Rottingdean 3rd XI vs. St James Montefiore 3rd XI

After what can only be described as a comprehensive defeat in more or less every department by Poynings the previous week, we turned up to East Brighton Park knowing that batting for more than 33 overs, or getting more than one wicket would have constituted an improvement. 
Luckily, reinforcements had arrived. After soring a 50 then 100 in his opening two knocks, Gillie had more or less guaranteed that he would not play for the 4th XI again….(even if he wanted to). Joining him, everyone was delighted to see the return of Graham “I’m retiring from Saturday cricket” Harris, boasting his usual athletic physique, a hangover, a higher percentage of grey hairs than last year, and possibly the worst hairband ever to be worn by anybody…ever. We were also boosted by the late addition of Jonny Lawes. Now, for those of you who were keenly listening to his memorable presentation speech, you may have picked up that Jonny felt a tad disgruntled at the political reasons surrounding why he couldn’t award himself the best bowler. However, now, free of the captaincy, and placed among the rank and file, it was his chance to make a new case this year. Lastly, a 3rd XI debut for Archie Patel promised to add an extra dimension to what was an exceptionally ordinary bowling attack last week.
Joe Owen lost the toss, and we were sent in to bat. Despite the fact that our XI consisted mainly of bowlers, we were optimistic. Gillie and Josh Andrews got us off to a flying start, with Josh working the singles well, and Gillie dispatching anything either slightly full or slightly short to the boundary. A 39 opening stand was cut unexpectedly short when Gillie picked out the cover fielder for 22, and Joe Owen soon followed for 1, unluckily getting a genuinely good delivery. Josh remained on 20 not out, and at 43-2, was joined by Jey Paulraj. The two masterfully amassed an 125 run partnership over the next 20 overs. Jey batted aggressively, continually scoring boundaries and intelligently manipulating the field, while Josh rotated the strike well, occasionally also timing the ball sweetly to the boundary. After the dismissals of Andrews and Jey in quick succession, for 63 and 81 respectively, we found ourselves on 180-4. With the Dean in a good position and with wickets in hand, the remaining batsman knew playing for the average would not go down well. Thankfully, cameo’s from Matt and Aneston got us over the 200 mark, and we finished on 222. This was no thanks to Graham “I’ll probably play for East Dean 2s next season” Harris, whose ghost shot/fly swat styled heave missed the ball completely, leaving him bowled for 2.
We were very confident going in to field, but knew work still had to be done. Thankfully, the contest was over after 9 overs, as Aidan (2-11) and Archie (3-11) bowled beautifully, with plenty of movement and genuine pace. All five wickets were bowled, a brilliant feat in itself. With a short rain delay, we began to become anxious that a no result beckoned. When we returned, Graham rolled back the years, and bowled a tidy 2-4 off 4 overs. Godfrey pitched in with 1-13 off 5, and Lawes finished with 1-6 of his solitary over. There was still time for us to drop 5 catches in the space of 10 deliveries, and give the opposition 20 extras. But other than that, we were dominant, and bowling St James out for 47 gave us a huge margin of victory. 
With such a comprehensive defeat followed by such a commanding victory, it’s already becoming clear that consistency may be something which the 3s need to work on this year. Hopefully more of the same next week!
Other points: 
• After a workmanlike innings, Josh decided to accelerate his strike rate and scored 12 off an over. Then he got bowled in a spectacularly odd fashion. His excuse: I had cramp
• Archie bowled a no ball, for the free hit he bowled the batsman all over the place. We were gutted that such a fine delivery wouldn’t warrant a wicket – but next ball Archie proceeded to bowl exactly the same delivery, and got the wicket regardless. 
• Graham bottled two slip catches – only to then catch one when the batsman had a free hit
• Godfrey bottled two caught and bowled attempts and proceeded to deny this for the rest of the game.
• Matt Currier decided that running between the wickets properly was optional, and was given one short which was so blatant it would have been called by the umpire overseeing the game on the adjacent pitch. He proceeded to complain profusely about this.