Match Report - Almond Valley, 3rd May 2009

StAUSCC 138 a.o. (S. Frankland 35) beat Almond Valley 118 a.o. (A. Smith 4/21, P. Jess 3/38)

No, not a 20/20 game, instead a 40 over match played on a very green wicket in Perth where runs were hard to come by! Nevertheless, one of our more remarkable victories defending a score at least 30 short of par. Our innings started with AV giving us a lesson in line and length bowling, nothing wide and little down leg. Dave's straight 6 in the 7th over doubled our score at that point, boundaries being at a premium for the rest of the innings. AV's bowling never really let us get away, Stan, Dave and Tom working hard for 20's and 30's and little chance for the middle order batsmen to settle in the closing overs. Having entered firmly into the Club ethos by running Matt out, Dominic contributed a flurry of late boundries aided by Chetan and we survived into the final over, heading into tea rather dispirited by our score of 138.

Almond Valley's strong batting line up richly sprinkled with South Africans came out with the intent to finish things rapidly but were derailed from the start when big hitting Hendrick Le Roux was well caught by Chetan off Patrick. Tight bowling from Matt kept the pressure on and Patrick's use of the full toss accounted for the other opener (courtesy of an excellent catch by Tom) and the number 3 clean bowled. Some hard hitting from Walters saw the score pass 50 in the 12th over before Matt worked him over with a series of quicker and slower deliveries, finally defeating him lbw and finishing 8-1-24-2. A succession of nervy shots and ill-judged hoicks kept the fielders interested as Arney bowled a good spell, allowing Alex to run through the middle order with anther cracking contribution of 6-1-21-4, courtesy of catches from Dave, Chetan, Tom and Patrick. Our catching and ground fielding was (almost) flawless with the only comedy provided by Dom's attempted stumping which finished with the wickets intact and the ball at fine leg :) The final AV pair clung on to play sensibly, moving the score past 100 with a 30 run partnership which threatened to make things interesting until Chetan came on to wrap things up with the necessary leg stump yorker.

- Patrick Jess