Monster Late Partnership Snatches Victory From the Jaws of Defeat
With both the 1 XI and the 2nd XI suffering set backs last weekend, this week’s match reports starts by focussing on our 3rd XI’s legendary victory away at Melbourne.
Saturday 14th June, Melbourne vs Ovington 3rd XI
Melbourne: 211/5 (40); Steels 85, Thomas 76; Fricke 2/49
Ovington: 212/9 (40); Chandra 82, Warner 72*; Chandran 5/28, Steels 3/29
Ovington won by one (1) wicket
Scorecard: https://ovington.play-cricket.com/website/results/6780129
Ovington 3rds made the trip to Melbourne, a team that not too long ago was battling against our 1st XI. New players may have been expecting to play at the MCG but instead were left wondering if they had completed missed Melbourne and ended up in Ahmedabad as the conditions and pitch were intriguing.
The Melbourne skipper apologised profusely but it played well and added a certain quality to the game not always seen in York on a Saturday afternoon. Randomness is always adds exciting element to any match.
With complete respect meant here, Melbourne were not at full strength with only 8 players turning out, and even then they heavily relied on 3 of them. Fortunately for Melbourne, those 3 players were outstanding on the day. Between Thomas, Steel and Chandran they scored 186 of their 211 runs, took all 9 of their wickets and even held 5 of the 7 catches taken for good measure. It’s not lost on this writer that had they had a full strength team the eventual course of this match would likely have been different.
Once the cricket started, Melbourne chose to bat and Ovington by their own admission struggled from the start. Every bowler had at least one bad ball per over and some dodgy fielding added maybe 20 extra runs that shouldn’t have been scored. If there was an excuse to be had it was that the outfield had more curves and bumps than the females Luke Smith had been chasing on Friday evening in York.
Gaurav Chandra on his third’s debut managed to take the opening wicket with a sharp caught and bowled but that was your lot until around the 32nd over. By then, Melbourne had amassed a big score and things were looking tricky but Ovington stuck to their task. Will Ellis had bowled a smart spell, Gaurav bowled unplayable deliveries at times and Smith and Dave Warner got the ball to turn sharply. Unfortunately, it just sometimes turned way too much. Simon Fricke came back on for his second spell and it was a great comeback. He took 2 late wickets and Smith removed star batsman Steels with a snorter. Warner even managed a run out after misfielding and then throwing a weak pea roller for a direct hit. It sounded stupid at the time but Ovington agreed to try and keep Melbourne around 210. Something which later paid dividends.
The Ovington players succeeded in their achievable target as Melbourne reached 211 and teas were had. Ovington tried to replenish fluids and the teas as always at Melbourne were top notch. The feed made up for the previous 3 hours of scorching temperatures.
Cricket is a cruel mistress. With Captain Warner looking at a sea of flagging faces, young Jacob Mellows stuck his hand up to volunteer to open and take the first ball. The old gents were impressed.
Unfortunately the first ball was a wicket, a wide high one was there to be hit, Mellows just managed to pick out one of only 8 players on the fielding team. He returned to the dressing room to find out his football team (who he’d turned down on the day so he could play cricket) had played and won a tournament. This writer couldn’t help but crack a smile but was happy to see a mature Mellows doing the same. Cricket really is the great ruiner of a weekend.
Ovington struggled. And really everyone at the time thought this would a day to say that we’ll learn and go again next week. Smith played aggressively with a sore ankle but that was really it. An incredibly lively pitch with variable bounce made it unplayable at times. Ovington were 26/5 and 54/8. It looked like the game would have an early and disappointing finish.
However there was a glimmer. Melbourne Opener Chandran had bowled his lot and his team were short of other options. Ovington number 10 Gaurav Chandra joined Warner at the crease and wouldn’t you know it but things started happening. Both batsmen looked comfortable against a Melbourne attack short on ideas. Opener bowler Steels came back for his final 2 overs but they were negotiated with leaves galore.
The Ovington team then played some great mind games. Warner had asked for the sightscreen be moved for his batting partner Chandra. After the poor bowler got to the screen and asked which way they needed to be moved, the strike batsman shouted thank you that will do. The screen hadn’t moved an inch but Chandra had no care where the sightscreen was. This was indeed true village cricket.
If Chandra was maybe slightly rusty after just joining the club it didn’t show as he dealt in boundary after boundary. Warner watched from the non-strikers as Chandra constantly aimed for Ollie Thrift’s car. At one point he was caught by a fielder, but the ball had already crossed the boundary and from there he just continued. Warner at the other end played tap and run, seeing the ball well and the required total just kept coming down. With 3 overs left, the required rate was less than a run a ball. Chandra kept going but a sharp caught and bowled left Ovington reeling. The partnership had been 149 but now Ovo were 9 wickets down needing 9 runs from 9 balls. With numbers like that, it’s time to call for the police.
