Cardiff Cavaliers Cricket Club

Match Report

Cardiff Hockey (Shield), Thursday 22 July 2010

Hockey 122/8 (18ovs, McVeigh 2/12, J Davies 2/16, Newbury 2/22). Cavs 75ao (14.3ovs, Steadman 18, Adams 11, McVeigh 10). Lost by 47 runs. Hockey 2pts, Cavs 0pt

Scorecard

As the rain clouds approached Llanrumney playing fields the assembled members of both Cavaliers and Hockey gazed up at the sky and questioned the logic of why there were there at all. A pitch inspection later and the question rose again: a damp wicket and even damper outfield would make winning the toss important, Hockey winning that first battle.

As Hockey came into bat the dark clouds gathered and with barely a run or three on the board the first wicket fell, McVeigh delivering a full length ball that clipped the top of the stumps on its way through to Dave P behind the sticks. The next fell nearly as quickly as Fraser delivered another teasing ball that Hockey’s other opener found impossible to pick up. Mike struck quickly again before Hockey settled down and put on a decent partnership taking their score to 57 before the Cavaliers would strike again. Hockey by this point had settled into some steady batting and as the rain fell lightly on the pitch the scoreboard ticked passed the hundred mark. A couple of late wickets for the veteran Newby saw Hockey’s run rate slow towards the end but they steadied the ship to see out their 18 overs with a total of 122 on the board.

As Steadman and McVeigh took up their positions at the crease the target of 123 was more than achievable. A great start saw boundaries for both batsmen and the scoreboard ticking over at a rate which must have had the Hockey players wondering how they were going to stem the flow. Unfortunately the breakthrough was about to come. As the weather deteriorated and the observing players took shelter in a variety of locations McVeigh playing forward to a fuller delivery failed to pick the line and gifted an edge to the wicket keeper.

Steadman fell next clipping a ball off his pads which was destined for the boundary only to be well caught only feet from safety. After the skipper fell and then Thomas went to an un-playable ball which saw him trapped in front of the sticks there was little left in the batting line up to trouble Hockey. As the rain fell heavier so did the wickets. In a Pakistani-esqe batting collapse the remaining wickets fell for only 12 runs and the Cavaliers fell short of the target by a less than satisfactory 47 runs.

Champagne moment: [none nominated]

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Jason Duffy (vice capt), Dave Parsons (wkt), Andrew Steadman, Michael McVeigh, Joey Newbury, Nigel Adams, Andrew Graveson, Alasdair Fraser, Gareth Payne, Jonathan Davies