By Andrew Atkinson
LaMangaTorre CC gained a three wickets victory against Madrid 1st in the opening game of the 2019 season in the 1st division of the ECCL.
“It was a great start to the season – the victory was one that the whole team contributed to,” LaMangaTorre CC captain Kieran Wood told The Leader.
LaMangaTorre CC won the toss electing to bowl. S. Khan opened the bowling, with Connor Wood taking a wicket in the first over, following good work from T. Knowles, when quickly reacting to a loose ball.
The opening Madrid batsmen were left in the middle of the wicket, with some chaotic running. The third over of the innings saw another mix up between the wickets, when the ball was hit straight to J. Kinsella at mid off, with a nice throw seeing the batsman short of the crease.
Khan kept the pressure high, giving the batsmen very little space to get the ball away.
An attempted big shot from no.3 D. Bloch saw J. Kinsella in the game again, taking a nice diving catch at mid off, 34/3 in 7 overs.
A bowling change, bringing C.Rumi and R.Maini into the attack, proved rather costly, as loose bowling and
tactical batting pushed Madrid to 82/3 at drinks break of the 20th over. Another 40 runs came in the following 6 overs.
The breakthrough came when P. Singh came on to bowl, getting Suman to sky the ball to Long off, where J. Brook took an amazing catch above his head. 120/4 off 26 overs.
Madrid’s no.4 Tetlow had a stroke of luck, when skying the ball to 45, but was dropped; the single bringing up his 50.
The partnership lasted 9 overs, before C.Wood returned to the attack – clean bowling Madrid’s no.6 – ulimately bringing their downfall, with the remaining 5 wickets falling in 5 overs.
Catches from K. Wood, P. Harvey and T. Knowles, with a run out to dismiss Tetlow, for a well earned 73, and a stumping in the last over, saw LaMangaTorre CC take all 10 wickets. C.Wood finishing 3-33 and S.Khan 2-16. Madrid racked up a score of 180/10 off 39.4 overs.
LaMangaTorre CC were optimistic and very confident with the score. After the innings break, J. Brook and J. Kinsella went out and started solidly.
Some tight bowling made it difficult to get the ball off the square. The pressure paid off for Madrid 1st – when a short ball hit J. Kinsella on the arm – causing him to lose balance.
The ball raced away, with J.Brook running down the wicket, not realising his partner was down on the floor. A quick return to the non strikers end – even with a dive – couldn’t stop him being given out; run out and walking back to the sidelines.
After great performances in recent weeks, youngster C.Rumi kept his role at No.3 and built a nice steady partnership with J. Kinsella.
The constant pressure on straight bowling saw the frustration build for J. Kinsella. A half hearted shot picked out a fielder at the covers nicely for a catch.
Harvey was in at 4 and the two batsmen looked to building the score up.
They batted through to the drinks break at the 20 over mark, to rebuilt a platform of 79/2.
After drinks, P. Harvey went aggressive, as he slapped the ball though mid-wicket for 4. The next ball he was beaten for height, as he chopped the ball kindly to point, for the loss of the team’s third wicket.
Neve went in at 5 and continued to dig in and rotate the strike with C. Rumi, who was batting well, pushing the score to 38 with three boundaries to his name, before a good Yorker clean bowled the youngster.
Khan, in at no. 6, was caught at mid off trying to pick up the run rate. R. Maini went in at no. 7 with the score at 109/5 in the 30th over.
Neve tried to go big, and, with the cross wind slowing the ball up, was caught at long off. K. Wood came in to help R. Maini and the two batsmen took advantage of the fielding decisions, taking a run every ball, with some two’s included.
A good over from R. Maini, hitting 13 runs, turned the game around once again. In the 34th over – after a mistimed shot landed nicely to short mid-wicket – walked out, scoring 22.
Knowles came in at no. 9, needing 35 runs, from 5 overs. The two batsmen ran every ball. A boundary from K. Wood, and T. Knowles hitting a 6, changed the game dramatically.
LaMangaTorre CC needed 10 runs from two overs. Some cool headed and sensible batting saw them score 8 from the over, leaving two runs to win from the last over.
Knowles hit a single off the first ball of the over, to tie the scores up. Nerves saw K. Wood get hit on the arm, from a short ball, but the nerves also got to the Madrid bowler, with the penultimate ball given as wide!
*LaMangaTorre CC’s next fixture is May 18 against Madrid 1st in a T20 League fixture.
