Saturday 8th August 2009: Frindsbury 3rd XI v Nelson 1st XI
Nelson arrived at the BAE Club having won all 11 of their league matches so far this season.Their star batsman Zeeshan Sheikh sported the number 176 on the back of his shirt in recognition of his innings against Canterbury in June, and Frindsbury knew they were likely to be in for a tough afternoon.
Skipper Mike Blown won the toss and decided to bowl first on a greenish pitch, and that looked to be a good decision as the impressive Matt Kynaston caused problems with his pace at one end, and Ritchie Gibbons and Connor McCann struck from the other end to remove both openers for just 11 between them.However this only served to bring Sheikh to the wicket to join David Walton, and the pair put on 85 for the third wicket to get the Nelson innings back on track.
The Frindsbury bowlers and fielders toiled hard in the afternoon sun to keep the run rate down to a respectable level.Walton scored 51, surviving a couple of dropped catches before being deceived by a Dave Tomlin full toss that he despatched to the safe hands of Mike Blown.Sheikh survived a confident run-out appeal and four dropped catches on his way to top-scoring with 99 before being cleaned up by the skipper.Amjad Awan joined the fray for the last few overs, swinging his bat so wildly that he made Harry Horsfall and Sunny Singh look more like Boycott and Tavare (younger readers may wish to substitute the names Dravid and Langer).Luckily he missed rather more than he hit, but he still managed a quick-fire 25.
The general feeling was that the final score of 235 for 6 represented a good all-round effort by the home side against a strong batting line-up, albeit on a bowler-friendly strip.
When it was Frindsbury’s turn to bat it soon became clear that the pitch was getting worse, with seemingly identical deliveries in turn either whizzing past the batsmen’s ears or scuttling along the ground.Three players found themselves dismissed courtesy of balls that kept seriously low, and the run chase never really looked likely.Matt Kynaston (14) and Keith Hanshaw (10) looked in good form, playing some quality shots before the pitch got the better of them, and Singh (26) and Horsfall provided their usual entertainment by attempting to smash their way to a decent score.Ultimately, however, it was all in vain as wickets fell on a regular basis and Frindsbury were dismissed for just 85.
