Dodgers vs Tilberg 14.07.11

14th July - Dodgers vs Tilberg
Belair Park
6pm
T20

2 for no ball/wide, no extra ball
Weather: Fine, thin cloud

Dodgers 130 for 2 (McBarron 28 ret. Lindsay 25 ret. Shimoga 21 not out) beat Tilberg 115 for 9 (Hilary 4-17, Shimoga 2-22, Howe 1-9) by 15 runs.

Dodgers snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in a closely-fought encounter.

Taylor won the toss and chose to bat. When the skipper departed after a couple of boundaries, Lindsay was joined by McBarron and the hordes of midges stopped and watched in awe as the pair raced at a dizzying pace to 43 at the ten-over point. A decorater in a house overlooking the ground cursed the hot weather that had made that final coat dry so quickly.

Like the best Civil Servants however, Phil and David could smell lucrative retirement a mile off and both accelerated towards 25. Westhead arrived at the game fashionably late and left the crease unfashionably early. Wilkinson was then effective if not fluent for unbeaten 20 and Naranjan launched a few late blows to drag Dodgers to a defendable 130 (stattos will note that 87 came in the last ten).

Bennett and Hilary took the first few but couldn't restrain the Tilberg openers until the latter had No.1 caught on the (short) long leg boundary by Howe. 48 off six and the introduction of Naranjan hadn't yet stemmed the flow.

Dodgers needed something. It came from their finest Executive Director, who decided to leave charity firmly back in the office by taking three wickets in his final over, including the Tilberg skipper, rightly given lbw first ball by a team-mate. Howe then picked up the baton, looking quick and unplayable.

What followed was said by some to be a lapse and by others to be genius. Ten overs bowled from one end to save time, the switch came and with it, some confusion over the order of bowlers (in Taylor's head). In the maths department of a University somewhere in England, a degree certificate was quietly burned.

The skipper brought himself into the attack and (cleverly - Ed) allowed himself to be smacked for a couple of sixes before recalling the more reliable McBarron.

With 33 to get from the last five, Tilberg had fallen hook line and sinker for the old "false sense of security" tactic. But Phil bounced back from a dropped dolly off Bennett and kept the score down, finishing with a wicket.

Naranjan returned and hit good form. Howe joined him. Suddenly the equation was 22 from 12 balls but the retired opener was back at the crease. Now more difficult, but surely still a chance for Tilberg?

"No" said Howe, closing out his four overs for a miserly nine runs and prising the nickname "The Youth Policy" from the hands of his resentful captain. Dodgers now had the game metaphorically in their grasp, with 17 required from six deliveries. Minutes later and the last ball was - literally - in the grasp of bowler Naranjan, a skied shot by the returning opener heralding a Dodgers win.

A great team performance led by Hilary, Naranjan and Howe, who all turned in man-of-the-match performances.

MOM: Hilary - 6, Shimog - 4

Dodgers innings
 
Taylor               b Weston     11
Lindsey      retired not out      25
McBarron     retired not out      28
Wilkinson    not out              20
Westhead     ct ?    b Weston      1
Shimoga      not out              21
____________________________________
Sub-total                         96
Extras                            24
Total (2 wkts, 20 overs)         130
 
DNB: Howe, Hilary, Bennett, Matthews
 
Bowling
 
Weston
Coleman
Rennie
Sellers
Ward M
Yates
Wainwright

Tilberg innings
 
Yates             c & b Shimoga   30
Thompson     c Howe   b Hilary     8
Ward T                b Howe      12
Rennie                b Hilary     0
Sowrey       lbw      b Hilary     0
Wainwright            b Hilary     2
Sellers               b Bennett    1
Coleman               not out     26
Weston       c Taylor b McBarron  13
Ward M                b Shimoga    0
Pauley       not out               2
____________________________________ 
Total (9 wkts, 20 overs)         115
 
Dodgers bowling
 
Bennett   4-0-34-1
Hilary    4-0-17-4
Shimoga   4-0-22-2
Howe      4-0-9-1
McBarron  3-0-11-1
Taylor    1-0-14-0
 
(Shimoga = Niranjan)

Comments

jhilary said…
Top match report. Well done, Captain Matt.
jhilary said…
FoW = 12, 107 (with two retirements in between)