St Andrews University Staff Cricket Club

Match Reports 2006

S. Moss 5-1-7-1 ; C. Hall 100 n.o.

I'm tempted simply to write 'WE WON!' and leave it at that, so great is the relief that we finally managed to knock over some opposition more challenging than Cupar Under 13 Girls. However, it is appropriate to record some thoughts on an excellent game, played in an great spirit against a friendly opposing team we had not faced before.

Doocot Park in Perth is always a pleasant venue and with the sun shining, the pitch looked good, with a close cropped outfield promising full value for shots. Almond Valley won the toss and batted, leaving Captain Stan with the tricky task of finding an opening attack sufficient to skittle AV before England started playing Ecuador in some little soccer tournament overseas. In the absence of our frontline bowling attack who had a collective attack of under the thumb itis or developed heretofore unknown affiliations to small South American nations, Matt Clarke and John Gilmore bowled well against a solid-looking AV top order, with Matt making the first breakthrough, inducing a thin nick through to keeper Cam. Arnab came on to bowl a tidy spell but AV's opener, J. Taylor, was making full use of the quick outfield to move past 50 and push AV to 100 in the 22nd over.

However, the pairing of spin king Alex Smith with debutant Sam Moss dried up their runs, Sam snaring their dangerous no. 3 batsman with a vicious non spinning, non pitching full 'un which sneaked under the No Ball radar and clipped the batsman's stumps. Sam's return of 5 overs, 1 for 7 was key to checking the run rate and forced Taylor to chip Alex to Patrick at mid off for 70. The St Andrews fielding and bowling tightened up during the game, Alex Finlay and Cam Hall combining to good effect to run out the opposing no. 5 batsman and President for Life Roy Dilley defying a dodgy back to sparkle at Silly Mid Panda and effect a run out with a direct hit late on. A day of remarkable firsts produced the alarming result of J. MacDonald, Bowled Gilmore, Caught Arnab. How unlucky can a bloke be! The theme of bowling full tosses on the stumps was to provide two useful wickets towards the end of the innings from Patrick's second (much less rubbish) spell and assisted by Anil's ever improving bowling contribution St Andrews restricted the opposition to 175 for 8.

Establishing over Tea that England were labouring to make any impact on mighty Ecuador, the St Andrews reply commenced with Roy and Arnab accumulating very nicely, both playing some effective shots and looking in little trouble. The loss of Arnab and Captain Stan (run out, believe it or not) produced the first hints of the traditional collapse, however, we had yet to see the best of our Antipodean import, Cam Hall. He chose the right time to make his mark, playing with great poise and confidence he mixed solid defence with chanceless shot making and kept the scoreboard ticking with his trademark quick running between the wickets. A rapid partnership of 21 with Matt Clarke was curtailed by Matt seeking one swipe too many and a 41 run partnership with Alex Finlay brought the 100 up with a well chased 3 which caused Alex to go a funny colour and bat out a maiden for fear that Cam would make him run again! John Gilmore entertained with a cameo of 8 before hoicking across the line and chipping a catch to mid on, bringing Sam to the crease with clear instructions to play for the bloke at the other end. Sam's obdurate batting and quick response to the Aussie run machine's calling of singles meant that we were in good touch with the run rate required as the total and Cam's century both loomed. Sam departed, bowled (the fourth St Andrews wicket to fall thus) with 15 required and after Patrick managed to avoid falling to his Hat Trick of golden ducks, Cam took charge and smashed his way to the Club's first century of the season in fine style.

Joy unconfined and a pleasant drink afterwards with a very friendly AV team who we are looking forward to hosting in a month's time. Hearty congratulations to Cam who spent 68 overs on the pitch either keeping or batting and general plaudits to all eleven players, each of whom contributed to a well fought game.