Today we opened our season with a One Day Game against Balcatta those who are not familiar, usually we play 56 overs (dont ask why 56 because i have no idea) each side which is spread over 2 weeks so one side bats one week and then bowls the next week unless you bowl them out quickly. This stops us from playing from 8am to 6pm instead we play only from 8-12 avoiding the intense heat as much as possible. Although its still bloody hard when its 44" like last year and your running around the ground throwing balls, but the good thing about being the opening bowler is in those conditions you can tell your captain that your not going to bowl.
Well since today was a one day game it was 30 overs each and we were playing at the show-grounds and we were aiming at a score around 120 which would be a winning score on the slow outfield.
Compared to previous years we didn't have our strongest side as we had lost a few good players over the break and gained a few that have never played cricket before (Its going to be a long season). But we also picked up a good player although he's a twat.
We batted first i think we won the toss, i wasn't concentrating much and we were off to a good start after 11 overs we were 66/2 but after that we had a major collapse. Your's truly was batting at number 6 with is a few spots higher than last year and i wasn't looking forward to batting.
My batting performance left a lot to be desired and it can only get better, i scored a modest 0 but within that time 2 of my companions had departed from the other end and i was feeling rather nervous. So by the time it was over and it was 6 down by then i decided after about 4 dot balls to get off the mark; because i go through a routine when batting which is; not to get out first ball (completed), scored a run (Failed).
I was facing a terrible bowler who just bowled pies that if we were in a better situation or near the end of the innings i would have tried to hit for boundaries, but since i was just getting my eye in i decided to try to just push the ball into a gap near mid wicket as there was a fielder out on the boundary. So i tried to go down and roll my wrists over this ball and end up being there to quickly and got a huge leading edge (which is just hitting the ball with the side of your bat not the face). This edge ended up going up in the air and thats the whole "DAM IT" moment as your jogging down to complete your run, but i thought it had just lobbed to the fielder but infact it just kept going and ended up going about 3/4 of the way to the boundary so 45m or so and ended up being caught by a great catch. I was rather annoyed because i hadn't meant to hit the ball in the air and since it came of the edge, if i actually tried to hit it hard i would have gone for 4 or 6 easy, but there all buts.
The highlights of the batting on our side was to see Steve hit a huge six that nearly cleared the white fence of the showgrounds.
So we had to defend 83 off 30 overs, possible, but very unlikely.
I bowled the first over wasn't the greatest over as it was more of a warm up over for the season. I bowled 3 overs overall troubling one batsmen in particular with some absolute jaffas if i say myself with some late swing and pace that left him prodding at most of them. I got an edge on my second over that was put down at first slip, a relatively easy chance for one of our best fielders. Dont know my figures but they were acceptable for the first game of the season.
As the game progressed we picked up a few wickets and the game was in the balance by around halfway but after drinks they got a partnership together and started making a few runs. They managed to get our 83 with 3 overs to spare, which is a good bowling performance for our small target.
The low lights of fielding were
The heat that was a bitch later in the day
Dropping a catch around half way that was smacked straight out of the middle to me at short cover where i just got my hands infront of my body just in time to protect my stomach and my man bits. I got my hands to it and nearly took it which would have been a pretty good catch as i had probably half a second to react.
Dropping another catch. Now this one was in the last over and i really wanted to go home and the ball was yet again smacked in my direction i had a little more time to react but it didn't help that someone had parked there red car right behind the ball as i picked it up really late and ended getting nothing on it except for my hip bone that took the full force of a leather ball going very fast.
So i'm going to have some nice bruises on my hands and hip for tomorrow from the first game.
Highlights:
giving the bowler that got me out, extreme trouble when i was bowling to him, where i was going to say "thats called a bat your holding, you use it to hit the ball" as he couldn't get anywhere near the ball.
Seeing Steve once again bowl a bouncer going at full pace so 100km + and seeing the batsmen wearing it straight on the shoulder and feeling the pain.
So hopefully next week is better and we can get a good result or i just get some runs or a few wickets
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