v Sri Lanka ODI @ Taunton Sunday June 11 2006

Scorecard

Cameron White meets his first international commitment at Taunton today as we welcome the tourists for a one day game.  For them it's a chance to forget about the mauling they got by the Essex pace attack.  For us it is an opportunity to check whether we have any more opening batsmen with form in the locker before we leave the ground to Sir Elton and take on Surrey in the quieter climes of Bath.  Two players are given the opportunity to put theiir names into the first team hat.  John Francis returns to the squad after some time trying to get himself together with the seconds and Gareth Andrew is also in the fold as Andy Caddick is rested. 

The twelve are;

Wood, Francis, Suppiah, Durston, White, Hildreth, Parsons, Gazzard, Trego, Johnson, Andrew, Willoughby

I'm personally sorry that Dan Cullen is not in the squad, we don't have him for very much longer and I'm yet to be convinced that he can produce a match winning performance on the Taunton wicket.  A chance to play against international opposition seemed heaven sent but obviously not.  It is likely that, having been included, both Francis and Andrew will play so unless Charl W is rested (highly unlikely as he seems our best bowling prospect) then Peter Trego may (unluckily) miss out or they may decide to give James Hildreth a day off or Arul Suppiah.  Surely, Wes Durston has to play?

We shall see.  I'll be reportng from the ground on the first part, then I've got to go and see the Wurzels (family commitment you see - be impressed) so the second half may come from the forum if people were there or later in the evening.  A morale boosting performance would be a very good thing...

The ground isn't full although that may be because the 'Platinums' as we now call them don't take up space but do make up about 2,500 of the membership. There are blocks of seats in the Botham, the River and the stand by the shop when play starts but there are quite a lot in judging by the queues behind the Botham for beer and chips - got to sort that out for big games.

We win the toss and choose to bat in overcast conditions - good decision seeing as it burns off during the first 20 minutes. John Francis takes over from the doomed pinch hitting of Gazzard and he is joined by his VC. 'Slinger' takes the first SL over - fast and weird is how you would probably describe it - his first ball is snicked through the covers by Wood for 4 but the action is too weird for JF who is LBW right on the toe to the first ball he faces. That hasn't given us a great deal to indicate whether he should return for the Bath game I would suggest. Sick as a parrot for the bloke, 4 for 1 and his season continues!

Perera opens at the OP and Suppiah gets off the mark before Woody snicks his second and we move to 8. After the shakey start we start to settle and Fernando replaces Malinga with 8 gone. It’s not fast but it is steady and it is getting prettier as the innings progresses. 50 comes up by the 11th and as we pass 65 SL revert to the spin of Dilshan with 15 gone. This also heralds the entry of Somerset Oldboy Sanath Jayasuriya with the ball and he welcomes Woody to 50 off 60 balls with a six into the OP (1 six and 7 fours).

We pass 100 in the 22nd and the partnership comes up 4 runs later. For the stats guys, at halfway we have 118. That's a minimum score expected of 236 but 30 overs is a better indication of the final total should things go to plan.

The Sri Lankans use their third 'Powerplay' at the start of the 27th as Arul passes 50 off 79 balls with a handful of fours. Both batsmen then start to open their shoulders Woody takes 20 off the 28th and they pass 150. In fact they take 51 runs off those 'Powreplay' overs although we also lose Suppiah, swinging across the line for 72 at 169 (94 balls 8 fours). 169 at 30 suggests a total nearer 300 than 200 and a possible 330-ish total if Cameron White can push it on with Matt in the last 20.

Matt Wood records an excellent 100 at 186 with the second half coming off 40 balls with 12 fours and 2 sixes - backbone of an innings to put one over on his critics. He may be playing out of position but anyone who suggests he isn't a quality batsman is not here today. We have 195 at 35 and both Woodand White look comfortable against the best the Sri Lankans can put in front of them. Maliga returns to try and split the new men but has no real venom this time around. Both he and the wicket-keeper are sporting shirts with '99' squad numbers on them and it is at this time that the discussion moves to whether Arnold should be asked to remove his shirt which has the notorious Laraman number on it that was banned at the ground a couple of seasons ago - disgraceful!. We pass 200 halfway through the 37 and although the accelerator has yet to be applied, we are looking at something well in excess of 250

White has reverted to his cap again against this international attack and his VC is hitting balls back over the bowlers' head at the other end. With 10 overs to go we have wickets in hand and double 'nelson' on the board. Whitey seems to be starting to take it more seriously as he has called for his helmet - is it because they have brought on Rochera or because he is going to go for it? Well he leaves the first one so it's maybe the former. Wood misreads the pace of a Rochera ball, skies one at 228 and is caught by Fernando for 115 (120 balls 13 fours, 2 sixes). He effectively played a number 3 role because his opening partner went so early. With Arul he has cemented an excellent position for the stroke players to make into something competitive. In comes James Hildreth to hopefully, partner his captain to something big in the 7 and a bit overs left.

