Romsey Town vs. Burrough Green I

Report by Daniel Mortlock:

The Romsey league season got underway on a rather sober note, as we joined Burrough Green in a minute's silence for their club president (and well-known horse racing figure) Julian Wilson, who had died a fortnight earlier. Julian clearly meant a lot to a great many people, although the most touching story told today was how he led the fight to ensure that Burrough Green cricket wasn't curtailed by a relatively new resident who'd become rather protective of their recent extension.

Julian would, presumably, have been most pleased at the way his team began their season, as both Burrough Green opening bowlers started off with maidens and one of them got a wicket to boot. Nick Clarke (10 off 10 balls), Carmeron Petrie (25 off 35 balls) and Robin Eddington (7 off 11 balls) then mounted a pretty solid recovery, taking us to 43/2 in the 11th over, with Cameron in particular looking unperturbed by the variable bounce. But then disaster struck in the form of an absurd run-out, which in turn catalysed the season's first Romsey Collapse (TM) as we lost 4/4 to slump to 47/6. Andy Owen (34 off 60 balls) and Daniel Mortlock (8 off 40 balls) at least halted the flow of wickets, but it was pretty turgid stuff: that they put on 46 runs was invaluable; that it took 16 overs was coma-inducing. The only real highlights were some big pulls from Andy. We then lost our last 4 wickets for 15 runs, leading to a clearly sub-par total of 108 all-out. Even worse was the fact that we'd left three overs unused - the general verdict was that 120-130 would have been a challenging target given the conditions.

The early signs for our defense weren't good: our fielding drills were defined by their lack of energy and purpose; and, when a few of our number had a go on the slips cradle, the result was only some minor bruising and precisely zero catches. Still, once our bowlers found their range we did start to make a fight of it, and at one point we managed 19 consecutive dot balls while getting rid of the most dangerous-looking of the batsmen. When Burrough Green reached 39/1 after 14 overs we were hardly winning, but the sense was that we were only a few wickets away from being able to exert some real pressure . . .

. . . although, as it turned out, we were instead a couple of bowling changes from releasing it as we started sending down at least one four-ball per over. Suddenly, the scoreboard read 98/3 after 22 overs - while it was promising that Robin Eddington (1/21) and Paul Jordan (1/15) had both taken well-deserved wickets, their achivements were rather overshadowed by the fact Burrough Green now needed to score at just 0.61 an over with 7 wickets in hand. We figured the best way to at least get one more bonus point was to bring back the opening bowlers, a ploy which worked, albeit in the most bizarre fashion. After Daniel Mortlock got the wicket we'd hoped for, Girish Lakhwani (0/27) almost made it another, but in the end had to be satisfied with at least keeping things interesting - indeed, things suddenly got far more interesting than they had been all day:

• 23.6: Lakhwani to Khan: Expansive drive wide of mid-on and that might be the winning runs . . . but no, Aslan Khan tells his partner he wants to finish the game in style, presumably with a big hit next over. 108/4.

• 24.1: Mortlock to Khan: Aslan launches into a big drive, and it seems he'll get his wish- but no! Catherine Owen at long-off comes running in and takes a well-judged catch. She looks justifiably pleased with herself (and maybe a little relieved). Aslan walks off, having maybe gotten his just deserts for his hubris in the face of the cricketing gods! 108/5.
• 24.2: Mortlock to Haynes: Decent ball outside the off-stump and beats the outside edge. Inches away from caught behind, but that's probably the closest Romsey will come to getting another wicket. 108/5.
• 24.3: Mortlock to Haynes: Bowled him! Full and straight and the batsman missed it. So that's at least another bowling point for Romsey, and maybe the Burrough Green batsmen are starting to feel a little nervous. The key thing now is for Mortlock to stick to this line . . . but here comes a spanner in the works in the form of a left-hander. No field change, at least, as everyone was just in a tight ring anyway. 108/6.
• 24.4: Mortlock to Way: The grungy old ball springs to life and seams away - it pitched middle and hit the top of off. The Romsey players hands must be bruised after all this high-fiving, and that's seven down now - as well as Mortlock's best ever league bowling figures of 5/21. Romsey captain Andy Owen approaches the umpire to make sure he's got hit stop-watch on in case there's a chance of a "timed out" - the umpire seems a little perturbed by this request . . . but then Andy breaks into a smile and reveals he had everyone fooled. And, besides, the new batsman made it to the crease in good time. 108/7.
• 24.5: Mortlock to Willis: The ball flies off a length, beating Willis's forward push and slamming into 'keeper Owen's gloves. The batsman's over-balanced and dropped his bat - it's a very difficult stumping chance! But keeper Owen couldn't quite manage a clean take and now the batsman's fallen/dived/collapsed back into his crease in a flurry of flailing limbs. That would have been eight down - enough to get people seriously thinking about a tie. 108/7.
• 24.6: Mortlock to Willis: Attempted yorker but maybe a bit too leg-side . . . but Willis has got in a good stride and glanced the ball around the corner and the batsmen amble an easy single to finish the game. No fairy tale tie for Romsey and, really, a pretty comfortable win for Burrough Green. 109/7.

In the end it was probably the fact that Burrough Green won with 15 overs to spare that was the most telling fact - and clearly Aslan would have batted a bit differently if their victory hadn't been so certain. The real problem was that we just didn't have much to defend: Nick's oft-repeated claim that "140 would have been a good total on this pitch" rang sadly true as we headed back towards Cambridge for the evening.