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A LOSING DRAW BUT A TEAM WIN

A LOSING DRAW BUT A TEAM WIN

Christopher Holland24 Jun 2018 - 20:41
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Top Effort Gets Us 6 Points

In a match against one of the stronger teams in the division, one that has been yo-yoing between 1st and 2nd, Elstead showed some great pluck and determination this week to secure a much needed 6 points. After a run of unfortunate losses it was a sterling effort to break the cycle.
It began with a wobble as Fordy and Cheese could not find a rhythmn but a change to Pat and Max helped to begin to contain the openers. The real key to help them though came from the field. Every body dug deep to stop or chase the ball resulting in a run out of their top batsman after a very solid 82. the next three fell for just 37 as Elstead began to really benefit from all the players giving their all, despite a wickedly fast outfield and the warm, muggy conditions. Fordy came back on, to show what he really can do, and with a cameo from Giles the oppo declared after 40 with 224 on the board and a belief they could finish us off in 50 overs.
Although it seemed like an onerous task, given the preponderance of second team players ( Max was our only official 1st team player) in the team, with 50 overs to play with we needed to keep a run rate of less than 5 an over to actually win the game. Hearts dropped as Max swished and knicked off for a big fat zero but hope revived from Matt Murphy's solid performance as he kept the run rate with a number of allies, including Crutchy, Shep, Nick and Cheese, all of whom contributed and kept us in within sight of a massive turnover and win. Indeed it wasn't until the departure of Cheese in the 43rd over that that dream finally slipped from our grasp and we needed to then just dig in for the draw and points. Pat and Jack did us that honour and we retired to the bar after what was a well fought game.
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