Skipper’s Report for Ruthin Match 10th July. It was a pleasure to see Ruthin again – they are a nice bunch of lads and play in a very similar way to Maeshafn.
Match Report on Play Cricket here: https://mynyddisamaeshafn.play-cricket.com/website/results/4801339
Again we are indebted to Jonty, with vice groundsmen Houghton, Ford and Hall for preparing the ground for the game today and all the hard work and time this involves.
We won the toss and decided to bat.
The earlier fixture had been a close game. The Ruthin skipper had clearly come to win and his opening bowlers looked very sharp from the off. Clayton and Henderson made the most of humid and cloudy conditions, late swing very early on and Apples and Siv were opening.
In the second over Siv fell to a catch behind having faced 3 balls for 0. The fickle finger of fate made its point. (3-1). Abs joined Apples, more dots, the odd swipe but very little to play at. Abs fell to Henderson as well – Bowled for 2.(14-2). Tom in next – the Maeshafn saviour fell to a miracle but far too good second ball from Clayton for 0. (14-3).
Ruthin got louder, excitement building now they had Tom so cheaply. Jit had hardly faced a few before Apples at the other end was caught behind for 4 from 22 deliveries. (15-4). Mentally we were on the ropes. Skip in next to join Jit and we just managed from 11 overs in to keep the opening bowlers at bay and then start to work a little on the first change. We made drinks on 44 for 4. On 23 over Skip skied a leading edge to their skipper and was caught for 15. Matt followed and gave Jit a bit more of a work out than he was expecting, facing 14 for his 6 runs before being caught behind. (72-6). Not familiar territory. Prashad next up, faced 2 balls before inexplicably swiping at one that rushed through. (73-7). A century looked like a land far, far away.
But MIMCC bats deep and we had Princess Leia and Luke Sky-stalker in the hutch. Patto out next and in an innings of 6 boundaries, hit a fine 4 in his knock of seven before being caught.
Fordy followed to keep Jit company (who readers need to be reminded was doing pretty well by now on 31) and the force was stronger in him. Their openers came back on but couldn’t dislodge our star troopers. Despite some classic Fordy strokes, he saw out a cluster of dot balls, but ended the 40 overs on 21. Gray rightly immediately asked for a drugs test.
Jit finished on 48 not out. A super knock and so pleased he carries his average if not got his MIMCC maiden 50. Plenty of running with a few rare 4’s.
We finished on 132 for 8 – thanks to a few loose overs at the death.
At tea we thought a get out of jail card had been handed out. Jonty checked our earlier game and stated we had scored close to this last time. Everyone immediately ignored his calculations and added 42.
Fielding was at first blush a challenge. It didn’t feel like a very defendable total, but the pitch was not easy.
Tom and Matt opened, bowling at a mixed talent opening pair.
We suspected that the talent (first team input) was going to be strung out across the innings. Tom had 4 overs in his first spell – one wicket for 2 runs, having bowled their opener for 2 in the 4th over. Matt finished his 4 overs on 11. Fielding was tight and we felt like the squeeze was on. Given we thought they had stacked their batters, Prashad and Jonty came on at 9. What a great supporting role they played. Good variation and areas, they both gave very little away and bowled through each of their 9 overs. In Prashad’s last two overs he got two wickets – both bowled round the ankles. 9-3-12-2. Jonty finished 9-2-19-1. They really strangled the strike rate. The same cannot be said for Mr Fagan’s fielding however. Like a 70’s porn star in lycra, Jonty lunged at grounded travelling balls despite being in a different postcode, shipping runs like a two-year old. He caught one of Siv’s deliveries in mitigation.
At 56 after 26, Ruthin had a lid on them, our fielding was tight and they started to fear the worst. On came Siv and skip to get us to 30. For their 4 overs Siv and skip both went for 1-4 each. Job done we turned to Tom and Matt to see out the last 10.
It needs to be said at this point that Apples had kept fairly well. But such is the pressure for the gloves, he started claiming byes were wides. It’s always a pitiful state of affairs when these sorts of appeals start to happen. Readers will understand.
On Matt and Tom’s return Ruthin were 59/6. Wickets were no longer the concern. Two young bucks were at the crease and as at Bethesda, they were prepared to throw the bat. We didn’t get any more wickets, but Matt and Tom were very good at containing this pair and bringing the win home. 9-2-1-30 for Tom and 9-2-0-31 for Matt, the whole team fielded, supported and rooted for the result and by over 29 we knew the win was in the bag.
They finished on 111-6. A rain interruption for 30 mins cast a shadow of Dolgellau of proceedings, but yet again I am so proud of the depth of talent we have in this side that gets us through these set-backs. Thanks to everyone again – Jit a fantastic knock – well done to all the bowlers and I can’t help thinking the pitch was the winner on the day!