Rnd 7 Spotswood V Ivanhoe

After a few weeks of no play, we finally got back out on the park to take on Ivanhoe at home on an overcast day playing on the ‘Grand Final’ pitch down on the bottom ground at Spotty.
We were very excited to finally get out there, the bigger excitement (especially for me) was a very late change, with Roy Beckett the 12 year old son of the captain coming in to play his first senior game as Fred was away and Rich T was a late withdrawal.
Knowing we were a bit light on bowlers than previous games, I wasn’t sure if we would bowl first like normal, so it was a toss I was quite happy to lose.
I did lose the toss and was shocked when the Ivanhoe captain put us in on what looked a peach of a pitch, so we sent out Mic and Jesse to start us off looking to build into our innings as per previous weeks.
After a watchful first 6 overs for 12 runs, Mic and Jess got their grove on and started to score quite freely with some good running, shot placement and Mic putting away anything slightly loose.
The pitch was playing beautifully and they both were able to get to their game going, Jess in a perfect support role and Mic being the aggressor, the 50 partnership came up after 12 overs, which put us in front of where I’d originally was thinking 170 would be a par score, to thinking around 200 would be attainable with wickets in hand at the back end.
With the score on 78, we lost Jesse on 20 after 16 overs, they had built us a great foundation to work with and the in form batsmen Liam about to enter the field, we were confident of setting a really big score for them to chase.
Mic kept on dispatching the ball to the boundary, whilst Liam set himself and we got to drinks 1/107.
Shortly after drinks we lost Mic for an entertaining 70, which bought Mike S to the crease who immediately started finding the boundary with them putting on a nice partnership till Mike was on 26 and was unfortunate to get out in the 33rd over with the score on 164. Richard Mc was sent in, and with out much trouble, the guys continued to tick the scoreboard over to have us finish at 3/207. Liam finishing with 51 not out to continue his great form and Richard on 21 not out
I thought this would be a very defendable score going on past results and even missing some of our normal bowlers.
Deciding to open the bowling with myself (Crispy) from the street end and Adrian (Dizzy) coming up the hill, Ivanhoe got to 0/17 off 6 overs when I decided to make a bowling change due to just having a feeling to change it up a bit and wanting to swap ends. This would prove quite the bowling change. I asked our young debutant to come on from the street end and I would swap with Diz. The young Roy’s first over was respectable for his first in seniors and with some good lines and length, thought I’d keep him on for at least another before I put Diz on but would be selfish and allow myself to bowl in tandem with him for a couple. I was lucky enough to hit the poles in my first over coming up the hill to have Ivanhoe at 1/24 at the end of the 8th over, then the best story of the day happened and a proud Dad got to see his son take his first wicket with his 1st ball of his 2nd over, a hooping delivery which the Ivanhoe u15s Ladies premier batter tried to clip a hooping ball square but only managed to pop the ball straight up in the air for Jason to take as wicketkeeper. AWESOME!! They were now 2/24 and it didn’t stop there. After a single, Roy then got to witness and experience the old adage that sh*t gets wickets and with a swinging full toss, their batter hit the ball directly to Jesse at short cover for his 2nd in the over. His 3rd over was probably his best as he had their batter playing and missing at several deliveries, just missing the stumps until he got one through his defence and hit him flush on the back foot in front of middle stump, wicket number 3! We knew we had to give him one more over and he delivered again, with the 3rd ball beautifully taking the edge and Rich taking a blinder reflex grab at slip, Roy had his 4th and Ivanhoe were now in deep trouble at 5/39 in the 12th over. He seemed to then hit a bit off a wall and was struggling to get out of the over with a lot of wides, yet he sucked it up and completed it finally to finish with the amazing figures of 4 -17 from 4 overs, taking the game away from Ivanhoe. It was one of the best things i have ever been involved with on a cricket field in my biased opinion. He then went for a little rest off the field but was back on again after drinks
We then threw the ball to Owen McH, who was straight into the action as well, bowling their batter with a beauty and that was followed up with Diz trapping their captain in front and then bowling another leaving them at 8/65 after 19 overs and thoughts of a very early finish popped in our heads. Ivanhoe had other ideas.
After drinks Ivanhoe decided to shut up shop and spend as much time as possible out there, with the last 2 wickets always seeming to be the hardest to get sometimes, they blocked and blocked and …you get the idea. We had Rich Mc bowl his 8 overs on the trot as normal and he finished with the figures of 0/5 from 8 overs with 5 maidens, unlucky not to get one and we also gave Jesse and Tom fish 4 overs each to try and get something happening, but still Ivanhoe were defiant in playing any loose shots. With their young batter putting an exceptionally high price on his wicket, it wasn’t until the 3rd last over when I had thrown myself back on the highway end that I was able to get him to nibble one to Jason behind the stumps to have him out for 22 from a very patient 70 balls, but at 9/121 they had put on 46 but off 16 plus overs on that pitch and outfield, were never in the hunt. They finally hung on to bat out their overs to finish on 9/127 giving us an 80 run win. Crispy with figures of 2/28 and Diz with 2/17.
It was a really good win and has us unbeaten going into the break with some really good form but this day belonged to the debutant.
Roy had an amazing day with his bowling but also his ground fielding was top notch that he was very comfortable at mid off for a while and covering the 45 later on.
Personal note:
I have to thank all those involved out there on the field with us as you guys just helped make it a day we will never forget – it’s the reason I love this club.
To Graeme Lauder the umpire for his calmness with Roy and the gesture of handing over the ball to him at the end.
Also to the people who allowed him to play when originally it was only as a sub fielder
To the crowd for their support
Gonna be hard at selection next game 🙂

Enjoy the break everyone and the holidays

Go Spotty
Chris Beckett
4XI Captain