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The newly-promoted Civil's got their Division Two campaign off to a satisfactory start on Thursday evening with a 3 wicket victory over CCC in the customary early season darkness at Blue Flames.
CCC made 105-4 from their alloted 14 overs. There were wickets for debutants Strauss and Sattar, one for wily Joe Fox and a run out off the last ball of the CCC innings. A reasonable performance in the field for the first game.
In reply Colin Ward got us off to a flyer with a quickfire 21. Wickets fell at regular intervals, but the score ticked over, helped by some less than robust opposition catching. Sturdy contributions from Scott and DeJager saw us home with 6 balls to spare.
Full details to follow (Colin?)
Yes, thanks Johnsy. After telling me you weren't going to do I match report I've just spent my lunchtime doing one. Here it is:
The traffic was terrible in Newcastle at rush hour and as a result only 7 players were ready to face CCC come 6 o’clock yesterday evening. Brief stand-in skipper Scott lost the toss and when I arrived we were taking the field.
Shy South African import, Hennie Strauss, opened the bowling and despite having rushed to be ready found a good length and some lively pace almost immediately. From the other end, Joe Fox was equally consistent and the Civil Service kept it very tight in the early overs. This was soon rewarded when Strauss yorked the CCC opening bat with an excellent delivery.
Fox bowled a good three-over spell and was replaced by Halford who struggled to find his line, the CCC batsmen captialising with some well hit boundaries through the leg side. Strauss bowled out his spell for 24 runs and was replaced by leg spinner Noman Sattar who settled into a fine spell varying his pace and trajectory superbly. Halford, who by his own admission bowled “a bag of spanners” was replaced by the reliable Steve Johns.
It was not enough to produce any wickets immediately and the CCC started accumulating a decent total before Sattar had the CCC danger man caught in the deep by the alert Dejaeger. Fox bowled the last over after replacing the now unreliable Johns and was also rewarded with a wicket at the death. A run out off the last ball saw the visitors finish on 105 for 4.
Ward and Miller began the run chase, with the former smashing three fours with characteristic gay abandon in the early exchanges. The latter simply performed gay and couldn’t get it off the square. Soon both were back in the hutch, Ward caught off a skyer at gully, Miller holing out at mid off.
This brought Scott and Wiseman to the crease and both were able to open their accounts for the season (after difficult weekends). Wiseman didn’t last too long and was LBW leaving the Civil Service in some trouble. Halford hit a couple of nice early shots and Scott began opening up, hitting a huge six to the short leg-side boundary.
However, Halford was soon out and Ed Lord took up where he left off. The wobbles continued as Scott was caught behind and the introduction of Dejager at least kept the crowd amused as he and Lord embarked on some comical running between the wickets. Lord fell soon after and was joined by Sattar as the Civil Service inched towards their target. With 1 run needed Dejaeger spooned one up and was caught, prompting a brief episode of bat throwing as he left the field. Strauss joined Sattar and watched as his partner hit the winning runs in the final over.
A good effort and while Scott picked up the man of the match, Sattar emerged as the people’s champion.
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