Cardiff Cavaliers Cricket Club

Match Report

Casuals (Willow League), Tuesday 4 May 2010

Cavs 157/7 (20ovs, Steadman 61, McVeigh 32, Adams 16no). Casuals 86/4 (20ovs, Fraser 2/8). Cavaliers won by 71 runs. Cavaliers 15pts, Casuals 0 pts

Scorecard

Having woken to glorious sunshine, it was s*d’s law that the weather gods would see this as challenge to their authority, hence we played the game in dark, shivering conditions with the threat of rain seeming never far away.

It was the first time in years that we had faced Casuals in a League game not at Wenvoe so it would be interesting to see if the change of venue might improve our fortunes as it’s a while since we’ve recorded a win against them in a league game.

Having decided we’d bat second if we won the toss, Jimmy then promptly lost it and we were inserted. Steaders and Mike McVeigh, now known as “cannon” among his team mates [Ed: not of the ecclesiastical variety, we understand] made their way to the middle to set out our stall. And what a wonderful array they put on display with both executing some sublime shots and showing great touch. Cover drives from both of them were out of the top drawer and Steaders’ leg glances were exquisite.

39 was on the board inside 5 overs with hardly a worrying moment, though one or two did ‘pop’ a little but both were skilled enough to deal with it. The 50 came up in 5.5 overs and excellent running put pressure on the fielders, often turning 1s into 2s and, once or twice, overthrows. It was somewhat of a surprise then when, with the score on 92 after 11 overs that the Casuals spinner, Thomas, produced a ball that beat Mike’s bat and bowled him for a fine 32 off 27 balls, and included 3 fours.

Steaders continued his fine run of form progressing to 61 [Ed: perhaps, as with Bradman, some may consider this a rare failure for him, this being his lowest score in the last 3 three games …] off just 47 balls (7x4s) when he walked after feathering a catch to the keeper, again off Thomas. The same bowler accounted for skipper Marchant and the Candyman Chapman.

119/1 rapidly became 138/6 and we looked in danger of wasting the excellent start but Grizz continued his imperious form from the nets, using his feet well and prepared to take the aerial route with confident, crisp shots. The last 3 overs saw us add 23, Grizz finishing on 16no, and a total of 157/6.

For Casuals, Thomas finished with 4/25 and Lewis, bowling well at the death, with 1/14 clawed us back from setting what might have been an impossible target.

The light got gloomier – so much so that even Jez on the scorebook struggled to identify our bowlers from the long boundary edge [Ed: only the quirkiness of some of the guys’ run-ups and actions allowed him to make a positive identification in some cases].

Andy Graveson and Mike McVeigh opened the bowling and both troubled the batsman without any luck, which seems about par for their course so far this year but they stuck to the task and were parsimonious, conceding just 35 runs off their combined 8 over opening spell which set Casuals well behind the run rate.

One wicket had fallen, this to an excellent piece of feeling by Mike Dawkins. The batsmen thought there was a comfortable-ish single but Mike, at mid-wicket, collected the ball cleanly, swivelled and threw in one movement, and recorded a direct hit at the non-striker’s end with the batsman struggling to make his ground.

Rarely does a single over early in an innings become the pivot for deciding the outcome of a match but the introduction of Al for the 9^th, proved to be such in our game. After a glut of stag do’s and weddings, his radar was understandably a little rusty and a wide followed by an invitation to the batsman to loft the ball back over the bowler’s head for a boundary could not possibly have prepared anyone for what was to happen in the next 5 deliveries.

The second legitimate ball was guided away towards the third man boundary for a very easy 1 and probably a straightforward 2. However, just as Dawko had shown sharp skill in the first run out, so did Grizz with a clean pick up and pin-point accurate throw over the stumps, leaving another Casual batsman wondering how he came to be making his way off when the run seemed so comfortable.

Enter the no4 bat who was completely beaten all ends up by Al’s 3^rd ball, returning with a golden duck against his name. Next ball was right on the button and well defended. The 5^th delivery was in the zone for the batsman, fresh off the back of a 30-ball 50 the previous day, and 21 players (plus the scorer) believed the ball, on-driven powerfully off the meat of the bat, was destined for the boundary.

The 22^nd player though, a certain irrepressible Mike McVeigh, only saw a ball in the air hurtling past him on his wrong side, flung himself full stretch across and backwards, grasped the ball in one hand with both feet off the ground. It was the sort of catch that is witnessed regularly in the IPL but was stunning at this level.

An incredulous batsman had to return to camp and, with a final dot ball from Al, any designs that Casuals had held about having a dart at the target were scuppered. 35/1 in 8 became 41/4 in 9. Well over a hundred needed in 11 overs with most of the main batsman out, the light worsening and some sharp fielding all round that made the batsmen wary of taking risks.

Jason was brought on and, like Andy Graveson before him, bowled well with little luck and, with the light now almost black, Jimmy brought on Chris Evans. As befits an optician he offered the batsman a line to read but he had trouble doing so at first.

There was a small moment of cheer for Casuals when Steaders slightly fumbled a ball in the deep and the cry went up “Ah, Steaders is human” [Ed: well, such events do seem to come round about as frequently as Halley’s Comet.]

When it became clear that neither victory nor salvaging any bonus points was possible, and the light now awful, a gentleman’s agreement between the batsmen and skipper Jim saw gentle dobbers for the last over or so patted politely back to the bowler.

So our Willow campaign has got underway with a “DLF maximum” bonus point win and, clearly, the change from Wenvoe suits us better.

Champagne moment: Mike McVeigh’s outstanding catch – simply stupendous

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Jason Duffy (vice capt), Dave Parsons (wkt), Andrew Steadman, Mike McVeigh, Glenn Chapman, Nigel Adams, Andrew Graveson, Alasdair Fraser, Chris Evans, Michael Dawkins