A good week!!
Hot day in the field - NUL 1 Taunton
A good week!!
By Grockle
May 12 2002
Mayhem in the field as Yokshire put on 307 in the first NUL innings at Taunton. And it gets no less warm for fielders in the second phase as Somerset go for it in a big way!
A good week!!
May 12 2002
Mayhem in the field as Yokshire put on 307 in the first NUL innings at Taunton. And it gets no less warm for fielders in the second phase as Somerset go for it in a big way!
V YORKSHIRE NUL1 @ TAUNTON 12 MAY 2002
| DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 | NUL |
The Start...
The Jubillee match and the begining of the one day season. We all stood for the National Anthem and gave three cheers for the Queen and then settled down to see the home side fielding when Lehmann won the toss. Caddick and Trescothick are both in for this game although at the start of the season, the ECB was vetoing anything after the Championship match that had just finished. Thank God, Rob Turner picked up an injury before the start of the game and we were struggling to put out a side without those two..rumours were rife that Jones wasn't ready and at 12:30 we were looking at opening the attack with Bulbeck and Trego! As it was, Burns went behind the sticks and the internationals AND Steffan Jones turned out. Maybe there were frantic phone calls to Lords and maybe Jonah started earlier...let's hope we don't pay for it later in the season.
Yorkshire put the pedal to the metal...
So we are off and running with White and Wood facing Caddick from the Old Pavilion and Matt Bulbeck at the River end. It started well with both bowlers tight and the batsmen quiet. Caddick gave Matt Wood (the other one) a torrid time in the 4th with one in the nuts followed by one around the ears. Even Umpire Palmer had to take avoiding action as Bulbeck got his hand in front of a straight drive that would have taken his head off. The close fielding was quite sharp but the rate was starting to rise and Yorkshire didn't look in too much trouble and with the 50 coming in the 8th, it was a relief to see Jones on for Bulbeck in the 9th. Wicket number one with his second ball when White was caught behind by Bowler with the score on 52. Jones looked eager and agressive but he bowled line and length as well...which was nice!
In came pinch hitter Chris Silverwood and 10 runs later with Steffan's second over he went C&B when he misjudged one. Vaughan arrived and everything went flat really. Dibbling and dobbling ones and twos while the bowlers were not exactly worrying anyone, except Jones who looked sharp. Caddick did bowl Wood but as it was off a free hit for overstepping the ball before it didn't count and by the 15th Yorkshire were at 80 and we were looking to keep them under 250! Bulbeck came on at the OP end for Caddick but his line and length was wayward and he was milked by both players. He did get the next bit of success when Vaughan was judged LBW (bit high for me I'm afraid) to Bully with the score on 100 but that was about it. Darren Lehmann arrived and so did the slow bowlers with Dutch on up the hill with 23overs gone and Bulbeck replacing an unproductive Parsons at the Old Pavilion in the 28th.
Lehmann in overdrive....
30 overs down and 175 on the board. Lehmann's 50 came up two overs later off 45 balls and 280 was a reasonable target. The 200 arrived off Peter Trego's first over (33rd) from the River End. Dutch changed ends in the 36th to try and stem the tide but Lehmann went to 100 off 74 balls with 11 fours and 2 sixes. 250 by the 38th and 300 looked a distinct possibility. Thankfully Lehmann tried one too often and Blackwell (who had replaced his slow partner) bowled him for 104 with the score on 270. McGrath came out to face the last five overs.
Jones returned in the 41st and Caddick joined him to finish off the game at the other end. The problem was that the scoring rate did not decrease. With two overs to go 292 for 4 was a score we would have problems reaching and 300 was very definitely on. McGrath and Wood were belting between the wickets and Matt Wood was heading for a very well deserved 100. It came at the end of the 44th off 122 balls from one end of the innings to the other. It seemed inevitable that the 300 would arrive next ball with a four and although Caddick put in a 'blockhole' based over the visitors finished with 307 for the loss of 4 wickets...big ask at 7-ish an over and we haven't shown any indications this year that we are up to that kind of score. But as they say in football..."It's only half time!"
