With the reigns of the great Jake Sittampalam handed over, Yeti assembled his 4s side for the long-awaited opening BUCS game of the season. With Charlie Turner’s wide array of tea towels under scrutiny the team were comfortably escorted by our bus driver, who unsurprisingly took a shine to cheeky Tom Lawson. Arriving earlier than planned provided a perfect opportunity for a quick net session before any of the opposition even turned up. Upon winning the toss, Yeti chose to bowl first and the 4s took to the field.
Both Hobbs and Turner opened the bowling and kept the run rate low against some truly bang av Aston openers. Turner swung the ball nicely and beat the outside edge on numerous occasions. He was unlucky not to pick up two early wickets – Yeti dropping a diving chance down the legside and Rex taking a smart catch at gully (that was most definitely out) before proclaiming it had not carried. Eventually both openers had reward, with Turner picking up figures of 1-31 and Hobbs returning excelled figures of 3-17. The most notably scalp of the day came from Hobbs, who forced an opener to skew to Ballington at cover, only for the batsman to shout at George with the ball in mid-air in an attempt to revive his innings. Lawson entered the fray and UWMCC continued to pick up wickets, this time with a leg stump in-swinger. Despite some Jaimin Patel filth, UWMCC chipped away at the fragile batting lineup with excellent fielding – Turner with a direct hit run out and Amin with a fantastic diving catch. Aston’s only decent batsman slapped a Turner half-volley to Hobbs and the off-spinning duo of Larkins and Rex cleaned up the tail. Aston finished on 97 all out and UWMCC were confident of chasing it at tea.
Yeti and Nikhil opened the batting, making a strong start with a 38 run partnership. With Yeti’s agricultural game slapping some long-hops over cow, UWMCC had broken the back of the chase by the time Nikhil controversially fell for 13. With Lawson occupying the square leg umpire role Nikhil chipped a certain no-ball to mid-off, with standing umpire Ted (what a legend) happy to wave him on his way. Rex joined Yeti in slogging enjoyably and the pair finished unbeaten on 49* and 22* respectively to complete a nine-wicket win. After Larkins took 4 years to finish his half pint the 4s boarded the bus to go home, albeit delayed after the driver had to be gently woken by the adorable Lawson. A great start to the season for the 4s who want to carry this momentum into the big game against Worcester 3s next Sunday.
Clobber was Man of the Match for his tight bowling spell and 3fer.
