|
Home
Profiles
Statistics
Tour
Social
Fixtures
Finding Us
Contact
Links
Archive
|
Penton, July 04 '09 (away)
What is it with the 1st XI and teams at the opposite end of the table? Over recent seasons they've seemingly made a habit of
losing games that, on paper, they should win comfortably, and Penton served up another slice of humble pie at the weekend.
Electing to make first use of the new ball and a hard looking track, captain Turkleton began proceedings with a miserly spell of 10-6-16-0,
causing problems with bounce off a length and movement down the slope away from the right handers. Unfortunately, this consistency
wasn't matched at the other end as Charlie got either his line or length right, but rarely both at the same time. However, it was he rather
than the skipper who claimed the first breakthroughs when the father and son Ling combination both perished, the ex-Clatford players
falling to catches behind the stumps and at cover respectively.
Pops Green took over from Charlie and undoubtedly produced the over of the day, although unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. Having taken
an early wicket, bowling the obdurate opener who had survived to this stage, he proceeded to get carted for 29 (yes, that's 29)
in an over, including a pair of no-ball beamers that were hooked over the short square leg boundry for maximums. A great fillip for the batting
side, and definitely not what either bowler or captain would have wanted out in the field!
With Pop's travails, it was down to JD and the Retired Lord Harris to regain some control, and that they did admirably as they restricted
the scoring rate and were rewarded with a flurry of late wickets, claiming 3 apiece for their efforts.
The run chase started catastrophically as the new opening partnership of Lord Harris and Mr Darryl, thrown together in the absence of Jimmy,
AJ and Tubby for assorted reasons, had one of those "Yes!" "No!" "Sorry!" moments that we're all familiar with, or at least, everyone who
has ever batted with Rob is familiar with, and Darryl was making the long walk back for a blob. Sensing that a quick return to the pavilion
probably wouldn't be great for his health, Rob decided to stay out and bat for a while, and along with JD, played some glorious shots to revive
memories of his heyday in 1952. Just as the pair were starting to really motor and threatened to end the game in quick time, JD was caught
low down at cover for a good 33 and a minor collapse had been triggered. Dave Ling was in the middle of a 5-28 spell, and soon cleaned up
Rob for 45, before having both the generations of the Green family dismissed for ducks. That's 3 zeros in the top 5 for those of you still
paying attention.
Charlie hit a couple of boundries in typical Charlie style before being undone by a slower ball that he tried to hit into Andover, and 6 wickets
had already fallen with only 20 overs gone. The scoring rate wasn't the problem, and the equation worked out at something like 66 from 21 overs at
the drinks break.
Richie and Turkleton set about consolidating the innings, and blunted the Penton enthusiasm as several wicketless overs passed. Unfortunately, they
were also largely runless as Turkleton in particular wasn't so much stuck in first gear as neutral, and seemed to be having trouble hitting it off the
square. Richie kept the score ticking, and the pair nudged the total along with the overs of the main Penton bowlers nearly used up, intending to
then take the required runs from the lesser members of the attack. A fine plan, but it failed when Turkleton was bowled. Despite taking three boundries
from an over, Richie quickly followed, feathering a thin edge through to the 'keeper just as he was looking to get the job done, and he fell for 35.
Greg provided some hope to the visiting dressing room, and a scare for the home side, as he hammered a quick 14, but his dismissal meant that the final
pair of Sir Geoffrey and Lee "better than Geoff Humpage" James needed 18 to win from 4 overs. Geoffers went forward, back, forward again and then
forward some more, as is his patented method, but then missed the ball and was stumped by a mile, ending the game and giving Penton a deserved win
after their bowling in particular had been more disciplined and consistent.
A poor defeat for the 'Parish, and one which drops them back to 4th in the table. With some tough games to come, and availability an issue, this
was really a result they could ill afford.
Summary
Penton 172-9 (JD 3-30, Lord Harris 3-31)
Whiteparish 156 all out (Lord Harris 45, Richie 35, JD 33)
Return to Fixtures page
|
