Today's game, the fourth of the Tour, was at and against The Lodge School and there can't be many prettier locations to play cricket. The School pitch is next to a sugar plantation and is fringed by palm trees; but, wow, was it hot! Clear blue skies and little breeze meant that these were really challenging conditions for the young Lancashire players, especially after the euphoria (and the late night!) of the 20/20 match only 12 hours or so previously! And then, as they said they would before we left the UK, the Coaches mixed up the batting order etc to give the lads even more tests of character and cricketing ability. But they came to the party and whilst perhaps not at their best produced the goods and came away with a 108 run victory to make it 4 wins out of 4 on the Tour so far. The highlights were undoubtedly a 110 opening partnership between Dominic Morris (64) and Jake Brown (37) and 6 wickets, ALL CLEAN BOWLED, in 13 balls for Jake Smith.
How the day unfolded
Following his match-winning 20/20 innings, Chris Brownlow was relieved of his captaincy role and any batting duties for the day and Vice Captain, James Seward found his leadership skills put to the test. He promptly won the toss and elected to bat on what looked a fairly true wicket, but the outfield, which was short of a good mow (or a good few goats!), proved to be very slow and boundaries were at a premium. Brown and, especially, Morris took full advantage of the placid pitch as the home side struggled in the heat. The 50 partnership was clocked up in the 11th over and Morris reached his 50 in the 21st with the first 100 partnership of the Tour following in the next over. "Slam the Dom" (the local name for an aggressive version of dominoes) had opened his shoulders by this stage and moved on to 64 before being well caught at mid wicket. The Lancs innings then faltered as a mini collapse saw a poorly Lewis Wright trapped plumb LBW for 1 (117-2), Jake Smith, promoted up the order, caught for 1 (119-3) and Brown, who had steadily accumulated his 37, stumped (122-4). Seward and Jody Clough then batted steadily before a mix up saw Seward run out for a brisk 13. Harrison Phelan then fell LBW for 1 (155-6) and the innings closed at 168-6 with Clough not out 16 and Will Davidson not out 4.
This was always going to be a tough target in a 35 over match and the home side were 1-1 after 2 balls as Dan Houghton clean bowled one of the openers. Brownlow then had the next man LBW (18-2) and Houghton produced a fine turn and throw to claim the 3rd wicket through a run out (20-3). The School were by now well behind the run rate but the game had fallen into a mid-afternoon stupor until Smith came on and bowled the next four batters to leave the home side at 53-7. Sam Jackson then produced a beauty to bowl the next man (54-8) and Smith finished the job with 2 more deliveies that the batsman couldn't deal with. His final figures were 3.5 overs, 0 maidens, 11 runs, 6 wickets!
The team has already exceeded expectations on the pitch (and have been exemplary ambassadors off it) but can they maintain the momentum with 2 more games to go (tomorrow and Thursday)? In this heat and with "injuries" beginning to mount the next couple of days will see the lads pushed to the limit.
Wednesday's game is at the Four Square Oval, which is right next to the Four Square Rum Distillery.This may be of interest to a few ladies of my acquaintance! For those of you who would like an authentic taste of Barbados try the following recipe for Rum Punch (Fum Runch!)!
| Ingredients: | ||
| "One of sour Two of sweet Three of strong, and Four of weak" | One part pure lime juice (1/4 cup) Two parts sugar (1/2 cup) Three parts Barbados rum (3/4 cup) Four parts water (1 cup) |
Method:Dissolve sugar in water, add rum and lime juice. Blend well. Chill and serve with bitters or nutmeg. Makes 4 servings (or about 10 minutes worth!).
James Seward hands over the signed bat and Tour Brochure to The Lodge School Captain. Doesn't he look smart - and James made an effort as well!
The very picturesque Lodge School ground
No it hasn't been raining! A sweat-soaked Dominic Morris after scoring 64 in sweltering heat
.......Becky, Mollie, Bethan and Isobel
Jake Smith celebrates victory and his "sixfer" with his Lancs team-mates
Right, that's it - Karaoke has kicked off again so I'm going to try and get some sleep. Cough, John as Sarah Davidson would say, and she should know as she's in a "pishun ov forettry"
No comments:
Post a Comment