| Opponent | : | Doddridge |
| Date | : | 26 July 2003 |
| Venue | : | Racecourse |
| Result | : | Abandoned - rain |
Innings of: St Michael's
| 1 | W Kingston sr | ct | McKenzie | 17 | Bowling | O | M | R | W | |
| 2 | D York | ct Gill | Lewis | 9 | P Higham | 12 | 4 | 20 | 2 | |
| 3 | M Collier | ct Henderson | Higham | 19 | M Lewis | 11 | 1 | 43 | 1 | |
| 4 | D Allen | ct & b | Higham | 2 | V McKenzie | 12 | 3 | 35 | 2 | |
| 5 | D Tebbutt | ct Gill | McKenzie | 18 | R Hobbs | 8 | 0 | 30 | 1 | |
| 6 | B Ahearn | run out | 36 | P Horne | 2 | 0 | 7 | 1 | ||
| 7 | M Lowe | ct McKenzie | Horne | 13 | ||||||
| 8 | R Davis | not out | 9 | |||||||
| 9 | T Marlow | b | Hobbs | 3 | ||||||
| 10 | S Cannell | not out | 5 | |||||||
| 11 | M Baker | |||||||||
| Overs | 45 | Extras |
17 | |||||||
| Wickets | 8 | Total |
148 |
Innings of: Doddridge
| 1 | M Henderson | ct York | Baker | 2 | Bowling | O | M | R | W | |
| 2 | S Gill | ct Tebbutt | Marlow | 28 | M Lowe | 10 | 3 | 16 | 0 | |
| 3 | R Hobbs | b | Marlow | 15 | M Baker | 10 | 4 | 19 | 1 | |
| 4 | P Horne | b | Marlow | 0 | T Marlow | 11 | 4 | 27 | 4 | |
| 5 | A Bartley | b | Marlow | 9 | S Cannell | 5 | 3 | 9 | 0 | |
| 6 | G Stobart | run out | 1 | D Allen | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 | ||
| 7 | M Lewis | not out | 16 | |||||||
| 8 | G Robinson | not out | 5 | |||||||
| Overs | 37 | Extras |
15 | |||||||
| Wickets | 6 | Total |
91 |
Match report
Rain intervened to end a competitive Section 1 game with St Michael's looking to win their fourth game in a row.
Doddridge won the toss and elected to field first. A steady start saw openers Bill Kingston and Danny York put down anchor. York was first to go when he was caught behind for 9. Matt Collier, returning after missing the last 3 games, was quickly back into the groove, hitting the ball crisply in a rapid 19. But he also nicked one to the keeper Gill, this one from Higham.
| Kingston was soon hobbling around and required a runner after pulling a muscle. York obliged, but it didn't stop Kingston hobbling around, unable to curb his natural instincts for taking those quick singles. When he was out, diminutive stand in skipper Dave Tebbutt nudged the ball around for quick fire 18. He was enjoying a good partnership with Brian Ahearn when Ahearn pulled a hamstring going for a quick second run. Step forward Danny York for his second stint as runner. It would be fair to say that the running between the wickets improved somewhat from then on, with York being of slighter build than Ahearn. But that didn't prevent York from running himself (or should that be Ahearn?) when the Bear was on 36. |
|
A late flourish from Mick Lowe brought the score up to 148 for 8, a total that would prove hard to get on a low, slow pitch.
Doddridge's reply began slowly with St Michael's opening bowlers Martin Baker and Mick Lowe bowling a good line. It was Baker who made the breakthrough having Henderson caught by Danny York at silly mid off for 2.
Gill and Horne made steady if unspectacular progress until Tom Marlow was brought into the attack. He managed to extract movement and lift from the pitch that no one else had managed until then, and took 4 wickets as a result. Doddridge were on the back foot, and were reduced to 69 for 6 when Stobart was run out after a good throw from Dave Tebbutt at cover.
The second half of the match had seen leaden skies with intermittent drizzle. The rain started to gain momentum at 6:30, and by 7:15 was too heavy to continue. Match abandoned.
Post script
The preamble to the laws of cricket state that 'It is against the Spirit of the Game to indulge in .... any sharp practice.' The preamble also states that 'every player is expected to make an important contribution to (the tone and conduct of the cricket match)'.
Law 23.1 states 'The ball shall be considered dead when it is clear to the umpire at the bowler's end that the fielding side and both batsmen at the wicket have ceased to regard it as in play.' Additionally the ball ceases to be dead 'when the bowler starts his run up'.
In other words, when the fielding team are quite clearly passing the ball back to the bowler for the next delivery and the ball is dropped on the way, it is against the spirit and the laws of the game to pinch a quick single.