Steffan Jones had the best figures (not really hard!) of 9/0/40/2 Caddick went for 53 and they were the only two who were bowled out. Bulbeck got a wicket but he went for 39 off his 6. The slows went for 54 off 8 (Dutch) and 38 off 4 (Blackwell). Parsons bowled 5 for 24 and Trego put in 4 overs but went for 37. Oh Dear......
Big Ask....
Marcus was in for a big innings but I'm afraid that Umpire Constant had other ideas. When the ball almost took Banger's knee out as he came down the wicket, Constant decided the wickets were four to five feet high and gave him out LBW (must have meant LUNG before wicket!). Here we go again. With Cox and Bowler at the crease the chance of us getting these runs at 7-ish an over was based around the Aussie getting big runs and Pete holding down one end while accumulating. It worked the other way at the start. We were at 50 in less than 10 overs with Bowler on 32 and Cox supporting on 18. We hit 102 in the 19th and by that time there was 4 runs between them. Bowler went to 50 first with a four at 109 and Coxy hit it at 111. But then Mr B hit the ball straight to the fielder for 53 and us on 112.
Next was the right decision. In came Ian Blackwell - we had to get on with it, no pussyfooting around and Blacky coming in to Steelers Wheel was what was needed. Both batsmen took to their tasks and Yorkshire tried varying bowlers in the hope of keeping us out of the game. We hit 150 in 26 with Cox smacking a six into the Old Pavilion and in the 27th Blackwell took Fellows to the cleaners with 3 consecutive fours and 17 off the over. At 30 overs we had 189 on the board and reached 200 in the 31st when McGrath dropped a chance off Blackwell while Tractor furiously tried to persuade the umpires that the light was bad and there was rain on the way (we had been ahead of the D/L all the way through the game).
Blackwell and Cox put us there....
Blackwell went to 50 in 45 balls - the same as Lehmann and we needed less than 100 with 13 overs to go. Meanwhile Jamie C was on 99 and looking good. The next smash straigh to Lehmann was not as good and he was not happy. 215 for 3 and Mike Burns striding out. White at the River end then came into fire. A six, 2 fours and 2 twos came off the over before he was removed from the attack. Yorkshire were getting nervous and they brought back Silverwood and Hoggard to try and break the back of Somerset's reply with 66 needed off 10. Silverwood did this by bowling Blackwell for 79, he returned to the pavilion to an ovation and Parsons arrived to the sounds of Ricky Martin. Hoggard runs in and Burns hits him for four. Parsons doesn't last long, caught by Sidebottom for 3 - 255 for 5. Keith Dutch comes out and it is damned dark!
Not with a Bang but a....
It's still on and the Dutch/Burns partnership is capable of doing it. 31 off 30 balls is the ask when Hoggard bowls Burns. OK - Peter Trego next, it's still on. He's bowled for 0 - 280 for 7. Caddick next, experience and he has been here before. We need 27 off 24 and it keeps going down at that rate. 23 off 18 becomes 14 off 12 and that drops to 8 off 6. They scored over 300 and we are less than ten away with the light failing fast, all their main bowlers used up and two wickets in hand...you've got to put your money on us...haven't you? Last over. Sidebottom bowling Caddick facing. One off the first, one off the second, disaster off the third - Caddick is bowled and we are still 6 short. Steffan Jones walks out with a simple job. Get a single or hit a boundary, give Dutch the chance to win the game. He hits the single but Dutchy can only do the same off the penultimate ball. Simple ask now Steff - four or nothing. Hit a four and we win anything else is not enough. We expect a charge but Jones nurdles the ball and runs 2???????
Can anyone explain why? We lost by one run and we gave up with a whimper. I don't know if Jones thought the ball was wide or what but it wasn't and we'd got close but lost. The problem with this is that the game can be explained away because we got close. We did phenomenally well to get this close but this total was so high because we bowled like prats and fielded on the boundary like amateurs. You could argue that we lost because Peter Trego forgot the basics and let a four go through his legs or that Ian Blackwell got cocky and tried to pick up a ball one handed without first making sure it would not go for four. Our attack was wayward and we had couldn't contain their batsmen. Our batting performance was better because more people made the effort but except for Steffan Jones our bowling was poor and loose. We need it sorting if we want to be a one day contender...relying on our batting is a risky option given our consistency. We need tight professional bowling and we need it before next Sunday.