Eclipse Printing CC

Scorecard

Eclipse Printing CC 1st XI v Cardiff Bay Barbarians on Wed 16 May 2012 at 6pm
Eclipse Printing CC Lost By 10 Wickets

Match report Give us a G, give us an A, give us an S, and give us an H, what have you got…………….Eclipse Cricket club!!
After weeks of deluge the long awaited start to the season finally got underway on Wednesday only to be followed by a deluge of wickets namely ours!
So the weather was sunny (and warm) and the team assembled at St Fagan’s to play against our old adversaries The Cardiff Bay Barbarians.
Hopefully the local sports discount warehouses have done well during the winter as a plethora of new gleaming shiny bats came in to focus with Brizer, Lee (extracting his from a purpose made sheath), and Simon all displayed their magnificent weapons in front of the adoring crowd who were amazed at the sight of the sheen and unmarked slabs of whiteness before them. Unfortunately it was to be that these magnificent weapons retained their splendour and remained almost unmarked come the end of the evening.

So with the real captains unavailable the task of leading the team to victory fell to the young pretender Luke who like his predecessors proved himself to be an absolute tosser with the coin and to make the most of the light and with a pitch cut as tight as the purves Missus decided to bat.

The ever reliable Chris commented on the strength of the batting order and that “We bat down to number 11 today”, so what could possibly go wrong?

The captain’s next decision was to determine the batting order. Our ever reliable Chris inserted his junior size box and proceeded to the wicket with his new partner, Fari (batting partner that is). Was this the right thing to do? Obviously not. 5 balls in to the second over Fari, remembering his young free and single days, chased a wide one to edge to a well taken catch at slip. In quick time the ever reliable Chris lived up to expectations to leave a full toss and have his leg stump removed, the only answer could be that the ball moved “by a foot “in the air. I’m sure we all agree that it did.
Two down for not very many so Niluka and Simon agreed to get the show back on the road and a few lusty drives by Niluka got the score board ticking and the umpire’s fingers twitching. However the show turned out to “Cartoon capers” as Nilu was late getting down (his wife says that ahs always been a problem) to a fuller ball and lost middle and leg. Simon, bearing the weapon that had brought so much success the previous night (or so Gill tells me because I was not there), displayed some solid play benefitting from being caught out from a no ball (when the umpires decision was finally made) and went on to make a creditable 18 before becoming another bowled victim. Lee had since unsheathed and was looking potent but having explained he had never faced a left hand over the wicket before then the writing was on the wall, in fact the writing was on the very next ball, stumps shattered. When all was looking lost, 5 down for not so many after 5 overs it needed a real man to step to the plate, I was not padded up so Luke went in. A captain’s innings proceeded and apart from the occasion mincing between the wickets (obviously inspired by the new pink balls) a magnificent display of drives and pulls started to drive the score upwards.
All good things come to an end and when Simon became the next bowled victim the stage was set for our most improved player of the season 2011 to set his stall. We all know of “the curse” that sits with this honour and it was no surprise that “the most improved” left without scoring and sought deep in his trouser pockets the pound coin that would later pay for his misdemeanour.
Never mind “Handy Andy Powell” our new recruit who had always been the scourge of Eclipse when playing against us was sure to see us through this crises but never having had such responsibility before (when he played for a good team) the occasion proved too much (or perhaps it was the pressure of having the impress the stand in skipper at the other end) and relinquished his wicket for nought and with little more than a whimper. More money in the fines tin please!!
Brizer, feeling good with new weapon in hand immediately delivered a huge red mark on the edge of his new bat to get off the mark. The bat was to remain “untouched” as a few balls later and “absolute scorcher which moved feet off the pitch” (reporters licence) removed a number of stumps. “No ball”??....no chance.
Looking like we would not see out 12 overs “Six Hit Steve” strode to the wicket and together with Luke made everything look so simple ( for a while anyway). The pinkie sped to all parts of the ground as we approached the 100 mark which was achieved with a huge 6 from the skipper. Having scored 17 valuable runs Six Hit then had a toe hit and Niluka raised the dreaded finger (we assume he was fined for this later in the evening) and we were done to number 11. Unfortunately “The Purve” having become obsessed with thought of Pink balls, Barbie, and flaps had trouble concentrating and after a few waves of the bat succumbed in the usual manner. 103 all out, not the best way to start the new season. The captain for the night Luke remained resplendent on 32 Not Out, this man needs to be up the order.

Wearing new inspiring team shirts we headed on to the field in hope as we had defended worse positions in the past so all was not lost. Luke and Fari opened the affray and in no time the wides had started to add up. The once so difficult pitch now appeared to have become a docile as a 6 week old puppy as the openers notched up the runs without issue. Brizer replaced Luke and proceeded to throw a number of full tosses down leg side that got what they deserved. Six Hit Steve twirled a few but the batsmen twirled them to the boundary. “Handy Andy” our new recruit who had always been the scourge of Eclipse when playing against us etc etc had no success and was on the end of the final big blast that sent the ball sailing over the boundary for the game to be lost……….by 10 wickets.
There were some highlights, well done Niluka and Fari in the field, “The Purve” inspired by having his hands deep into Barbie performed to his usual high standards on the field, and Gavin was at his usual enthusiastic best.
An attendee on the day to watch on the day was Fari 2, Fari’s brother who has a bigger reputation than Vince with a camera in the showers and who was heard to mutter G A S H at the pathetic effort displayed before him, mind you a better performance next week may encourage him to join the band of brothers and propel us towards league and cup glory.
Never mind, the bad one is out of the way early this year, from here the only way is up.

Brian “Dogger” Condon

Eclipse Printing CC 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 8w 1b  
for 10 wickets
10
103		        
Christopher Stork b Rakesh 5 1
Fari Fari ct P Clegg 2
Niluka Eratne b P Clegg 9 2
Lee Court b P Clegg 6
Simon Elliott b Kamal 18 3
Gavin Coles b P Clegg 0
Luke Bonelle Not Out  32 2 1
Andrew Parry b Kamal 0
Stephen Parker lbw N Rushby 17 4
Brian Condon b Kamal 1
Andy Court b N Rushby 3

Cardiff Bay Barbarians Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Rakesh4.0016116.004.00
P Clegg4.001543.753.75
M Clarke4.002300.005.75
Kamal4.012036.675.00
Nimesh2.002000.0010.00
N Rushby1.30824.005.33

Cardiff Bay Barbarians Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 10w  
for 0 wickets
12
107 (17.1 overs)		     
P Clegg Not Out  35
N Rushby Not Out  61
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Eclipse Printing CC 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Luke Bonelle4.001400.003.50
Fari Fari4.001700.004.25
Brian Condon4.003100.007.75
Stephen Parker3.002600.008.67
Andrew Parry2.101900.008.77