By Lower Pav
July 11 2013

Lower Pav reports on some of the tension of the final day at Uxbridge

OH FOR A FEW RUNS MORE

This was my 5th day at Uxbridge in a row.  I must say I think the staff worked very hard indeed and the food in The Pavilion was a big improvement. All in all a good Festival in my opinion.

Back to the cricket. I got to the ground in good time and met up with The Power and Ken P.  The crowd was very small perhaps 100 or so and the general feeling was that we had little chance and the game could be over by lunchtime but those believers who gathered were hoping for a modern day miracle.

We started off   147 for 5. Voges 15 and Roland Jones 1 and 30 runs still behind. Barker bowled from The Pavilion End and Jeetan Patel from The Gatting End. Roland Jones scored a lovely boundary off Barker and we were 159. A massive LBW appeal followed. Voges off the bowling of Barker and Not Out was the decision.. Soon we were 177 and level and that was met with muted applause.

Then the first wicket of the day. Roland Jones out bat and pad caught by Chopra off the bowling of Patel for 16. However he had done his job as a night watchman. 187 for 6

Berg came in and was off the mark with a sweep to square leg boundary. 191. for 6. Rankin came on at The Pavilion End and there was a dropped catch by Clarke off the bowling of Patel. I think their first and only one of the game, but could be wrong.

At this point Patel was spinning the ball from The Gatting Road End and looking very dangerous.. 200 came up for 6. Another wicket followed. Berg out for 9 caught behind off the bowling of Patel. 211 for 7 and we are in deep trouble but while Voges is there we have a slim chance.

Rayner comes in and cuts Patel for 4 but is nearly caught on the boundary. A four to the cover boundary brings up Voges 50. A fine debut indeed, a century followed by a fifty. 234 for 7.

Then disaster. Woakes comes on to bowl at The Pavilion End and with his first ball Voges out caught and bowled for 51.

I have to be honest and say I wrote in my notes Game Over.  Rayner was then out caught Clarke bowled by that man Patel for 19 and we are 253 for 9.

There then followed a very useful last wicket stand by Patel and Collymore including some good shots from Patel including a lovely straight drive. Woakes then took the new ball from The Gatting Road End and a wicket followed.  Patel out caught Ambrose bowled Woakes for 19. Collymore was not out 6. The last wicket had put on 33 and we were 286 all out leaving Warwickshire to get 110 to win and a delayed Lunch was taken.

I felt that we may have given ourselves a small chance. Could it possibly be one of those daye where in 10 years time 5000 members swore blind they were there. By the way the crowd was still very small indeed. The sane ones amongst us, of which I am of course not one, thought we needed to have set them a minimum of 150.

Out came Chopra and Westwood to open the batting. Rossington on for Roland Jones. Our fast bowlers are falling by the wayside and soon we may run out. Collymore bowling from The Pavilion  End and Rayner from the Gatting Road End .

Then glory be a wicket. Chopra caught Malan at short leg off the bowling of Rayner for just 2 and they were 5 for 1.

Evans comes in and then chaos. Evans out for 0 caught at Mid On by Dexter off that man Rayner. 5 for 2. People looked at each other and shook their heads in disbelief.

Things went a little quiet.. Then unbelievably another wicket. Westwood edges Collymore to Voges at slip for 6 and they are 21 for 3 and at that point I was on the floor picking up my notepad and pen.

At that moment a miracle did seem possible. However the ship was steadied somewhat by Javid and Ambrose. Runs started to come more freely. Patel came on at The Pavilion End. We really desperately needed a wicket. Berg came on and then another wicket. Javid caught behind by Simpson off the bowling of Berg for 19 and they were 54 for 4.

In truth that was as good as it got. At tea they were 77 for 4. After tea things went a bit flat. We did get another wicket. Ambrose caught Robson bowled Patel for a hugely  valuable 47.

However Woakes and Clarke saw them safely home and they won by 5 wickets.

In answer to the question why Rayner bowled 18 overs and Patel just 4. Firstly Rayner did bowl very well indeed 2 for 33 in very difficult circumstances. Perhaps it was felt that Rayner would get more bounce and perhaps bearing in mind they only needed 110 Rayner would be a little more economical.  However I am only guessing and have no real idea.

In summary. It was a decent game. We lost a very important toss. We had too many fast bowlers injured and absent on international duty and too many of our batsman made starts and did not go on and in the case of the first innings there was of course a big  collapse.

A special well done to Voges a great debut. I now dust myself down and will be the driver for The Richmond 3 on sunday comprising myself, The Power and Seaxe Man. A different team in part, a different format and hopefully a different result.

Finally a special thank you to The Power for assisting me in this report throughout the day including jumping up and reading and interpreting the scoreboard and filling out details when missed by me.