Cardiff Cavaliers Cricket Club

Match Report

Radyr, Sunday 4 July 2010

Cav 153/7 (30ovs, D Parsons 53no, Elliott 24). Rady 153/8 (30 ovs, Davis 3/10, Ward 1/8, Adams 1/17, Pritchard 1/20). Match tied

Scorecard 

Arriving at the ground on a grey and miserable afternoon, I was not prepared for what was about to unfold. As the events of the afternoon began to unfold, they were anything but grey, and very close to being miserable.

The day began with a morbid drizzle to remind us of what summers past in Cardiff have been like. With the rain coming down outside, discussions in the changing room moved to the decision of choosing whether to bat or bowl. Mr Steadman was keen to bat first and did his best to influence D.Parsons, the captain for the day. As it turned out, the toss was lost and Steaders wish came true with Radyr winning and sending the Cavaliers in to bat.

As can be expected of any professional sports outfit, we undertook a gruelling warm up prior to the start of the game, with a focus on our catching prowess. Brownie gave his all in the warm up to the extent of using his head when his hands failed him. Steaders took centre stage for a crucial piece of practice which would put him in good stead later in the match.

With catching practice out of the way, the batsmen took the field with A.Steadmen and A.Fraser opening. The rain continued and didn't look like shifting at all. The batsmen did well to begin, with the only disruption in the first few overs not being from the conditions, but rather the opposing teams keeper requesting that the sight screen be moved. It was noted from the pavilion that none of the members can recall a keeper requesting the sight screen be adjusted.

With the placement of the side screen out of the way, A.Fraser soon fell being bowled for 8. J.Thomas was the next batsmen in with a steady knock before falling short for 9. Radyr introduced, or more apt, "unleashed" their young leg spinner. Steaders was the first to fall for 20 from this talented youngster with a ball which seemed to go around the batsmen and onto the stumps. It looked very warnesque from the sideline. A quick succession of wickets soon followed with N.Adams and B.Ward falling for 3 and 0 respectively. With the score at fifty something for 5, D.Parsons and G.Elliott did well to show patience and stop the flow of wickets. They enjoyed a good partnership until Elliott was bowled for 24. A.Graveson was next in with a lot of pressure on a big score after his recent 50 from 20 balls. He was looking good with a beautiful 1 bounce 4 played by what looked like a baseball shot. Andy's time was cut short falling for 5 runs. S.Davis was next in line and would see us out of the revised rain reduced 30 overs. D.Parsons enjoyed a fine captain’s knock being not out for 53 helping the Cavaliers establish a defendable 153 for 7 wickets.

With tea upon us, the rain decided to offer a break reducing to a fine mist and virtually disappeared for the duration of tea. With tea over and the Cavaliers ready to take the field, the rain returned in force resulting in a delay to the resumption of proceedings of 10 minutes. Play was eventually resumed with A.Fraser opening and A.Graveson taking up the other end. The opening spell was a true Cavaliers team effort with tight bowling and equally tight fielding with the opposition restricted to a single run off 4 overs.

The first break for the Cavaliers was a marvellous piece of cricket with A.Steadman taking a beautiful right handed catch a foot from the ground in the slips off a speedy Graveson ball. Marvellous to watch and a direct result of Steaders dedication during the pre game warm up. Graveson could have been on a hat trick if it wasn't for the butterfingers of Elliott dropping a regulation catch at point.

W.Pritchard was introduced after the opening spell. With a mixed first over, the second over offered Rabbit success taking a wicket with a tidy 1/20 from his spell. N.Adams took up from the other end with a very economical 1/17 from his 5 overs. Replacing W.Pritchard was the bowler of the day, S.Davis who took a very impressive 3 wickets from his spell finishing with highly respectable figures of 3/10.

Taking over from the stella S.Davis was B.Ward. With a couple of wayward balls in the first over, Bill picked up a wicket in the second finishing with figures of 1/8. At the other end, G.Brown was called upon for a bit of spin to take advantage of the cow track that had developed in the middle. Brownie finished with some fine figures of 0/15 off 4 overs. With 4 overs remaining the match was delicately poised with Radyr requiring a run a ball. A.Fraser was called back into the attack to stymie the run flow. At the end of the over A.Fraser had figures of 0/24 off 6 overs with 2 maidens.  A.Graveson was also called back into the attack from the other end also restricting the run rate of the opposition. At the end of the over Radyr required 13 from 2 overs. Elliott was called in for the second last over and didn't help to relieve the tension after getting hit for 2 successive boundaries. This was followed by a single with 1 ball left in the over. Hoping for anything but runs, Elliott did a fine job with a caught and bowled leaving Radyr requiring just 4 runs from the last over.

A.Graveson had the thankless task of closing out the bowling and the pressure of ensuring that the opposition are reduced to less than 4 runs. By this stage the skies had cleared and the rain had disappeared, but no one had noticed with the tension of the game at hand. The first 3 balls were scoreless, with some fine bowling from Andy. A single was made on the 4^th leaving the nervous new batsmen at the crease. Play was held up whilst the batsmen adjusted every part of his kit. When the 5^th ball was finally bowled, an edge saw the batsmen take two now requiring a single run from the last ball to win. A.Graveson called the entire field to surround the batsmen to ensure that Radyr could not take that final required run.

With a single ball remaining, the batsmen again followed his ritual of adjusting all of his kit to prolong the tension and anxiety of all involved. When the final ball was bowled, what followed was total confusion and contention. With the batsmen taking a single on the last, the ball was thrown to the keepers end, with the batsmen making his ground and not out. It was initially thought that the Cavaliers had lost the game, however, in the midst of the disappointment at the keepers end, something momentous was occurring at the bowlers end. The facing batsmen had collapsed three quarters up the pitch with a hamstring injury and therefore not making his ground and the vital run. Questions were asked amidst and a debate began on the laws of cricket. The outcome was that the run was not completed with the match ending in a memorable draw. [Ed: for those who may wonder “why didn’t they run him out?” there are two aspects to consider. Firstly, either of the umpires, on realizing that a player has become incapacitated, would call and signal “dead ball” so that the player could be assisted. On a call of “dead ball” no further runs may be scored and no wickets taken. As this was the final delivery of the match then the game has been finished. Secondly, even if neither umpire has called “dead ball” then the spirit of the game comes into play and so no unfair advantage is sought from the misfortune of an injury occurring to an opposing player.]

 Champagne Moment: A.Steadman’s brilliant catch in slips showing that practice before the game does help

Team: Dave Parsons (capt, wkt), Andrew Steadman, Nigel Adams, Andrew Graveson, Alasdair Fraser, Graeme Brown, Steve Davis, Wyn Pritchard, Gary Elliott, Bill Ward, Jonathan Thomas