After a couple of late drop-outs, a rather last-minute UWMCC VI comprising of Hobbs (c), Jewson (wk) and freshers Kit, Jono, Freddie and Sherbaz made their way to the Connexion Indoor Arena, their battleground for the upcoming season.
With ruthless social media-based allegations from El Presidente earlier in the day, skipper Hobbs found it hard to concentrate on the fixture, with no real planned batting order or consideration to the bowling attack.
Opposition Hunningham 6’s were almost ready to leave by the time UWMCC turned up late due to some nasty traffic, but after a hasty toss before the other five players had even arrived, we found ourselves put in to bat in what was an unfamiliar environment for most of the team.
UWMCC started strongly, with Jonno and Kit putting on at least 35 before Kit was run out for a badly-counted 3. Jonno did not last much longer before being run out for a similarly wrong score of ’18’.
Jewson and Hobbs, the new men in, needed to steady the ship, Jewson scoring a run-a-ball 15 before launching one into the ceiling without remembering one of the many rule changes this year, which deems this type of shot out regardless of whether or not the ball is caught. Resident blocker Hobbs was joined by Freddie, before departing himself for a solitary run from ten deliveries.
It was left for Freddie and Sherbaz to pick up the pieces, scoring a signifcant final partnership of about 20, with nice shots from the two of them. Sherbaz’s flat-bat 4 off a wide yorker stands out in particular.
After the Cov student-cum-umpire-cum-scorer deemed our performance with the bat merited 56 points (we scored at least 75 runs), the UWMCC knew we had a hard task ahead of us with the ball. After a very brief warm-up, opening bowler Sherbaz began the innings with one of the widest wides this format has ever seen, beating even the sprawling, self-proclaimed ‘1’s keeper’ Jewson to go for four. What followed next (other than Hobbs bowling an almost identical ball) was a great display of bowling and fielding, with Sherbaz and Freddie bowling very tightly and Hobbs reaping the rewards of their hard work by drawing some very questionable shots from the opposition. With the exception of Hunnington’s spectacled opening bat, none of their team really put up a fight, ending with a wildly inaccurate 29-5 (their final player leaving at some point unbeknownst to his team).
Credit to everyone, but Sherbaz in particular, for doing a spectacular job in the field, leaving the game a lot more one-sided than it probably could have been, and to everyone for playing a crucial part with either bat, ball or both. We look forward to continuing our strong start next week.
Final Scores:
UWMCC 56-6 (9.4) – Cook 18, Jewson 15
Hunnington 6’s 29-5 (5.4) Hobbs 3-17