Fricke joined his captain at the crease and it was tight. Very tight. They took it to the last over which proved scrappy but now there were 2 balls left. Fricke hit it and Warner turned down an easy second to face the final ball, Ovington on 210. Unfortunately at this point Warner was delirious and thought the 212 displayed on the scoreboard was the runs required to tie rather than to win. He advanced down the track and sliced the ball over point, 2 were ran and Warner and Fricke thought it was tied until the roar of the sidelines made it clear that their final total of 212 had won the game.
A crazy day and a crazy result. Warner ended 72no but the hero of the day and a clear man of the match was Gaurav Chandra with a mighty 82. Once again everyone contributed massively.
Special mentions to Andrew Tomlinson behind the stumps, he did a mega job. He turned up weighing 10 stone and left weighing 4 after 25 overs stuck under a lid in 20+ degree heat. And also Thrift, the energy he has in the field can be an example to a cricketer at any level of the game, he really had a first grade attitude.
Well done Ovington!!
Saturday 14th June, Yapham 1st XI vs Ovington 1st XI
Ovington: 203/8 (45); Burgess 58, Armes 53; van Dijk 4/45
Yapham 204/5 (43.2); Holman 70*, Flint 48, Foster 37
Yapham won by one 5 wickets
Scorecard: https://ovington.play-cricket.com/website/results/6777265
Bright sunshine and gusty winds greeted Ovington at Yapham for an important match
between two sides level on points and looking to push up to the upper half of the table.
Yapham won the toss and bowled, backing themselves to chase with the help of a short
boundary on one side.
Joe Whale made a positive start for Ovington, dabbing a boundary to third man before
skimming a six over cover to the short boundary, prompting several Ovington players to quickly move their cars. Whale’s stay did not last long, as he played over the top of a straight ball to be LBW. Alex Garner Steel and Charlie Buckley followed him back soon after, both caught behind outside off stump, putting Ovington in a bit of bother at 26/3. A partnership of 56 between the season’s leading run scorer Jacob Lamb and returnee Tim Burgess steadied the ship, as both played themselves in, keeping the score ticking with their punchy drives and careful guides through the off side. When Lamb was bowled, beaten by some good movement in from Paul van Dijk, captain Tom Armes joined player of the match Burgess and pieced together another solid partnership of 41.
Burgess reached his 50, an innings full of drives, chips over the infield and good running, but just as he was looking to accelerate, popped one up and was caught. Tom James joined Armes, and the two Toms pushed the innings along. Armes’ innings featured impressive acceleration towards the end as he went from 25 off 50 to 53 off 69, helping Ovington finish strongly. A series of flat bat shots targeted the short boundaries to good effect, pushing Ovington over 200 despite van Dijk picking up some late wickets to try and stunt the innings.
Yapham’s reply took a bad start, as the Garner Steel brothers combined for a wicket in the first over, Alex taking a good, low diving catch behind the stumps off Olly. Yapham recovered well, though: opener Charlie Foster took advantage of O Garner Steel’s extra pace to cut and pull well, keeping the score moving, whilst Jonathan Flint dug in and played the anchor role.
Dom Kitching, returning from injury, proved his worth, keeping the runs down and
threatening to take wickets throughout his spell. He was rewarded with an LBW when Foster stepped across his stumps on 37, giving Ovington an opening at 42/2.
Jack Holman joined Flint and helped settle the innings down. The pair proved patient, seeing off Kitching and targeting loose bowling at the other end, proving especially ruthless to target the short leg side boundary when they could.
A partnership of 85 in just over 22 overs made Yapham favourites, without killing the game entirely. When Matthew Wright bowled Flint with one which moved back sharply, followed by a juggled catch behind by A Garner Steel two overs later, Ovington got themselves back in it, the score 133/4, still needing 71 in the final 12 overs.This was where Holman came into his own, however. He continued to play positively, picking
off anything loose, including dispatching Wright for a big six over long-on, supported by Robert Boddy who swung hard and connected with a few, ensuring the run rate was kept manageable.
Ovington will have felt unfortunate, as a number of Boddy’s shots especially landed inches short of fielders, but Yapham took their luck and ran with it. Kitching’s return to the attack brought about Boddy’s wicket, caught well by Whale at cover, but it was not enough for the visitors.
Holman hoisted O Garner Steel for six over mid-wicket, before a sliced drive off Kitching beat the infield to take Yapham over the line. A close game will have been little consolation for Ovington who got no points from the match, seeing Yapham put a bit of distance between the two before a couple of crunch games against local rivals Acomb and Heworth.
Match reports by Matthew Wright and Dave Warner