Chitika

Sunday 29 May 2011

28.5.11 - 4th XI v Barns Green 2nd XI

Morning all Juggernaughts out there, welcome to Sunday morning and Juggernaught FM.
Well, we keep on rolling on. On a non typically May day we went to play at tricky opposition Barns Green. We took a depleted side from previous weeks and had two strike bowlers missing and 2 main batters. We spoke about a plan and we favoured chasing down anything Barns Green could set based on it being a good track. We talked about establishing, quickly, a plan against each opposition batter and executing that plan.
Barns Green got off to a flyer. We realised that, today, length wasn't the priority it was going to be line. Barns batters punished anything with width and did it well. Barns young opener proved quickly why he is a new talent and has scored heaps this season already. Worthing started tightening up the line and it proved the key. from 51-0 they were 4 down within a few overs. At this point I must congratulate Barns Green on their fairness in umpiring and giving what they see. We have experienced too many games where this is not the case leading to the wrong attitudes being applied. This was a game played in the best spirits and made it very enjoyable to be part of. barns kept chipping at the score and forming little partnerships that got them to 214 but I thought this was a low score for the quality of this pitch and because of our efforts to take wickets throughout we took 4 overs so had 49 to chase them down.
After an EXCELLENT tea we started the chase. We spoke about the getting at least half the job done at no more than 2 down then we'd be in full control. Lloyd seemed a little disconnected and played a lazy shot, by his standards and drove a full toss to cover. After last weeks fantastic innings I think this week Aaron thought he'd get the job done on 15 overs and after a couple of positive shots off their opening spinner fell to a loose shot by his standards. Matt P played across a straight one and before we knew it we were 3 down for not many. It was great to have Matt Martin back and Matt and BC formed a partnership that did the main work. Matt batted very sensibly, taking runs when offered and solid in defence. We got to within 45 when he unfortunately fell. That brought Rob Cool in. Rob took a couple of overs to take a look and then with only about 20 needed bludgeoned 13 off one over to take us home 4 down.
It was a good learning curve today. We learnt how to bowl on a flat track. We learnt that line was key. With the right line we could choke and frustrate the batters which paid dividends.
Not everyone got to play what they would deem as part of the team effort but they certainly did. Jake Robinson (the arm) patrolled the sweeping boundary superbly. Even got his body in the road of one that could have smashed his teeth out. Sam Greenrod also fielded with aplomb. He also learns amazingly quickly. After one piece of on field coaching to help the fielding he applied it for the rest of the innings after being shown once. He's like a computer the way he can absorb information and process to apply it. Fielding should not be underestimated. It saves runs, takes wickets, applies pressure and contributes to winning and losing. The Juggernaught remain top of the league after today so everyone will be gunning for us which in turn will give us a new set of challenges here on in. I have every confidence that we will rise to the occasion and will continue to make it a memorable season.

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