Cardiff Cavaliers Cricket Club

Match Report

South Glam (Willow League), Wednesday 30 June 2010

SGlam 164/5 (20ovs, Duffy 2/25, Fraser 2/45). Cavs 134ao (20ovs, Chapman 26, McVeigh 23, Graveson 21). Lost by 30 runs. S Glam 14pts, Cavs 1pt

Scorecard

Marchant inserted the opposition on winning the toss and we were faced with two left-handers which can sometimes cause more problems than a left-right combination: if you can’t get the line bang on for one leftie, then you find you have difficulty finding it for the other leftie as well. McVeigh was as parsimonious as ever while Graveson troubled both the openers with his extreme lift when he got the line right and picked up the top wicket of Provis who has so often been the main stay of their innings this season. It was a beauty that beat him for a bit of pace and swing, and left him looking a little bewildered as he’d played an otherwise sound defensive shot.

Jack Lansdown, who has so often been a scourge of the Cavaliers bowlers, followed soon after when he was well caught by Marchant, back-pedalling from point at a furious rate. Just as quickly, McVeigh was hurtling in from third man and, for a moment, a collision seemed likely until Marchant found his voice and called the skier as his and pouched it with only the slightest of juggles.

The bowler was Fraser and, with the batsman having crossed, Nick Allan was to fall to the very next delivery when he unerringly picked out Graveson at deep long off. The ball went like an Exocet at head height to a normal man and many of us would’ve feared for our good looks but the Eiffel Tower that is Graveson held it at chest height without it ever looking like it would be dropped. Fraser was on a hat trick but the next man in played very defensively. At 85/3 off 12 with 3 main men in the hutch, all the result of good cricket, we were keeping ourselves in the game.

Duffy was introduced in to the attack and showed what a stout constitution he has, after the difficulties of last week, producing an excellent spell off the reel that included two wickets: one a well judged catch by Steadman at deep square leg and the other a clean bowled, to be the pick of our attack tonight.

While he shored up one end, the batsman sought to make hay at the other and, knowing the ground so well, selected their angles carefully and knew when and where to go aerial. While Duffy only conceded 10 runs off his first two overs, 35 were taken from the corresponding two at the other end. Despite Marchant then coming back into the attack to join Duffy at the death, and bowling well in tandem, South Glam were able to post a score of 165/5, around 20 more than seemed a par score.

As many other reports this season have highlighted, the Cavaliers’ fielding continued to be of the highest calibre. South Glam were unable to pick off quick singles or turn1s into 2s, there were no silly overthrows, no careless use of the boot rather than the hands, and several excellent saves on the boundary yet again with everyone playing their part.

There may have been times in the past when we would have felt intimidated by such a score from South Glam and the game would’ve been up before we set off in our reply, subsequently folding for something like 60 or 70 [Ed: as several sides have done already this year]. But the 2010 cohort of Cavaliers has a determined look about them. From the outset there was a positive and promising opening stand of 39 in 6 overs between McVeigh and Steadman, before the latter was taken well low down in the covers.

This was followed by an equally impressive 2^nd wicket stand of 37 with Chapman keeping McVeigh company to see us just under half way there after half the overs. McVeigh seemed to be struggling with a leg niggle but kept digging away, rotating the strike sensibly if the ball wasn’t there to try and put away, and full credit to him that he walked as soon as he feathered the faintest of edges to the keeper for 23 off 26 balls, another example of the spirit of the game to which the Willow League aspires.

Marchant decided to promote Graveson up the order seeing he was in good form after his record-setting 50 last week and, if he came off, it could swing the game our way. He started circumspectly, allowing himself a few balls to get a feel for the pitch and the bowling, before launching an assault on spinner Tom Bailey who’d taken 1/16 off 3 overs up to then. With a huge 6 and 2 fours, one of which was only marginally inside the line, and a couple of singles later, the bowler finished with 1/32.

However, tight bowling at the other end meant that the pressure was still on and when Graveson was bowled (for 21 off 18 balls, which seemed rather pedestrian for him), the wickets started to tumble, especially run outs as batsmen tried to get something out of every ball. Adams gone for 3, Chapman for a top score of 26 (off 21 balls) and Parsons for 0. Fraser followed and we had gone from 104/2 after 14 overs to 112/7 after 16. Soon after to be 118/9 and we were in danger of not getting anything at all from the game. Payne showed what a good cricketing brain he has by inquiring what was needed to see if we could get some bonus points, which was 11 runs from 13 balls.

However, South Glam’s tail was up to see if they could record yet another maximum pointer for the season so there were to be no ‘gimmes’ for Payne, now joined by Sparkes to see what they could muster. There were huge cheers from the boundary edge when Payne, having said he needed a big score in the previous match only to depart first ball, struck his first ball this time firmly and made his ground for the single to get off the mark.

Sometimes the gods will deign to grant a smile upon those whose entreaties they’ve previously ignored and, as he told everyone [Ed: several times, in fact, perhaps to keep expectations low], this was Sparkes first visit to the crease in over 400 days. He duly edged the ball from the spinner Davies, who’d taken two wickets for 5 runs in his previous two overs, at catchable height only to see it go through the keeper’s gloves and, having been ‘played’ fine, it beat the third man on the boundary to open his account.

Sensing an opportunity the bowler duly shifted his field, bringing long off into the gully. Next delivery saw the ball sent exactly on the path from where the fielder had been moved for a successive four. Now our tail was cooking on gas, as they say, and we needed 3 from the last over to secure a point with the dangerous looking Payne on strike but with the experienced Andrew Parry returning to bowl the final over.

A well-timed shot off the second ball to the cover boundary looked promising but the man there made a clean pick up and a speedy return discouraged any thoughts of a second run. Another dot ball ensued and still 2 needed. A rib high full toss followed, which brought an instant apology from the bowler but was otherwise unremarked upon and unsignalled by either umpire. However, some wood had got on it and it went away behind square for the two we needed to secure a losing bonus point.

The next ball managed to be pushed into a gap at mid-wicket for a boundary but this success required a re-calibration. If we hit a the last ball for six then a second bonus point would be claimed. Sparkes gave it a good whoosh but the only connexion between leather and wood was that of the ball crashing into the stumps. Game over and we were 30 runs short, so our original reckoning of 140-145 being par was probably about right.

[Ed: so two games to go and there is still much to play for – runners-up spot can be secured to give us our best finish ever of the modern era. We also need to make sure we keep the pressure on the leaders, South Glam – two years back Chartered Trust looked certain champions and went into the final match needing only a bonus point but were beaten by an unfancied Uni Staff team and Trust dropped 4 catches, if they’d held just one of these they’d have taken the title but were pipped by that one point. Our score in this game is also the most South Glam have conceded all year, and they were not messing around with their bowling attack either, so there are, in the modern sporting parlance, “a lot of positives to take” from the game into our next match.]

Champagne moment: Sparkes’ self-styled “statement of post-modern irony” for his off-driven four in to the gap from whence the fielder had just been moved was in the frame but the highlight of this game goes to Graveson for his wicked delivery that cleaned up the classy opener who clearly plays at a much higher level at the weekend

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Jason Duffy (vice capt), Dave Parsons (wkt), Andrew Steadman, Michael McVeigh, Glenn Chapman, Nigel Adams, Andrew Graveson, Alasdair Fraser, Gareth Payne, Jeremy Sparkes