19th April 2009
A Cavaliers record eighth wicket stand of 101 between Robbie and Amir saved the game and secured a valuable opening game victory.
Little Bardfield have been storming through the divisions since joining the PDQ in 2006 so we didn't know too much about opposition or ground. On a bright, sunny spring day the ground looked in great condition and the wicket surprisingly firm but bounce proved to be very inconsistent. At the toss we called correctly and decided to field first to see what a good score might be.
The Bardfield openers started slowly but steadily against Darren, accuracy personified, and Robbie roaring down the hill. Ray replaced Robbie and despite a very creaky first delivery rolled off three consecutive maidens. Ray picked up the first two wickets in successive overs bringing the Bardfield skipper to the crease, who was clearly out to pick up the pace of the innings. Rasanga took the brunt of the attack but his revenge was sweet as Amir took a neat catch at backward point. Ray continue to bowl accurately picking up wickets with varied pace and flight to bag a symmetrical five wicket haul (10-5-15-5). By the 30th over the score was 99-6 and Darren returned to the attack in an attempt to rollover the tail but was met by stubborn resistance, Darren gave up just eight runs in his ten overs ending with figures of 10-6-8-0. Luke contributed a tidy seven over spell.
With some good running and a few wickets in hard the tail picked up the pace in the last six overs to drag themselves up to 160-8.
Our reply struggled to get off the ground against some good, straight bowling and we lost two wickets in the ninth over at 15-2. A further two wickets fell in the 14th and 15th overs leaving us struggling at 33-4 followed shortly after by Darren and Rasanga so by the 20th over we had 58-6 as Amir joined Simon at the crease. Another hundred needed off 25 overs but only four wickets in hand. After finding the boundary a couple of times Simon chipped one back to the Bardfield skipper and Robbie replaced him. First Amir and then Robbie started to find the middle of the bat while enjoying a few mix ups over the running. The reintroduction of the opening bowlers didn't slow the scoring, if anything the two Cav's thrived on the extra pace and extras also started mounting up. Both batsmen contributed a pair of big sixes as the required rate dropped quickly, indeed so quickly were they scoring that we still had four overs in hand when the final runs were struck.
Based on our experience from last season Bardfield will do well in this division so this was a great win to start the season.
Little Bardfield 160-8 vs Cavaliers 161-7
Cavaliers won by 3 wickets
PDQ Cars Division 2 - 19th April 2009
