Gregory’s Blog

Hi again,

On Saturday I played cricket against Berkley for my club. It was another overcast day and the pitch was damp after rain that night. Berkley won the toss and elected to bat first. The ball was wet and slippery and was hard for our opening bowlers to grip and control the ball while bowling fast. The first wicket fell in the fifth over thanks to a brilliant one handed diving catch by the man at point. At drinks break my team was in trouble, with Berkley on 96 for 2. We would need some really tight bowling to have any chance of winning. In the 22nd over we got the breakthrough with the ball keeping low on the wet surface bowling one of their top batsmen. The next two batsmen had a good 41 run partnership before their number 5 batsmen holed out to the fielder at mid wicket. At this stage they were 159 for four with about another 6 overs to go. A few balls later another big wicket fell with their number 3 batsman bowled after making 53 runs. Their tail enders didn’t manage to put on a big score for Berkley but because of my team’s extras they managed to make 172 in total after all 35 overs. After 3 overs my bowling figures were 0 for 17 and I ran someone out.

I was opening again this week and once again I was very nervous. My team didn’t get off to a good start as the first over was a wicket maiden. I was still in and played out the over at the other end with three wides coming from it. One of the opening bowlers was fast and hard to play but he didn’t manage to take a wicket. When our number 3 batsman got out for just 4 runs our team was in trouble as I met the new batsmen in the middle. We both solidly played out the opening bowlers not managing to score many runs. But in the eighth over when he got out our chances of making a big total like the 173 we needed were fading away. We were needing about a run a ball to win off 25 overs. We had a solid partnership but he was soon caught by the close in fielder. Our team ended up losing this match making a total of 100 all out after 28 overs. I made 23 not out batting all through the innings and seeing everyone in my team dismissed.

I was pleased with how solidly I played and batting all the way through the innings making my new high score and making my average 24.00 this season.

Gregory