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It wasn’t pretty and it certainly wasn’t spectacular, but The Gents ground out a welcome win after their seamers had ripped through the St. Anne’s batsmen, assisted by a low, slow wicket and some typical April shot selection. The visitors fought hard when The Gents batted, but Justin Norcott (13 not out off 71 balls faced) was impervious both to the accurate bowling and advice from boundary wits to accelerate. How St. Anne’s must have wished for such a feat of concentration and technique on a spongy, if not particularly treacherous surface.
Maxie Haddow-Allen chose to bat on a warm spring day and watched aghast as batsman after batsman trudged back disappointed. Halliday was the first to go, bowled Husain, and you would have got interesting odds at that point on eight batsmen scoring fewer than his one run. Snelling blasted out the middle order, knocking Hipwell’s leg-stump out of the ground, but Haddow-Allen showed what a class act he is. Despite suffering from the ’flu, he provided the most entertaining batting of the day before unluckily playing on to the accurate Thompson. Only Nicol really got in after that. Captain Sanjay Patel tried eight bowlers of whom Snelling, Husain and Thompson were the pick. There were catches for Dhruv Patel running in from mid-on to pouch Sciberras’s first ball and a top-edge to the ’keeper off Lewis. Forty-two all out with a third of the overs unused.
Perhaps thinking that the hosts would knock the runs off in a few overs, the captains agreed to defer tea until the conclusion of the game. That that would be several hours later was due to the cussed pride of Haddow-Allen’s men, who fought all the way. They had their successes too, Narasimha pulling to mid-wicket who juggled then held a sharp chance. Toft began promisingly before falling to Hipwell’s off-spin, Patel played inside the inswinger but Wright, whose lofted off-driven three was the highest scoring shot of the innings, essayed his usual elegance and assertiveness.
Run-rate was never an issue and Norcott rightly did not give his wicket away. He survived the fall of Wright, caught at short mid-wicket and two yahoos from Derriman and Lewis (going for the big one to bring up victory) off the returning Haddow-Allen and was still there when Scibo edged the winning run past slip. There was much muttering about the wicket but it did not deteriorate and The Gents just used the conditions better. Such was the availability for this match that the captains agreed a twelve-a-side fixture and Sanjay Patel should be credited for trying to involve everybody. It was a game played in the usual good spirit between the teams. |
