Eclipse Printing CC

Scorecard

Eclipse Printing CC 1st XI v Cavaliers on Wed 13 Jun 2012 at 6pm
Eclipse Printing CC Won By 12 Runs

Match report Having got soaked 24 hours earlier on the hallowed turf of St. Fagan’s who would have thought we would be turning up with the sun shining and the pitch fit and ready for a Cup quarter final. As we all know Eclipse Print CC and the Cup do not go hand in hand – we went 8 seasons without winning a Cup game until our run to the Final the year before last and we returned to type last year with a very disappointing loss in the first round. However we are now another year older and wiser – well definitely older not sure about wiser! The opposition were our old adversaries the Cavaliers. Ever since Dyl’s debateable umpiring decision 4 seasons ago at the Cathedral School and Steadman’s subsequent throwing his toys out of the pram incident there has always been a slight edge to our games with the Cavaliers.
Most of us arrived bright and early except for the Skipper who was delayed from work. Therefore it was left to me to deal with the toss – some of you may say I have vast experiencing of tossing and in fairness I cannot deny that accusation! My vast experience of tossing proved critical and the coin came down a tail when their skipper Jimmy had called a head and I decided for us to have a bat as usual. Then all of a sudden in the distance a luminous figure was seen emerging from the car park – we all looked on in horror as to what it could be until it came close and it turned out to be our young skipper Mike. He was still in his work attire and I kid you not it was a luminous bright yellow hoodie – yes you read right a luminous yellow hoodie. Never has the respectable suburb of St. Fagan’s witnessed such a fashion faux pas. Mike assures us he is merely testing the water for next year’s Eclipse Club colours!!
I digress let’s move on to what happened on the field! Well Tim and I strode out to the crease full of confidence having shared a few successful opening partnerships this season however some tight early bowling from the Cavaliers kept the run rate low the first couple of overs. The pressure told in the 5th over with me hitting the ball straight to mid-on and out for 4. That bought Niluka to the crease who took a few balls to get going and was then dropped on the long on boundary a few balls later. In the meantime Tim had started to find his timing and struck a few good boundaries to take him to 27 and retirement. Mike joined Niluka and the runs started to flow with Niluka and Mike hitting some lovely 6 shots. It looked like Niluka would follow Tim into retirement but an ugly attempt at another 6 got him bowled by Bowen for a quick fire 23. Mike continued to strike some beautiful shots and moved through to 28 and retired. Andy Parry then continued with some lusty boundaries before being bowled for a quick fire 13. Lee, Brian (the horse whisperer), the Perv, the Boss and Nashy all then put their personal averages to one side and played for the team by hitting out and in the Boss’s case running a suicidal second run – not even Usain Bolt would have made it, the Boss never had a hope in hell and was run out by a good 12 yards! All this was done with the team cause in mind enabling us to get Tim and the skipper back to the crease. Mike returned for the very final ball of the innings and despatched it without a though for 6 into the field with the horses. Guess who was over the fence like a shot to retrieve it? Yes Brian “the horse whisperer” Condon was over the fence like Colin Jackson over a hurdle (or a rent boy if the rumours be true about Mr. Jackson) to retrieve the pink ball and have a quiet moment with his horses. I am not one to spread rumours but I can confirm I spotted a copy of Black Beauty in Brian’s kit bag – I am seriously worried about Brian and his new found infatuation with horses! Anyway I digress again the Eclipse innings closed on 132-9 a pleasing total on a wicket that was not easy to score runs on.
So with 132 to defend we felt confident if we bowled and fielded well that we could win the game. Being a Cup game we had to bowl 9 different bowlers so the Perv passed the wicket keeping duties to yours truly. Now some of you will be aware that in the previous night’s game the Perv had loaned Barbie out to the opposition and for one night only Barbie had some black in her. Now we know the saying once you’ve had black you never go back. I felt there was no way I would be able to fill the void in Barbie (the infamous shower photos are evidence of this!) So felt it better to use my own keeping gloves!
We opened with Davey Nash and Luke who both bowled tightly. The dangerous Steadman did us a favour and ran a suicidal single when he hit it straight to Andy Parry who then threw it to me to take the bails off. We very nearly had the perfect start when the equally dangerous Graveson skied one to the General Lee Court on the mid-wicket boundary. Now I cannot remember Lee dropping a catch for Eclipse but he managed to let this one slip through his fingers – after the game he blamed it on the rim of his hat getting in the way. Apparently he threw his hat to the ground like a big girl although I did not witness this. Graveson and their skipper Jimmy Marchant then started to get the run rate going and both went through to retire.
When under pressure it calls for a big man to step up to the plate and let’s be honest there is none bigger in the Eclipse team than the Boss RDJ! The Boss did not disappoint and bowled a cracking couple of overs taking 2-11 which slowed the rate down. He received great assistance from Andy Parry (1-10, not as good as the 4-8 the previous night mind!! – Sorry Andy to rub it in again) and the skippers first over which went for only 3 runs. So they needed 40 off 3 overs – The horse whisperer to bowl 2 and the skipper 1 – surely there was no way we could lose this? Now those of you who have played for some years know that Eclipse do not like to do things the easy way! Brian bowled a cracking over going for only 6 runs. That left them needing 34 off 2 overs. The skipper then decided to make things interesting by bowling 2 no balls and a wide in his over and conceding 15 runs from his over. This left them needing 19 off the last over!! Tension was high around St. Fagan’s; Brian looked towards his horses for inspiration. Brizer then bowled a cracking over under pressure taking 2-7 off his last over and leaving the Cavaliers 12 runs short of the target.
A cracking win and performance all round. We now move onto a Semi Final against the Cardiff Bay Barbarians in a few weeks’ time. Only one thing left to say will Barbie ever be the same again?
Author - Chris