James seems to be seen by Rochera as 'easy meat' and his first ball squares him up as JH doesn't exactly shift his feet very far (the first thing you lose with your form is your feet movement I am reliably informed). However, as the next two go into the Brewhouse boundary, one bouncing in and the other flying over the rope, they may have got that assessment wrong. Meanwhile at the other end, the captain is busy dismantling Sanath with a 44th over that sees a dot ball followed by 2 sixes, a four, another six and a single! While this is going on, the Aussie efficiently passes 50 in 41 balls and we move to a total well over 250.  Hildreth is also getting into the act as he smashes Fernando for another Brewhouse six and with good aggressive running between the wickets we propel the score on to 280 with 5 overs to go. It can't last as White swings at one and just nicks it onto the wicket at 282.

Enter Wes Durston (I spell your name right Wes, shame the programme can't do the same!!). Malinga gets him early as he swipes across one and loses his stumps 4 short of the 300 with 17 balls to go before the break. This ushers in Carl Gazzard (I would have preferred Richard Johnson as he is playing - could have been interesting) and he is off the mark with a quick single immediately. The 300 arrives halfway through the 48th and they bit and bob another 6 runs as we move into the 49th. Gazzard is run out by a straight hit at 307 going for 308 and in comes Andrew to help finish it off. Hilda is finding the fielders but looking like he is relishing the chance to open up a bit rather than save an innings and although we are only getting singles it is good to see - 314 with one over to go.

No-one is allowed on at the break comes the announcement before the last 6 balls. We'll open it up to 20 thousand people next week but don't play your ball games on it today children!! Bah Humbug! Anyway, we are pushing towards the end with singles and cheeky flips over the wicket-keeper. James is looking like his old self as ball 4 goes to the boundary. Two sixes would take him to 50 but he has to be content with a really good 46 as he finishes off the SL bowling attack with a rocket to the shop! 332 for 6 - now that IS more like it.

One other little thing, when the Richard Johnson benefit collection came into the Stragglers today, the first two straight responses of 'NO' to the question "would you like to buy a raffle ticket" seemed to put them off and they went elsewhere. Where there is a will therer is a way people - ask a few more and try a bit harder!!  The place is heaving and it is interesting to note that certain areas of the ground are totally gridlocked when play ends.  They are queuing to go INTO the shop (It's just like Lords) and the area between the seats and the Ondaatje is single way traffic most of the time.  The queues for beer are daft - there are two bars for non members that seem to be most frequented.  The bar behind the Botham is chocka from there to the tunnel and the other one where the trees were on the Brewhouse side is the same to the River Entrance.  Let's hope when they put the new place together you can wait for your liquids and solids in sight of the cricket becuase you will be waiting a long long time.

I'm not there for the second half so those who are will have to give you the rest and I'll fill in from the scorecard when I get back unless someone has produced an eyewitness report on our attempt to keep them under 300.  As Charl Willoughby seems to be carrying on where he left off during the week and has the SL line-up at 35 for 3 as I write (goodbye to Tharange, Jayasuriya - how he must hate this place - and Jayawardene) I expect to be reporting on another famous victory when there is no pressure - please take it into the next Championship game this time rather than assuming that's everything sorted (like we did with Scotland last season after stuffing the Oz).  Will I be doing that or will SL record another 'get out of Jail' performance like in the Tests? 

Here was I expecting to get back from the Wurzels doing 'Don't Look Back in Anger' to find that some nice person had written something about the second half of this afternoon that I could simply cut and paste.  No chance.  However, the news of the win was heartening.  Sangakarra and Arnold seem to have steadied the rocking from Charl early on and put the tourists into 3 figures with stands between themselves and then Arnold with Dilshan after Sangakarra went at 79 courtesy of Johnson.

After White accounted for Arnold it looks like it got a little closer as the second Jayawardene and Dilshan put on a good few (125).  Some good fielding coupled with the pressure of the run rate I would imagine put paid to the push for the win.  I know Wood got one but I have no idea who got the other.  Dilshan on 97 must have been the vital wicket and if Woody got that one then it was a very good allround performance by the VC.  After that Willoughby cleaned 'em up and shut 'em down and we won by 51 runs with a little over 3 overs to go.

Excellent bowling by the man from SA - he has to be a major vote for player of this month (soon to be offerd for your approval).  6 for 43 was a distinct cut above the rest of the figures in a high scoring game.  Simple rule - if you are going to go for a few, take a few of the batsmen with you and everything looks so much better.  No one else impressed from their figures.

Why can't we set up and finish off an innings like this in other competitions?  Maybe Surrey will be better - we can but hope!

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