3s Match Report - (H) vs Donnington - 03/05/25

Twas a new dawn at Long Sutton, as sunny skies greeted the 3s in Safi’s first league game as skipper. Donnington were the opposition, and with some fabulous teas in the fridge (thank you to Netty Warna & Mark Hurst for your help with these), we were all set and ready to go. 3s debuts were handed to Hope Horne & Rory Dunn, the latter making his OGCC Senior Cricket debut! The new skipper won the toss (that’s 2 in 2 now - dangerous territory) and decided to bowl on the first use of new strip at Long Sutton.

1st Innings:
Hursty started the league season with a full, swinging delivery - wide. Start as we mean to go on, ladies and gents! Paul Downham opened up from the horse field end, and first ball should have had the breakthrough - D Maddocks swiped at a full delivery, the ball looping to the left of Ed Terry at cover, who unfortunately spilled it. It was clear that the Donnington openers weren’t going to hang around, pouncing on anything that wasn’t on the money. D Maddocks deposited a short ball over the short legside boundary, before missing the following delivery that was on the money from Hursty (1-33), leaving the opposition 18-1. Paul (0-18) was swinging it around corners from the other end, beating the outside edge on numerous occasions, and was desperately unlucky not to get a wicket - the old saying ‘a better bat would have nicked it’ applied to so many deliveries in his opening burst. However from the other end, Donnington’s dangerous (opener) Dadd was in full flow, crunching boundaries to both sides of the wicket - Paul found Dadd’s edge but it flew over Liam Schooling at gully for 4 as the prized wicket alluded the O’s.

Ed Terry and Alfie Hellings came on to both stem the flow and hunt for wickets, with Ed getting some serious swing that was troubling both batters - after some tight bowling, Ed finally made the crucial breakthrough, with a beautiful in-swinger that clipped the glove of Dadd (44) finding the safe hands of Greg Pickett behind the sticks. 62-2 quickly became 63-3, as Ed’s pace caused a loose shot from the No.3, with Nick Bryant taking the catch at gully (after a loud shout of ‘MINE’ that almost wasn’t heard by Rory at point). After a short burst from Alf (0-4) and Greg cleaning up everything behind the stumps, it was time for Rory Dunn to come on to bowl - after impressing in winter nets, where Rory’s leggies tested everyone he bowled too, it was time for him to shine in senior cricket. With some serious flight, dip & turn, Rory immediately looked dangerous, beating the bat twice in his first four balls - it only took him two more to get his first wicket, ripping one past the bat to hit the back pad - a plumb LBW and Rory was up and running. Ed T (2-19) soon finished a super spell from the tennis court end, with Hope poised to join the attack.

Before she could, Rory took another, this time a chop on, after again beating the bat multiple times, leaving Donnington 75-5. It seems the flight was too tempting for the batters, as they continued to attack in spite of Rory’s testing line & length. Hope replaced Ed, with the rare sighting of two leggies bowling in tandem, following suit in keeping the ball well above the batters eye-line, enticing some aggressive shots. Rory was on a roll, taking his third with a half tracker that didn’t bounce (sometimes those are the one’s that get wickets Rory!), before making it a 4-fer two balls later, with another chop on. Drinks were taken, with Rory on staggering figures of (3.3-1-1-4). Hope (1-39) joined the party mere moments after drinks, beating the batter comfortably in flight, with Donnington reeling at 88-8.

League cricket is however never straight forward, and Donnington’s no.9 & 10 looked to counter punch, swinging incredibly hard at nearly every delivery - even with boundary riders, they were still able to find the fence with regularity, taking the oppo well past three figures. Both Hope and Rory continued to be really brave and tossed the ball up at every opportunity, in spite of the aggressive batters. It was however Rory that would have the last laugh, after another couple of beautiful deliveries, the no.9 skied one straight up and Nick B took the catch at mid wicket (131-9), giving Rory his maiden 5-fer, on his senior cricket debut! A fantastic achievement. The O’s soon wrapped up the innings, but not in the way it should have been - Rory should have had 6-fer, as the no.11 dollied one up to the skipper at mid-off, who inexplicably shelled the most straight forward of catches. In his frustration, the skipper shouted an expletive, picked up the ball and hurled it at the one stump he could see, and somehow hit it - cricket eh? Silly game.

