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Basingstoke & North Hants IV, June 19 '10 (home)
After a promising start to their Regional 1 North campaign, the 1sts suffered a second consecutive defeat at the weekend and have now slipped
back to mid-table obscurity. On the bright side, at least they managed to play the game, having finally found an alternative ground at the 11th hour
to act as a temporary home for the day with the village fete taking over the Memorial Ground.
In the bucolic surroundings of Damerham, the visitors from Basingstoke & North Hants won the toss and opted to bowl first. With the new ball swinging
and seaming around, it took a fair amount of application to survive the opening overs, a task AJ failed to accomplish as he chipped a catch
to square leg, and the scoring rate reflected the difficulty in getting the ball away. Dangerous Dave played a couple of his favoured clips
through midwicket to break the shackles, but Jimmy couldn't build on his patient early work and JD went early. With Dave departing for 21, it
was over to the middle order to pick up the slack.
To the casual observer, Matt Truckle sets himself up to give every ball a fearful clattering, and for a while his aggressive intentions paid
dividends as he took the attack to the Basingstoke spinner. Unfortunately, this counter-attack didn't last and when he went for a bristling 25,
Josh and Charlie took up the mantle and looked to play their way out of trouble. One glorious hook shot from Josh in particular hinted that his early
season issues may be behind him and his timing gradually came back before missing a straight one and departing for 23.
The innings needed a late flourish to post something defendable, and the accelerator was pushed firmly down by captains past and present as Richie
and Turkleton combined to put on nearly 50 in the final 6 overs, both finishing on 21 not out with some crunching boundries and, despite Richie's
on-going knee issues, a lot of scampering between the wickets. The 175, and a 6th batting bonus point, was brought up with the final ball of
the innings, and it was off to tea for JD to dicuss the latest developments in the Big Brother house.
The Basingstoke reply got off to a somewhat unexpected start when their opener hooked Dave for 6 from the first delivery. Game on!
Charles made the initial breakthrough, claiming the same batsman with one that may have kept a touch low, before AJ provided a moment of magic,
throwing down the stumps from square leg as the batsmen dithered over a quick single. A great piece of work, and one that lifted the whole team,
especially when Dave claimed his first scalp, working up a fair head of steam and drawing the nick, Lee completing the job behind the sticks to
atone for an earlier drop off the same bowler. Charles claimed his second wicket when Josh took a catch at cover, and Basingstoke were 4 down with
less than 80 on the board.
Richie elected to replace Charles with Charlie while JD came on for Dave, and while JD kept up the pressure and claimed a wicket of his own
when he bowled the number 5, Charlie had trouble with his line and length, going for 30 in 3 overs before being replaced by Turkleton. With the burst
of scoring settling Basingstoke nerves, they were happy to play out a few overs without further risk, and 'Parish looked to re-assert their control
in the field. Stalemate was looming, and a mid-wicket conference revealed an immediate plan by Basingstoke to adopt the long handle and try to
hit their way to a win, as a number of shots were aimed at the straight boundries, some of them making it, others being mis-cued and landing
infuriatingly short or wide of fielders. Despite Richie bringing Jimmy on for a burst and JD swapping ends, the visitors had done the job and the
winning runs came with a flourish with one ball left in the 40th over.
So a second consecutive defeat where another 15-20 runs would have made all the difference, and where the expected catching opportunities didn't
quite present themselves. But with only 3 half-centuries between them so far in 6 games, the mis-firing batting line up is probably the biggest concern.
Summary
Whiteparish 175-7 (Matt 25, Josh 23, Dave 21, Richie & Glyn both 21 not out, Mr Extras 36)
Basingstoke & North Hants 181-5 (Charles 2-37)
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