Nat West Bank v St. James CC
28th July 2007
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Nat West 154-9 (50.4 overs) - St James 155-8 (40 overs)
St James hosted Nat West on a breezy day at Norbury. Under captain Dave Smith St James’ fortunes have been looking up with two wins from the last two games. However they were up against one of their most formidable oppositions. For years Nat West’s combination of strong batting line-ups and clever field placings had been too much for St James to overcome. Would today be any different? Dave lost the toss and as ever Nat West elected to bat. They only had 10 men, so Stan Smith played for them. The pitch at Norbury has not been treated with much loving care and that coupled with heavy rain the week and night before meant we had uneven bounce of the extreme kind. Some balls bounced as if coming off a trampoline while others shot along the ground. Robin and Jack opened the bowling and caused the batsmen some problems. Robin twice got Patel to edge over the keepers head and then had him dropped off his now patented slower ball. Jack suffered from the strange bounce and a spot of moodiness but he would recover as the day went on. Dave turned to Nabil and Mike and soon the wickets came, Nabil bowling Macleod and Mike found Patel’s edge. Nat West’s experienced middle order was now in as Jones and Ellis began building a partnership. They did not find it easy though with Mike, Nabil and Richard all bowling excellent spells, keeping things tight and the score moved on very slowly. Dave Owen and Ryan came on to bowl and as the scoring became easier the wickets also came. A good ball from Ryan got Jones caught at slip and Dave got his first ever stumping as Ellis came down the wicket and Rehal whipped off the bails. Nat West were now trying to accelerate after such a lengthy period of accumulation. But they did not find it easy. Some big hitting from Butt and Bansal found the boundaries but Dave Owen found his length and picked up 2 more wickets. Ali, again, naggingly bowled stump to stump to pick up 2 and Nabil returned to finish off the tail with Stan remaining unbeaten on 1. 154 seemed a good total on a difficult wicket. But Dave was confident in his batting line-up which mixed up the talent meaning we batted all the way to 11.
Andrew and Dave went out after tea to face some very quick bowling from Wachi and Butt. Dave soon succumbed to the awkward bounce and Ali followed him after a brute of a delivery. With Jack at the crease Nat West cunningly and sportingly brought on Stan to bowl but Jack avoided familial humiliation and kept him out with only the odd stray one being flicked for 4. Andrew ,whose runs were like the 319 bus….1 every 8 minutes, was deceived by Persaud’s flight and departed for 7 leaving St James precariously poised at 41-3.Rehal arrived and he and Jack steadied the ship with a partnership of 38 which left St James needing 103 off the last 20 overs. Jack continued to show great patience, only hitting the bad balls for 4. Rehal eventually fell for 14 scooping one into the air off Persaud and Jack was stumped from the off spin of Bansal. Jack's 32 was key to holding the middle order together. Dave (15) and Nabil (11) kept the score moving, Dave pulling hard off the back foot and Nabs lifting bowlers back over their heads. Both fell trying to keep the score moving as the run rate climbed with 70 needed off the last 10 overs. Mike and Ryan now had to keep scoring without any time to play themselves in. A slice of luck went our way when Ryan was dropped in the near outfield. Mike played well off the back foot while Ryan launched himself forward in a most cavalier style crunching aerial shots and throwing up the odd catching chance. With 4 overs left Ryan danced down the wicket to Persaud’s off break and launched the ball for six over mid wicket. Next ball he repeated the stroke between mid on and mid wicket, the six was so huge that we lost the ball! Unfortunately Ryan repeated the shot next over only to find mid wicket and depart for 19. Robin arrived at the crease with a tense 11 balls left and 14 runs needed.
An attacking vice captains innings was expected and the ball was promptly aerially poked back at the bowler.Despite a gallant leap the ball could not be taken cleanly. Mike swatted a boundary and the batsmen ran singles hard and got to the final over with 6 needed to win. Robin took a single off the first ball and then an anti-climactic finish came as Wachi sent the next ball sailing to the boundary for 5 wides.
Was it the absence of the mesmeric Doig, those cakes at tea, the missed catches, the generous supply of wides,…or a smiling nod from the cricket Gods that allowed St James to beat Nat West for the first time in their history!
D Smith 1
A Woolley 7
F.Karim 8 4-0-7-2
J.Smith 32 6-0-28-0
R.Singh 14
D. Owen 15 7-0-28-3
M Woolley 14* 7-4-5-1
R Boyle 19 4-0-29-1
R Pierson 2* 7-3-7-0
R Bush dnb 6-0-7-0