Eclipse Printing CC

Scorecard

Eclipse Printing CC 1st XI v Cardiff Bay Barbarians on Wed 29 Jun 2011 at 6 pm
Eclipse Printing CC Won by 2 wickets

Match report The Date – Wednesday 29th June 2011
The Venue – Morgan Jones, Caerphilly
The Occasion - League match V's Cardiff Bay Barbarians

So a last minute change of venue and instead of the usual trip to the tranquil St. Fagan’s we made our way north of Cardiff to Caerphilly and Morgan Jones Park. We all made the effort to fit in with the locals of Caerphilly by donning our shell suits and flip flop’s! Could we manage to play a full game without the bails being stolen by a cider swilling chav? - As they had been the last time we turned out for an Eclipse game at Morgan Jones.

The skipper tossed the coin and the Barbarians skipper called correctly and decided to have a bat first on a green looking wicket. The usual opening partnership of Bonelle and Coles were called upon to get us started. Billy’s first over was a real mixture of good balls and 3 wide’s! But the 5th legal delivery of the over got the Barbarians opener Dai James caught by buckets Condon on the off-side – a big wicket as this opener had scored 99 for them the week before! The ball was swinging a fair bit and Gareth struggled in his 2 overs to find the right line and the Barbarians batsman took full advantage scoring at a good rate. The skipper then bought Fari on to replace Gareth and he managed to get past the edge a few times without getting any reward for some good swing bowling. Meanwhile Luke finished his 4 overs 1 for 16 a great return. Luke was replaced by our top wicket taker Gihan. Although there was little turn Gihan bowled a very good spell taking 1 for 27 off his 4 overs and getting the wicket of their other big hitting opener.

This was a day for experienced bowlers and ‘dogger’ Condon himself stepped up to the plate bowling a quite magnificent spell of 3 for 12 off his 4 overs. He was almost unplayable and his figures could have been even better but for a mis-field that went for 4! The experience continued to come with Dave Nash who seems to have rolled back the years this season coming on to bowl the last 2 from one end and taking 2 for 9 including the key wicket of their classy batsman Nimesh who showed Dave no respect taking about 4 steps down the wicket to him but Dave just took his off stump out the ground!. The last 6 overs went for only 25 runs a quite brilliant effort from all the bowlers and fielders. This left us needing 105 to win.

With so many bowling options these days the skipper had not bowled either of the Williams sisters – which must be a first for many seasons – so they were given the opportunity with the bat instead. Mike opening with myself and the 6 hitter himself Matt at 3. I must point out at this junction that Matt had spent the day at the X Factor auditions in Cardiff – now if that is not worthy of a fine I don’t know what is! I’m sure he fancies himself in a boy band! Anyway I digress out myself and Mikey strode to the wicket confident we would knock off the runs without drama – as if Eclipse can ever chase a target without doing their very best to lose it!
The Barbarians opened with the League’s leading wicket taker Rakesh opening from the one end. I must say he bowled the first over to me and I could not get the bat near any of his deliveries he was just too good for me and I was put out of my misery in his second over when he took my middle stump! Meanwhile Mike was looking solid and was joined by his younger brother who struck a couple of lovely boundaries. All was looking calm the run rate was good and we were moving steadily towards the target. Then the notorious Eclipse collapse happened. Matt was bowled by Dai James for a well-made 18 and was quickly followed by Gareth run out for 2 by a direct hit – his luck does not seem to be improving. Fari then skied one in the air to mid-on and the opening bowler Rakesh took a good catch and then proceeded with the most spectacular celebration of a catch I have seen in my 15 years of playing in the Willow League! It was if he had caught Sachin Tendulkar!

This bought the skipper to the crease who looked in good touch striking some beautiful shots into the off-side for once rather than his usual cow corner! Mike was next to be undone again by Dai James bowled for a solid 18. I must comment at this point that although only 18 runs from Mike it was one of the best innings I have seen him play for us as he was being very responsible for a change! Luke then joined the skipper and they continued to edge us towards the target until the skipper could not help himself giving their mid-off fielder catching practice.

While all this action and tension was happening on the pitch one of the Barbarians fielders was having stones thrown at him by some local ASBO’s on the boundary so we despatched our very own enforcer – Gareth to sort them out and the threat from Gareth to batter them and their fathers seem to do the trick!!

Brian came and went quickly but scored 8 very valuable runs and then the perv himself Andy Court came on the crease, sorry I meant came to the crease. He showed his 60 years of experience and supported Luke with 12 runs taking us level with their total before being bowled with the job not quite done. Gihan then strode to the wicket the calmest man in Caerphilly needing 1 off 2 balls and he duly obliged stroking his first delivery for 1 through point and seeing us to victory. A great knock by Luke of only 10 runs but key to seeing us home.

So the Eclipse band wagon is back on track. 2 League games to go and there is still a chance of lifting the League title although we will need to raise our game if we are to have any chance. Bring on the Casuals next week ……

Author – Chris Stork

Cardiff Bay Barbarians Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 7 wickets
0
104 (0.0 overs)		     
D James ct  Luke Bonelle (Brian Condon) 0
Craig b  Gihan 22
Nimesh b  Dave Nash 48
Amough b  Brian Condon 2
Gwyn ct  Dave Nash (Luke Bonelle) 9
Rakesh b  Brian Condon 1
Gareth b  Brian Condon 0
N Rushby Not Out  6
M Mullins Not Out  1
Matt Clarke  
Dileep  

Eclipse Printing CC 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Luke Bonelle4.0016116.004.00
Gareth Coles2.001800.009.00
Fari Fari4.002300.005.75
Gihan Gihan4.0027127.006.75
Brian Condon4.011234.003.00
Dave Nash2.00924.504.50

Eclipse Printing CC 1st XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 8 wickets
0
105		        
Christopher Stork b  Rakesh 1
Mike Williams b  D Thomas 18
Matt Williams b  D Thomas 18
Gareth Coles run out  (Nimesh) 2
Fari Fari ct  Matt Clarke (Rakesh) 6
Alastair Collyer ct  N Rushby (Gareth) 15
Luke Bonelle Not Out  10 1
Brian Condon ct  & Bowled - M Mullins 8 1
Andy Court b  N Rushby 12
Gihan Gihan Not Out  1
Dave Nash  

Cardiff Bay Barbarians Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Rakesh4.0023123.005.75
Dileep2.001500.007.50
Dai Thomas4.01723.501.75
Matt Clarke4.0023123.005.75
N Rushby3.5024212.006.26
M Mullins2.0010110.005.00