Now clearly I'm still pretty inexperienced so today was my first experience of a properly sticky wicket. Uncovered, and after a few days of rain, it was not only a little muddy but also two-paced, with one end offering bounce and the other just being a bit dead. The Captain was facing first up and was bowled for a Royal Duck, which would prove to be probably the key moment in the match, as it turned out to be a horrendously low-scoring pitch. As well as the sticky wicket the grass in the outfield was rather long meaning anything that bounced more than once was unlikely to make the boundary.
I was in at 8 and by the time the #2 fell for the 6th wicket we were still only on 28. I went out with two to face and I was quite literally quaking. I took guard and managed to block two good deliveries. My partner was going well but was not what one would call sprightly, but I fancied myself to be running pretty quick (rightly, as it turned out) so we managed a few cheeky singles, and with wides and a no-ball beamer that nearly took my head off we put on 8 before inevitably I was bowled a ball I couldn't block, yorked through middle stump.
Curiously, despite the duck I was pretty satisfied with how I'd done, as I was patient and concentrating well.There were two pretty good leaves in there two, including one which was achingly close to the bail but the alternative was a sure-fire edge to slip. My footwork was woeful, as the skipper confirmed when I got back to the pavilion, but that's something I have to work on over many months rather than something I can just switch on prior to a match so I wasn't unduly dissapointed about it.
In the end we made 57 all out, probably only about 10-20 light as it turned out, which if the skipper had stayed in we might well have got. Having had a look at the wicket between innings I was absolutely ACHING to have a bowl, right from the start, as I felt the stickiness would have given me good turn and I was feeling pretty confident. All I could think was "I simply HAVE to get a bowl on this". We started off pretty well with two early wickets and my fielding was the best it's been all season, not that I had that much to do. The required run-rate was something silly like 1.1 but after a dozen overs we were spot on. However, a couple of their batsmen hung around a bit and slowly the match got away from us. When they got to 50 and I still hadn't been tossed the ball it was clear that it wasn't going to happen. Anyway, I'd had a competent day and the match had been engaging.
I was desperately disappointed not to have bowled. I'm sure I could have got a couple of wickets today, and depending on how many runs I went for that could have swung the match decisively our way. Anyway, maybe I have too high an opinion of my bowling. After the match we stopped off at a local pub, had a few beers, a few games of pool and even a go on the karaoke, which was nice as it made me feel part of the team. The 4ths are a great bunch of guys and I love playing with them.
Tomorrow I'm turning out for the Sunday team's last game of the season as they were a man short. I couldn't really turn it down considering how few matches there are left, and also because it's on the main square which is a lovely pitch that I haven't played on. I'm not sure what level they play at so we'll just have to see how I get on.
Good points: Felt part of the game, batted patiently and blocked OK, very sharp running between the wickets, fielded well with no mistakes.
Points for improvement: Poor footwork and too much nerves when batting, calling could have been a bit louder at times, throwing from deep is still poor.
Today's stats: (Wooton Sports Club 3rd XI vs Stafford 4th XI, 50 overs each)
Batting: Bowled S.Johnson, 0 (7bf, 0x4, 0x6 prt: 7th:8)
Bowling: (didn't bowl, dammit!)
Fielding: Ct 0, St 0, RO 0
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