Wednesday 26th April saw the beginning of the BUCS season and what would hopefully be a successful start to the 3s campaign. Things started well for new captain Turner as he won the toss and duly elected to bowl, a sensible decision given there would almost certainly be overs lost due to rain.
Things started well on the bowling front as the aforementioned Turner and fellow opener Curtis bowled good tight lines, making the Aston openers look pretty uncomfortable. Curtis struck first as the ball was hit straight to Larkins at cover and soon struck again with a virtually unplayable delivery which clipped the top of off stump. From that point on however, things went from bad to worse to… well I can’t think of the words to describe it (maybe that’s why I do Maths, not English). Jaimin bowled well for 3 overs when he took hold of the ball, but unfortunately was unable to continue due to a debilitating shoulder injury which led him to throw with his left hand for the rest of the game (he still threw the ball better than Curtis). We took a short break due to some hail, with the Aston resident DJ putting on suitable music including Let It Go from Frozen. After the hail had melted, the mantle was then passed to debutant Om and the ever-dependable Larkins. Although when I say ever-dependable I mean normally dependable. A mix of short pitched deliveries and general filth were dispatched to the boundary with relative ease off of both Larkins and Om. Larkins then recovered to bowl a few tight overs towards the end of his spell to recover his figures to a respectable 0-44 from his 9 overs. In an attempt to make a breakthrough, Ash Hughes was brought on, but he also struggled to find his line and length. Desperately looking for any sort of control, captain Turner turned to Sam Topper, who had been having a bit of banter with the Aston boys on the side line, which they absolutely loved. Topper bowled well to hold the Aston charge a little, but it wasn’t enough to stop two of their batsmen tonning up. Aston finished on 240-2 after 44 overs.
All hope wasn’t lost as it wasn’t a bad pitch to bat on and I certainly hoped we could make a good stab at the chase. How wrong I was. A couple of people got out to decent deliveries, but mostly people threw their wickets away as readily as Dan Lewis throws chairs into circle. Harry ‘Chris Gayle’ Riley and Larkins were the only ones to put up any resistance at all, although Larkins adopted a questionable tactic of charging the spinner every ball and blocking the ball back to him. After a few lusty blows from J$, obviously his shoulder was feeling a little better, we were bowled out for a pathetic 93. All in all, a day to forget for the 3s and hopefully we’ll put in a better performance at Trent this Wednesday.
Man of the Match goes to Curtis for bowling beautifully on his BUCS debut, finishing with figures of 2-28 from his 8 overs. A special mention must go to Sam Topper who was supposed to write this match report but has failed to deliver the goods, much like his batting.