Donnington were bowled out for 139 (27.5 overs), with Rory leading the team off with incredible debut figures of 6.5-2-25-5. Netty’s fish(y) balls were part of a wonderful tea spread that was enjoyed by all - Donnington loved it so much, they said they’d try to reciprocate at the reverse fixture later in the season!

2nd Innings:
With 140 to win, Greg P & Nick B strode out to the middle to begin the chase. Donnington, defending a below-par score, immediately protected the boundaries and fielded expertly in the ring, not letting anything through - seeing the success of our spinners meant Donnington started with a leggie of their own (who didn’t quite get the turn of our two), but was miserly. Greg (8) nicked a good one through the the keeper, as the oppo really put the squeeze on the O’s. Lizo strolled out to join Nick, the latter who had started to find the odd boundary, punishing anything short and/or wide. Lizo found the fence with a lovely on-drive, but the squeeze came again from Donnington. Some superb fielding turned 2s into 1s and 1s into dots, as they tried to build some pressure - they made us work for every run, playing some excellent league cricket. Nick and Lizo safely navigated us through to drinks, but with the required run rate only reaching 4.8po, the O’s were still in control of the chase (55-1).

Some good positive running post drinks got the scoreboard moving again as we looked to kick on - Lizo (22) then got a good one that nipped back up the hill, bringing the skipper to the crease. Starting the day being selected by 84% of OGCC Fantasy Cricket Managers and with an infinite season average, expectation loomed large for the new captain. He should have been gone first ball, nicking one behind, to only be dropped by the WK - Safi (0) didn’t last much longer, playing a rather horrid shot to his 4th ball, a leg side delivery that he could only top edge in to the grateful hands of gully. The ‘pre-season specialist’ strikes again - I think that % may drop for next week. Netty joined Nick in the middle, and quickly crunched a boundary, but soon followed the skipper back to the pavilion.

Not seen by the skipper, but recounted by the rest of the team, Netty (5) was truly ‘BBQ’d’ by Safi’s predecessor - punching the ball to extra cover, Nick’s call of yes, was later followed by a call of no - unfortunately by that point, Netty was over halfway down the track and could only stop and turn around to see a direct hit see the end of his innings. At 78-4 with 13 overs to go, the O’s had the run rate in hand but were wobbling. Enter Ed Terry, who plays one way, and that way is to hit the ball very hard. Crunching his 3rd ball to the midwicket fence immediately settled some nerves in the O’s camp, as the run rate picked up with positive stroke play from both batters.

Nick soon reached his 50, playing a great innings that took the game deep and was exactly what team needed. After a couple more boundaries for Ed, Nick (55) did fall to a top edge (119-5) with the O’s still needing 21 to win. Hope strode to the crease and navigated her first few balls well - the following over, the oppo brought the field right in, clearly not knowing our Hope, who subsequently punched a lovely cover drive through the gap. It was only a single, but immediately the field went back as they realised their mistake! Some good running ticked the O’s ever closer as the game entered the last 5 overs - Ed (23) absolutely creamed a shot to the left of mid off, who dramatically sprung to take a diving catch. Lizo is convinced the fielder just jumped for show, but it looked pretty good to everyone else. The oppo still believed with the score at 126-6, but with Alf Hellings at 8, the O’s batted deep.

For those who have never batted with Alf, you should know that he’s quick between the wickets - very quick. Immediately putting pressure back on the fielding side, Alf ran a two first ball, before hitting one straight to a fielder, somehow running one comfortably, before almost coming back for two after the smallest of misfields. I’m just glad Hope (3*) was on her toes before sending Alfie back. That enthusiasm and electric running may have got the heart racing, but soon eased the O's nerves and caused a couple of rare misfields, with one Alf cut shot spinning past a fielder to the point boundary. Alf (12*) finished the game with a lovely cover drive which found the fence, the O’s winning by 4 wickets with 3.1 overs to spare.

A great win and a real team effort to get us over the line - perhaps a touch closer than it should have been, but Donnington were very good with the ball and in the field, showing us exactly how a team can approach defending a smaller total. Aside from the skipper being a muppet, a great effort in the field and with the ball, won us that game - some great composure from Lizo/Nick/Ed/Alf took us home in the chase, but it was Rory who starred on senior debut. Hopefully the first of many wickets for OGCC!

MOTM: Rory Dunn - 6.5-2-25-5. A five-bag on debut - not a bad start!

Great to start the season with a win, let’s try to keep this momentum up next week with a trip to Ashford Hill 2nd XI.