St Andrews University Staff Cricket Club

Match Reports 2006

The final 20/20 fixture of the year was played out in dark and breezy conditions on a pitch and outfield which offered excellent grazing opportunities for a herd of sheep, but which bore little similarity to a good cricket wicket. Undaunted by the luxuriant grass cover and multiple football stud marks, Captain Stan chose to bat, allowing Cam and Roy to face the accurate and probing line served up by Kinloch's opening bowlers. Cam edged a good ball which swung and moved off a length, bringing Stan to the crease for some run out practice with Roy. Accurate Kinloch bowling made scoring tricky and the condition of outfield robbed Roy in particular of some deserved boundaries. Stan perished trying to push the rate along, allowing Matt Clarke to enter the fray. Matt got stuck in immediately, biffing the ball around and calling Roy through for ever more outrageous singles. The loud calls for 'Three!' when a well judged single might have been the more sober approach certainly rattled the fielders whose catching had already proven extremely dodgy and when four overthrows were needlessly conceded the partnership had dragged the score over 100. Matt finally succumbed to Bowman for 36 as the innings moved towards a close, leaving Phil Jess only a few balls to nudge around before quite magnificently leaving a straight yorker which plucked out his middle stump. With Roy undefeated on 35, the score of 113 was not massive, but definitely defendable as the light faded.

Kinloch got off to an ominous start with opener Navicus hammering the unfortunate Scott Richardson for several fours early on and continued in the same vein despite being dropped twice on the straight boundary. Something special was needed to make inroads and the breakthrough was made as Sam Moss came on at the Pavilion End and in his first over took two key wickets, bowling Murali (!) and having Dini well caught by Alex Smith in the gully. Matt Clarke's very next over continued the St Andrews fight back as he managed to get his slower ball straight enough and low enough to force Navicus to poke a tame lunge to Roy, whose exertions with the bat had left him just enough energy to dive forwards to the chance. Stunned by the loss of three quick wickets and contained for the most part by the variations of Sam, Alex Smith and Ben Agate, Kinloch lost their way in the gathering gloom and were held below the asking rate for long enough that the skipper felt moved to bowl (very well) at the death. Alex and Ben picked up 2 wickets apiece, with the dismissal of B. Smith off A. Smith particularly rewarding for the returning Eric Stempls whose smart stumping topped an exemplary display behind the timbers. Well taken catches by Cam, Patrick and a second excellent catch for the exhausted Panda of the Match, Roy, were complemented by two late run outs by Scott and Cam which gave St Andrews an impressive win over a strong Kinloch team.