High Roding Cricket Club

High Roding completed their first double sweep of the season, as Adam and Richard's teams both saw their sides triumph over Bentley and Matching Green II's respectively.

1st XI

Despite a positive start which saw the home side reach 40-0 after 9 overs, HR lost Steve Chambers when his middle stump was uprooted by Flack. Ben Gallop was soon to follow for 4 as progress began to slow, as it was becoming evident that batting against the old ball would be trickier to score, as humid conditions and a slow deck came into play.

Rory Burns, so often fluent in his strokeplay, never looked comfortable. After chipping Swinney between the field on a number of occasions, he could only firmly drive the ball back into the hands of Clark to depart for 15. Adam Holdgate quickly followed for a premature 39, having looked in excellent touch. He drove Swinney (4-19) to mid off, who took an excellent catch low down diving forward.

The middle order struggled, with Sargent (0) and Dawson (1) falling in quick succession to Bentley's triumvirate of left arm spinners. It was up to Townsend (26) to marshall the middle order, hitting a few lusty blows, before giving his wicket away to an ugly heave against Doran (3-20). At this point, HRCC were 107-7 and staring down the barrel of another defeat.

It was down to the two remaining Burns brothers to achieve some sort of respectability for HR, with Angus (22no) and Freddie (20) ensuring that Roding would have something to bowl at. As Mark Gallop (3) holed out with 2 balls remaining, Bentley would require 153 runs to make it 5 wins out of 5 in the league this year.

As proved in the first innings, the new ball was substantially easier to get away. Bentley achieved steady progress in reaching 30 without loss, before Mark Townsend produced an unplayable delivery to remove Gordon. Sensing the pressure building, Holdgate took the risky move of bringing on Angus Burns (1-9) before the field restrictions were lifted. It worked, with Angus dropping in short, Coleman got into a muddle and could only chip the ball to Gallop at Mid Off. 62-2 quickly became 3, as Freddie Burns (3-29) teased Parmenter into a drive that was gleefully snaffled by the flying Archie Wheen at backward point. Game on?

As Bentley creeped along without any real scoreboard pressure, the overhead conditions ensured that lateral movement would still be available to the seam bowlers. Removing Burns from the attack, Holdgate went back to Townsend, who proceeded to blow away the middle lower order with vicious spell of swing and bounce from the clubhouse end. At 106-6, Roding knew that they needed to remove the dangerous Whiteley (39) to give themselves the best chance of winning. With the ever-efficient Gallop (1-20) bowled out, we would have to rely on our first and second change bowlers to get us over the line.

Townsend secured his 5-for by removing Swinney, superbly caught by Adam Holdgate at first slip. At 130-8 and with runs hard to come by, pressure told as Whiteley skied Angus Burns. As Chambers ran beneath the ball, he misjudged the flight and agonising watched as the ball spilled from his hands and onto the floor. Silence echoed around the meadow, only to be broken when Bentley cheered Whiteley dispatching Freddie over the ropes the very next over. With 13 runs to go, all looked lost for HR.

Despite the usual tantrums from Freddie, he showed exceptional character to continue to pitch the ball up. He finally managed to snaffle the edge of Whiteley, producing a peach of an outswinger which Dawson gratefully snaffled. Following 4 singles from Angus' next over, it fell to Freddie once again to secure the victory for Roding, nipping the ball away from Clark and dislodging the stumps to the ecstasy of High Roding. A first win of the season against the champions - not a bad way to get off the mark.

2nd XI

We returned to winning ways with an efficient team performance against a team that we were expected to beat. Another great team effort with contributions from all.

Man of The Match: 'Team Townsend' (Chris and David) who made 101 runs between them on their HRCC adult debuts. Great bowling and fielding from them as well.

Play of The Day: Alistair Bushell, who made 62 on his debut.

Again our bowling and fielding were excellent...economic and some 'absolute Jaffas' bowled on a number of occasions by all of you, especially from Nad for his wicket. How does a ball pitch outside off stump and hit the top of leg stump?