Old Camdenians III v Ware (Old Hertfordians) Cricket Club 2nd XI on Sat 19 Aug 2006 at 13.30 meet at 11.00
Ware (Old Hertfordians) Cricket Club Won
Having had the chance of promotion taken out of its own hands after last weeks cancellation the 2nds knew nothing short of a win against 4th placed Camdenians would be good enough. Several replacements were drafted in owing to a large number of unavailabilities caused by summer holidays and the team travelled in hope more than expectation. The Camdenians ground was very wet with standing water in places and the wicket looked likely to prove an interesting one. Captain Rizzo lost the toss and Ware was duly inserted. Allan Tyrer and Jamie Don opened and Allan quickly lost his off-stump to one that would have graced a test match. Jamie endured a torrid spell having a couple almost take his head off while others were dug out having rolled along the ground. He smacked one half-volley for a boundary but was caught at cover driving at one that left him off the wicket. Bartschy and Dev then proceeded to steady the innings aided by some wayward Camdenians bowlers who failed to take advantage of the conditions by too often bowling wide of the stumps and on a variable length. Devs mixture of circumspect defence and powerful hitting ended on 21 when he got the faintest of nicks driving at a full length ball and duly walked after the keeper took a good low catch. Rizzo then joined Batschy and the two took full advantage of the misdirected bowling with some fierce driving and cutting. Bartschy had just completed a superb 50 including 3 sixes when bizarrely he drove lustily at a swift which darted across the wicket on a good length and chipped a return catch to the bowler in his follow through. Phil Knott hung around for a while but was beaten off the wicket by a rare straight one and Simon Knott announced his intentions by launching a straight six out of the ground and into a building site where the match ball disappeared without trace. He too fell to a straight one which kept low for a breezy 19. The Chairman joined Rizzo for his first league knock of the season and looked even worse than usual but kept one end going in a 57 run partnership which ended when Rizzo chipped one back to the bowler for a top drawer 75. Big Andy came to the wicket but received a straight one first ball and Rizzo declared to save the two youngsters having to risk the vagaries of the pitch. 208-8 declared appeared to be a huge score considering the conditions but the oppo captain was confident that he had the batsmen to win the run chase.
Ware opened up with Bartschy and Dev with the intention of bowling straight and mean and letting the pitch do the work. Bartschy generated some excellent pace and the ball moved left, right, up and down causing batsmen to grope at thin air or rub painful blows to the thighs. Dev too nipped the ball around in all directions. There were several edges, none of which were easy and none of which were caught, but the line adopted by both bowlers meant that the timbers were toppled with regularity. Bartschy struck first removing the openers leg stump with an off-cutter as he made room to cut. He then pulled off a diving stop at mid-wicket and a throw to the keeper from the ground ran out the other opener. Bartschy bowled the number 4 with a really pacy delivery that sent a bail all the way to Jamie on the third man boundary and Dev beat the oppo skipper off the wicket with one that left him. Bartschy's third wicket was a combination effort, the first delivery livening up the batsman's inner thigh and the second making him hop out of the way and lose his middle stump. Camdenians rallied at this point with the numbers 5 and 7 combining solid defence with good shot selection until they turned for a third run as Rizzo picked up the ball on the extra cover boundary and his precision throw to the keeper left the batsman 2 yards short.
Dev removed the other in form batsman with one that nipped back sharply and bowled him off his pads. Jamie Don replaced Bartschy who was flagging after his super efforts and after a wayward start produced two flighted deliveries that completely bamboozled the batsmen removing their off stumps. Dev wrapped things up with his third wicket as Ware won by 116 runs.
With 2 games to go Camdenians are still favourites to get the fourth promotion spot as they have to play the two bottom teams but at least Ware II's are still in with shout.
Ware (Old Hertfordians) Cricket Club 2nd XI Batting
208 for 8
Old Camdenians III Bowling
Old Camdenians III Batting
92 for 10
Ware (Old Hertfordians) Cricket Club 2nd XI Bowling