over his stumps…golden quacker. Fordy followed with similar free reign and the outcome very similar…another golden variety of duck.
Rahul was next in and finished on 2 not out to go with Will’s excellent 35 not out as we reached a modest 164 at the break.
We began the 2nd innings with Tom and Dave opening the bowling, with Dave on a 5pm deadline as he had a night of pool and curry ahead of him. Llandudno started very well with 2 lefties at the top of the order, hitting a boundary in almost every over, and reached nearly 40 in short order. Fair to say we were worried.
However cometh the hour cometh the man and the saviour made the breakthrough, bowling a beauty to remove one of the openers. He followed that up in his next over by bowling the other one too, but not before he’d been dropped by the stand in skipper who let slip a simple chance while doing a good dancing on ice impression on the astro wicket.
After Tom’s spell, Rahul took over and bowled tightly but it was the tireless Dave, who was bowling straight through in case he had to hit the road, who struck next with the wicket of Tom’s tormentor from the first innings…with Tom himself taking the catch and giving him a more restrained send off. Rahul then nabbed one with Apples making up for his previous drop with a more difficult catch.
Gray, meanwhile, was channeling his inner Jonny and fielding so deep that we assumed he was being drawn closer to the seafront by the smell of candy floss and hot dogs.
Dave picked up 2 more to finish on an excellent 3/26 off 9 to be replaced by Venkat. Wickets fell regularly now as we got through their top order. Rahul finished with 2, Venkat with an impressive 1/6 off 3 but it was Fordy the finisher who cleared up the tail. His first resulted in a smart catch to Abs in his first over. By now, Llandudno had gone from 40/0 to 96/9 and all that remained was to take the last wicket.
Fordy did his little Fred Flintstone quickstep, delivered the ball and watched eagerly as the batsman gently played the ball back towards Pete’s waiting hands for what would’ve been the most simple of caught and bowled. However, with the enthusiasm of a frustrated singleton desperate to catch the brides bouquet at a wedding, Abs appeared from nowhere, moving quicker than we’d previously thought possible, barged a stunned Fordy out of the road and nabbed the catch for himself. We were all a bit of shock. Fordy consoled himself with another tick in the wickets column and we trudged off somewhat surprised with the outcome given how it looked at the 10 over mark.
Overall, another win, another very good team performance and the winning streak continues…and we were done and dusted before 5 so Dave didn’t have to leave early after all. Well done to all!