Petersfield 2nd XI v Waterlooville 2nd XI

Sunday 28th April Petersfield 2nd XI v Waterlooville 2nd XI On an overcast and very cold afternoon at Penn's Place, captain Frank Straw's brave band of players took on Waterlooville. The day started off well with Frank winning the toss and putting the opposition in. Petersfield opened with Omar Iqbal (0-22 off 5) and Nigel Straw (1 -23 off 8 with 4 maidens) but the opening pair were riding their luck with A Lamont (75 No retd) hitting some lusty shots especially after he was dropped at slip on 50 off Simon Dodd (0-42 off 4) with 12 overs gone. Waterlooville continued to ride their luck with the balls always seeming to drop between the fielders or just short etc. Opener Nick Beadle commenting later in the innings they could easily have been 108-8 rather than 152-1. The first wicket fell to Maruthi Reddy (1-39 off 5) when he had Nick Beadle caught at midwicket by Gabriel Broadhurst for his first wicket on his debut for the club. Waterlooville continued to score freely with number 3 batsmen T Southall retiring on 50 to give his teammates a chance for a bat. With some ugly fielding from some Petersfield players the scoring rate continued to be high. One of the funniest moments I have seen playing cricket came around the 30th over when Maruthi 'ever' Reddy (wearing one of Mark Holloway's jumpers, apparently last time he played it was 43 degrees) fielded the ball in the covers with his sleeves covering his hands (a feat in itself), he then tried to throw the ball in. The ball went 3 yards right and 2 yards back before he recovered to get it in to the keeper. The batsmen only ran one I assume because they were killing themselves laughing as were most of the rest of the Petersfield team. Anyway back to the game,Nigel Straw returned to the attack with captain Frank (0-27 off 7 with 2 maidens) and they managed to stem the flow of runs with Nigel getting a much deserved wicket as he trapped S Dussel (16) plumb in front. Mark 'death bowler' Holloway (2-25 off 6) then picked up 2 wickets bowled with his yorker to leave Waterlooville on 209-4. After everyone had warmed up with a nice tea, Petersfield took on the Waterlooville bowlers. Richard Stephens opened the batting with Frank Straw but almost as soon as the innings had started, Petersfield lost Stephens to a remarkable catch at mid-off. Richard hit the ball in the air and looked to have got it over the fielder and away for 4 when the fielder shot an arm up and plucked the ball out of the air, prompting the umpire to ask to check if he had velcro on his fingers. After the shock of losing the early wicket Frank Straw (69) and Gabriel Broadhurst put on 120 for the second wicket before Straw was bowled trying to repeat the shot that got him alot of his 11 boundaries in a wonderful innings. This was after 19.3 overs and drinks were immediately taken with the two umpires running in to get warm as the temperature continued to plummet. After the break all eyes were on Gabriel Broadhurst (who had looked as cool as Alistair Cook) in compiling his 40 not out up to drinks. Gabriel had never made a 50 for the club despite coming close a couple of times finishing top scorer for the 3rd XI last year. With partners coming and going Gabriel remained very calm and in control, which is more than can be said for his father, batting coach and team mates who were all doing their best not to mention the word 'fifty' in any of the conversations incase the mockers were put on the 13 year old. While all this was going on the scoring rate kept Petersfield in the hunt for an unlikely victory with only 3 genuine batsmen in the side and 8 all rounders. Gabriel passed his 50 with a lovely on drive for 4 through midwicket and then proceeded to push on for victory eventually being caught for 68 having played a marvellously calm and composed innings. With Omar Iqbal (22) hitting some mighty blows it all came down to the last 2 balls needing 7 to win, Iqbal hit it high and unfortunately Waterlooville finally caught the ball (dropped 8) leaving 7 needed from final ball which was seen out without too much issue as Squires tried to pull the ball over to the short leg boundary and hope it was a no ball but completely missed the ball outside off stump to leave Petersfield 7 runs short of victory. The game was played in a wonderful spirit despite the cold fingers, toes and every other extremity. So onwards towards the 2nds v 3rds game this Sunday (5th May) for the last pre-season game before the serious stuff begins the week after.