It’s always a pleasure to play at Streat. A majestic setting, a wonderful pitch and a fast outfield….and only 20 minutes away!

A superb day for cricket too. Not too hot, not cold at all. In fact, as Alex pointed out, the sky was a perfect example of the sky from the Simpsons intro.

It was also the day of the World Cup Final where the pirates from Argentina took on the brick wall that was Spain.

The uncertainty of the outcome always makes it fun to play a village match, especially if we can bat second. We lost the toss here but to our relief Streat chose to bat first, nice! It looked a good cricket wicket, flat enough for some good carry, but with a bit of swing in the air and enough spin/bite in the surface for those good enough to make use of it.

Streat bats first

TMGs started well. Day and Charnaud bowled tightly early doors, Dave getting swing and bounce and bite with m with Louis looking dangerous with full swingers , together they restricted Streat to just 24 from the first 10 overs.

Louis made the first breakthrough, removing Lea with a majestic off cutter that clipped the top of off stump (PSM nom), before Titcomb was eventually caught behind for 4 after a lengthy string of dot balls.

Porter made good use of the edges finding third man time and time again. Having battled his way to 64, he eventually slashed at a bullet from Ashton with Covill taking a sharp high catch behind the stumps (PSM winner).

Compton looked dangerous in a well made 28 before Fenton committed fully to a sharp arm gut grab in the gully off a fired up Ashton (PSM nom).

Lenton then entered the attack and immediately looked threatening. Bowling some heavy balls with nice shape and good grunt, he claimed his first wicket for TMGs when Baxter feathered an outswinger to Covill for 2 (PSM nom for his first TMGs wicket). In a nod to the Argentinians playing later that night, he also adopted the role of pirate with some enthusiastic appealing and agressive, noisy bowling. At one stage he even told the umpire “That’s out!”…it wasn’t.

Laing bowled superbly, especially early with some darting inswingers attacking the stumps relentlessly before demolishing Lea’s stumps and trapping Porter LBW for 23.

Jerry, feeling a bit left out produced his own moment in the field chasing a ball to the longest boundary, he showed some silky football skills with a drag back at the rope but his momentum took him through the changing rooms and into toilet , all to avoid slipping on the concrete in spikes (PSM nom).

Then came Streat’s swaggering aussie danger man Donald, mumbling to himself throughout with either a raging hangover, jet lag, or was he just shy? He did really threaten to bump the total up though, creaming anything under/overpitched to and often over the boundary with ease.

Then the skipper has had enough.

Without his own version of that Ball of the Century, Benny ripped a leg spinning that snuck round the Donald‘s legs and hit the top of leg stump ending the rapid 42 run cameo (PSM nom).

A very tidy bowling performance all round, with wickets shared nicely ending with Charnaud 2 for 38 from 7, Day 0 for24 from 8, Ashton 2 for 43 from 8, Newland 2 for 43 from 6, Laing 2 for 33 from 8, Lenton 2 for 15 from 5.

Streat eventually finished on 201 all out from 41 overs , we actually bowled them out! plenty of commitment shown in the field despite the increasingly hot and sweaty conditions, good job boys! That means we were chasing the 201 in 39 overs.

Tea

Tea was a lovely affair, homemade sandwiches with a whole tray of cheese options and many sangers with prawns, yay! A seemingly never ending chocolate cake. A lemon drizzle cake to die for. Luckily the kids were there to help guzzle the tea and mop up the leftovers because Ian wasn’t playing. Thanks for coming, kids and Sarah baby! xx

TMGs Innings

Things did not start well. Brasher cut one to gully almost immediately (really!?), before Line was bowled by Lea for 9. Despite keeping up with the required rate and some nic strokeplay Edwards (3) and Fenton (7) soon followed, leaving TMGs in a bit of a pickle at 34 for 4 in the ninth over. Alex gallantly falling in his sword, taking the runout in what could well be the worst ‘yes’ call ever after hitting it straight to mid on.

At this point things were looking pretty bleak. Our DLS style win predictor based on runs required, overs remaining and wickets in hand suggested TMGs had only a 12% chance of winning at this stage…eek!

Enter TMGs’ own aussie scum (Del) and Rich our resident pirate (with bandana and all!). What followed was the most manic but perhaps most important phase of the match.

A mixture of dodgy calling, classy / unconventional shot making and sheer determinatino saw Covill and Lenton drag TMGs back into the game with a partnership adding 92, taking TMGs from 34/4 to 126/5 and redirecting the course of the match.

Despite losing wickets in a hurry, TMGs remained positive and kept ahead of Streat’s equivalent score for most of the chase, a good sign. TMGs reached every major milestone quicker, getting to 100 and 150 around five overs earlier than the hosts.

Milestone	Streat	TMGs
Reached 50	13 overs (2 wickets)	10 overs (4 wickets)
Reached 100	24 overs (4 wickets)	19 overs (4 wickets)
Reached 150	33 overs (7 wickets)	28 overs (6 wickest)
Reached 200	41 overs (9 wickets)	37 overs (7 wickets)

While Streat eventually scored at just under five an over, TMGs managed to stay above five an over for almost the entire chase. Looking at it now, the surprising thing is that the scoring rate never really dipped, even when things were tough going.

The partnership was broken though when Covill was beaten by the spin of Compton and departed for a jug avoiding 49, quickly followed by Lenton who played on…for also a jug avoiding 49.

The win predictor here suggests that the Covill/Lenton partnership uplifted TMGs from a 12% chance of victory at 34/4 in the 9th over to about 63% when the stand was broken in the 24th over and with the Lenton dismissal that followed immediately this dropped back down to around 52%… there was still plenty of work left to do…

Enter the unflappable skipper Newland and the scruff grabbing Ashton.

Both looked completely unflustered by the situation. Newland showed some class with a lovely on drive down the ground and an stylish cover drive to the long boundary (both PSM noms), while Ashton grew increasingly destructive.

When Newland eventually departed there were still quite a bit of work to do and this brought Laing to the crease. Together, Ashton (35 not out) and Laing (22 not out) quickly took the game away from Streat. Ashton dealt with anything short aggressively, none more so than his booming six into the hedge (PSM nom). TMGs completed the chase in the 37th over, finishing on 204 for 7 and winning by three wickets.

Credit to Streat’s bowlers who worked hard throughout, they never really allowed the chase to become comfortable. The pick of the attack were Lea 3 for 28 from 8 overs and Compton 2 for 49 from 8 overs with good support from the rest of the bowling unit.