AVCC v Collingbourne T20
Well… Nothing like an easy win.
It was a glorious afternoon in Rushall right up until about 4.30 when it horsed it down. Still no matter, the game went ahead slightly later than planned and Collingbourne brought their usual mix of youth and experience. AVCC won the toss and elected to bowl first (naturally) on a soggy but very good wicket. Wolverson (4-0-31-1)and Jones opened the bowling for the home side with Jones (3- 0-21-1) picking up a wicket with his first ball removing A. Scott after a regulation catch from Campbell. Bowling conditions were far from perfect and fielding was a little damper than I care for but we backed the bowlers up well, the pick of whom were Campbell (4-0-27-0) and Newland (3-0-18-0) who kept it tight in the middle overs.
Brown, keeping wicket, did a fine job deputising in tricky conditions and only leaked a small handful of extra’s (none of which were in any way my fault). Morrison (4-0-21-1) bowled a tidy spell picking up the vital wicket of Watts (77) thanks in no small part to the ice cool Southard who kept calm under the high ball. King (2-0-31-1) found the conditions challenging but did for Marsh with one that pitched, pitched again and hit middle before it managed to pitch again. Collingbourne posted a very competitive score of 152 for 4 from their 20 overs. Nice to have a target to aim for and it stopped raining which was nice. Batters paradise…. OK well it didn’t get any worse.
Pugh-Cook and Harley got AVCC off to a steady start picking the right balls to hit and good running between the wickets. Harley (11) was unlucky to hole out off the bowling of M Brett and Pugh-Cook (19) was pinned in front as the light began to fade. Gent, after a spell of top quality brushing opted against the fetching wellies in making an invaluable 5 before being stumped by Hood. Campbell then made his way to the crease and scratched around for a quite brilliant 86 n.o supported well by Brown (6) who was out caught off Scott. King strode in as dusk drew closer. Campbell continued to smash most of Collingbournes 8 bowlers to all parts as the game approached a tight finish. Needing 9 from the final over, the tension was palpable. J. Brett was given the ball and still the runs came. 2 needed from 2. A dot. 2 needed from the last ball. Not that anyone could see the square at this point as Collingbourne weren’t quite up with the over rate, King drove the ball for the sweetest of straight fours. AVCC won by 6 wickets
A fantastic finish to a good game of cricket. Aside from our poor timekeeping, everyone put in a good effort under the circumstances. We may need more Hi-Viz waistcoats as sported by Gent if we can’t afford floodlights.
Jon Wolverson