Eclipse Printing CC 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
5nb 4w 4b 2lb 
for 9 wickets
15
132		        
Christopher Stork ct Adi 4 1
Tim Richardson Not Out  28 5 1
Niluka Eratne b R Bowen 23 2 1
Mike Williams Not Out  34 1 3 2
Lee Court b A Frazer 6
Andrew Parry b J Thomas 13 1 1 1 1
Brian Condon ct J Davies 3
Luke Bonelle b A Frazer 0
Andy Court ct A Frazer 0
Rob Deighton-Jones Run out  2
Dave Nash st J Davies 4

Cavaliers Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
J Davies2.001125.505.50
R Bowen2.00818.004.00
A Frazer2.01130.330.50
Siva2.002200.0011.00
Adi2.00919.004.50
Arun2.001300.006.50
J Marchant2.002200.0011.00
J Thomas2.0011111.005.50
A Graveson1.001800.0018.00
Tom1.00600.006.00

Cavaliers Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 5w  
for 7 wickets
8
120 (18.0 overs)		     
A Steadman run out (Andrew Parry) 2
A Graveson Not Out  25
J Marchant Not Out  26
Adi ct R D-Jones (Ct Mike Williams) 12
Tom lbw R D-Jones 9
Siva ct Andrew Parry (Ct Andrew Parry) 8
Arun ct Mike Williams (Ct Tim Richardson) 15
A Frazer ct Brian Condon (Ct Mike Williams) 9
J Davies ct Brian Condon (Ct Chris Stork) 6
R Bowen  
J Thomas  

Eclipse Printing CC 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Dave Nash2.001000.005.00
Luke Bonelle2.001200.006.00
Andy Court2.001600.008.00
Lee Court2.002100.0010.50
Niluka Eratne2.001500.007.50
Rob Deighton-Jones2.001125.505.50
Andrew Parry2.0010110.005.00
Mike Williams2.0018118.009.00
Brian Condon2.001326.506.50