And the assessment is.........

another warm sunny day at Bassett Ave, and the players arrived (eventually in some cases) in good spirits, boosted by the fact that we had 3 umpires turn up. Unfortunately there wasnt a DRS system being utilised, the third guy was an assessor. I wonder if my comments to him after my LBW made it into his feedback....?
The Caribbeans won the toss and elected to bat, and we soon set about proving it was the right decision for them. To be fair, Zia was a very clean hitter of the ball, and as they reached 67 off 13 overs, Zia was celebrating his 50. The first wicket came when 1st change Matt McDonald tempted Khan into driving one straight back at the bowler, which Matt did well to cling on to. A couple of overs later, and Matt bowled the dangerous Zia. Gibbo was on at the other end now, and bowling extremely well with plenty of flight and guile, putting plenty of pressure on the Caribbean batters. And it was Matt who benefited from this pressure with another wicket. Dadu trying to flick one on the leg side instead skying it straight up. The ball would have landed on Matt's head, but seeing as he didnt want the catch, Rich ran in from extra cover, pushed him out of the way and took it for him. Not the only good catch he was going to take on the day.....
Caribbeans then had a useful partnership between the two Khan's, but the introduction of Karl after Matt's spell soon led to the next breakthrough. The big let hander, U Khan, tried to smash a shorter ball from Karl getting it right at the top of the bat, the ball was barely going to loop off the square. Rich, fielding at deep mid-on (not long-on, as that would make this ridiculous), sprinted like a cheetah, but knew even his lightning pace would not be enough, so he dived forwards like an elegant, graceful dolphin and grabbed the ball millimetres off the ground with forefinger and thumb like a crab. Amazing. the crowd erupted, songs were written.... you get the picture.
M Khan at the other end was his usual fluent self off the medium pacers, but thankfully his partner at the other end was batting for a draw. This put the pressure on, and Khan trying to force the scoring smashed one straight to Jonny at covers off Karl, but instead of bringing relief, it brought the unorthodox hitting of Bhesani to the crease who scored freely in the latter overs. Throw in a wicket for Rich and a catch for Pops and a run out for Matt, and that is all the action from their innings.
Our innings...depressingly similar to every game this year to be honest. Degs got what looked like a bit of a shocker, LBW to Peters. Jonny was driving beautifully through the covers before he was caught by their 100 year old gully fielder. Matt was bowled by one that nipped off the seam, Will mis-timed a catch to mid-on after another resilient knock of 28. Shame as he was just starting to open up. Dan and Pops both missed straight ones in the same over. Rich got the second shocker of the innings, and Tom was deceived by a slower ball and got bowled.
The only innings of note was that of Joe. Resilient to say the least, batting out 20 overs to see us towards the draw, with some nice shots in there as well and a very well deserved 22 not out, with his last ball 4 over the head of the bowler seeing us to the next batting point. Assisted by brother Karl for the last9 overs, it was a really good effort.
Cosby next week....