Coleshill 3s vs Standard 3s 28/5/22
A game of 3 halves
Coleshill arrived at Bishop Vesey to the standard conditions – lovely weather and the skipper losing the toss…
After top of the league Standard won the toss and opted to bat, new signing Bilal and Jamie opened the bowling. Bilal showed skill and kept things very tight while bowling at a decent speed and Jamie piked up his first senior wicket when the opener chipped to mid off for an easy catch. This was to prove a false dawn with the fielding though as over the next 15 overs, Coleshill dropped no fewer than 5 catches, including the dangerous number 3 who scored 70 (averaging 14…) Ben Notman bowling really well did trap the other opener lbw for 14 and bowled nicely with maidens to support his figures.
At drinks with Standard 116-2, Coleshill were looking at chasing a score well in excess of 250 or perhaps even 300. Following the break and with some strong and necessary words spoken, Coleshill came our revitalised. In the first 2 overs after this, both set openers were dismissed, cleaned bowled by Paul and then caught by Paul off the excellent Khalid. These two bowlers operated in tandem with Paul, in his first spell of bowling in over 2 years, being economical and occasionally threatening while not taking any further wickets, and Khalid causing problems repeatedly to the batsmen on his way to an impressive 3 wickets, including a stumping by Mike with drift and turn to lure the batsmen so far down, Mike had time to miss the ball, have it hit him in the head, turn around, fumble the ball and then pick it up and stump him! Hannan replaced Paul and also had immediate success with a plumb lbw which left Bilal to do what all bowlers dream of – clean up the tail with 3 quick clean bowled with some genuine pace. The second half of Standard’s innings was 110-8 – an excellent performance from all with the fielding improving all the time and all players actively involved in encouraging the bowlers throughout which was great to see. This was also the first time Coleshill 3s had bowled a team out so far this season as the young bowling unit continues to improve and impress.
When Coleshill started, they were confronted with two very good opening bowlers including Strimidlo who got 7-11 the previous week and was full of confidence. The batting never really got going with wickets falling throughout the innings. Paul (10) was the only batsman to reach double figures and 4 batsmen were out to balls which kept low including the unfortunate Hannan who received a ball that rolled along the ground after pitching. Nonetheless, it was great to see new players to adult cricket all getting in line and showing promise.
Top vs bottom was always going to be a challenge and so it proved but the second half of the bowling performance is where I want to focus with a really strong comeback when teams without such a strong team ethic would have crumbled. It’s onwards and upwards again as we look forward to starting on our “real” home ground next week in Meriden.
Paul Jones 29.5.22