Eliteserien Match 12: Aliens vs Nation
When: 16 August
Where:
With our usual skipping holidaying in Amsterdam, Damien Devlin made a return and started well by winning the toss and electing to bat. Clive also joined us out in the middle again, reminding us all what good fielding looks like.
Marcus (15) and James (26) got think things off to a steady start in difficult conditions, with a damp pitch and overcast conditions. James was the first to fall, getting an inside edge onto his stumps. Damien (8) went in number 3 and set about setting up a captaining innings. Marcus was next to fall, being run out after clipping the ball to a short fine leg and setting off for a single. He was replaced by Dennis (23) who looked pretty comfortable right from the start. With Damien walking past one and getting stumped, Jamie (1) was next in and fell cheaply. Joe (9) and Dennis set about doing just that, but after our first boundary of the innings was struck, a powerful spank over midwicket by Dennis, Joe was given out LBW. Dennis followed soon after, getting caught at long on. Damon and Clive batted for a while together, keeping the runs coming before Damon top edged an easy catch to the keeper and Clive picked out deep midwicket. Aliens were 110 for 8 and were in dire need of some more runs. Steve (18*) and Benan (7) came to the rescue and shared an excellent 30 run partnership before Benan fell off the last ball of the innings. Aliens ended on 140-9 off our allotted 40 overs.
Damon (6.2 overs, 2 for 20) and Dennis (8 overs, 1 for 15) opened the bowling exceptionally well. Both kept the scoring to a minimal and were aided by some tight fielding. Damon picked up the first wicket when he tricked the batsman into patting the ball back to him in his follow through. With Dennis hardly giving any runs away at the other end, the scoreboard crept along at around 3 an over. Steve (8 overs, 1 for 21) came on first change and was a bit off his usual tight line, but still managed to get the batsmen hopping around. Dennis at the other end kept toying with opposition batsmen and kept them fishing at balls outside off. His patience eventually paid off when he bowled Zeeshan a slower ball which was nicked and taken well by keeper Joe. Benan (3 overs, 2 for 9) replaced Dennis and started brilliantly, luring the batsman into playing a big shot which was confidently caught by Steve at mid on. He bowled out a wicket maiden and took us to drinks with Nation on 50 for 4 and looking pretty unsettled. The pressure continued after the break, where Benan picked up his 2nd wicket when the batsman went after him again, only to be caught by Clive at long on. Marcus (4 overs, 1 for 24) replaced Steve and struck in his 2nd over when the batsman skied a cut shot to Dennis at backward point. Boxy (2 overs, 2 for 19) replaced Marcus after a 4 over spell and bowled well to take 2 wickets, both LBW. The 9th wicket fell shortly after, when the batsman tried a suicidal run to backward point. In swooped Damien and surprised us all by throwing down the stumps after a clean pickup, which he immediately celebrated by sprinting around with his arms out like an airplane! Nation were 96 for 9, still 44 runs short of the target. Their last pair kept us a little worried though when they batted surprisingly sensibly, picking up the 1s and 2s. Damien brought back our international and he picked up the final wicket, also LBW. In the end, Aliens won by a massive 30 runs!
Special mention goes to the excellent rear guard batting effort by Steve and Benan, which got us to a score we could defend. All the bowlers bowled really well, but Dennis’ spell really set us up by giving away almost no runs and mounting huge amounts of pressure on the batsmen. Aliens also put in a much better fielding performance, with very few misfields and only 1 or 2 grassed chances.
We’re now on 12 points, along with City. With a couple more good performances, we should be able to avoid relegation. Let’s get it done!
Hello, World!