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Portland Red Triangle A 109 (2 points) beat Speedliner's
106 (0 points)
Weymouth A
156-3 (2 points) beat Portland Red Triangle B 90-5 (0
points)
Portland Red Triangle A 109-5 beat Speedliner's 106
Arguably PRTs first team, and arguably the now
defunct twin of the two team system, John Ryan's varied
collection of six players assembled at the Redland's
Sports Centre for the latest of their local derbies, this
time against the tabloid, red top reading rabble of
Slagheap Terrace, Speedliner's CC. Will 'Ever-Reddy'
Curtis won the toss and the turncoat elected, if
Communists ever believe in such forms of democracy, to
make first use of a green mat that could well scuff up
into the second innings.
Dr 'Doc' Hardisty strode out
to the middle along with Rob Hodges, primarily a bowler
but employed here in an attempt to smack the shine off
the ball, as Curtis remarked 'He's a big lad.' Ryan
elected to take the newish ball and immediately settled on
just short of a short length. Trevett was given the same
end and both bowlers managed to restrict the Speedliner's
batsmen to little more than the odd single that resulted
from a wall hit. Ryan made the first breakthrough when a
lifting delivery was only fended by Curtis into the hands
of Trevett at square leg much to the delight of the
Triangle team. Hodges was in next and he soon departed,
Trevett this time taking the wicket. Trevett followed up
by claiming the wicket of Mead, LBW and though the
batsman contested the decision, Umpire Stewkesbury was
certain and the dreaded finger was raised.
Hardisty was then run out for a workmanlike, though
some said boring, 18 and Triangle were in amongst their
opponents. The team were then somewhat let down by both
Jones and Males who bowled somewhere near 50 extras
before Ryan returned to remove Druce and Trevett did
likewise to wrap up the innings by taking out Chris
Emblem's middle stump from round the wicket. Even with the extras Triangle only
had to pass the relatively small score of 106 .
PRTs' Captain, John 'Johnny' Ryan sent in Kev Dodson
and to some surprise Scott Males to open the innings and
the pair did well, especially young Dodson who judged the
call of a single very well. Males was utilising the
square drive but unfortunately the pace of the ball meant
that it was difficult to gain anything other than a
single. Males was stumped off Mead and it was Trevett's
turn to bat. He managed to slap a few balls cross-batted
to the back wall until Mead picked up his second wicket,
judged LBW (after a double sideways swaying motion by the umpire), as Stewkesbury said "It wasn't hitting middle, leg or off stump so it had to be hitting something."
Ryan managed a few lusty blows before he struck the
ceiling and this brought together away trip room-mates
Dodson and Neven. Dodson attempted one single too many
and though the umpire decided to give the batsman not
out, Dodson after the advice of the opposition chose to
forgo Stewkesbury's decision and he returned to the
balcony for a hard hit 22. Jones immediately made his mark
by running out Neven who looked agitated as he stormed
off, only to be told that he had to act as the last
batsman's runner. The match had come down to the last
over, Jones on strike and facing the straight non-spinning spin of Robbie Druce. Few watching would have doubted Jones' capability but in this pressure situation
even the best of men sometimes falter. With a quickly
taken a couple of singles, a six and a four off the final ball, Jones
proved his worth and Triangle were victorious, winning by
three runs.
Weymouth A
156-3 beat Portland Red Triangle B 90-5
And so to the "B"
side who stepped out on to the hallowed floorboards to face
the might of Weymouth's A team. Fielding almost exclusively
a full complement of overseas talent (including 2 Kiwis
and a South Sea Islander) joining an English wicketkeeper,
Triangle's Bill Gates lost the toss and took to the field.
Calling on divine inspiration, Gates asked
Scott Males to open the attack, and following a quiet
word in his shell-like after his wayward spell in the evening's
earlier game, Scott put in an impressive 3 over stint as
he surrendered just 12 runs and not an extra amongst them.
Bill Trevett was given the duty of bowling at the other
"end" but his spell was the reverse of Scott's, as
went for a very uncharacteristic 49 runs
for one wicket, a fine caught and bowled.
The captain brought himself onto bowl and
had some success as he forced at least two Weymouth players
to retire. Richard Stewkesbury bowled in tandem with Gates
and was keeping the batsmen occupied as his leg-spin, unfortunately
their main concern was where to hit it, as he too proved
to be expensive, just pipping Trevett's runs conceded total by one.
Weymouth's "Big Sam" the Samoan did the most damage
to PRT's attack, coming to the crease pad-less, but
after a flurry of the bat he was back on the balcony having
scored a very rapid 25 runs and returned later to see the
opposition to a very handy total of 156 for the loss of
just three wickets.
Knowing runs needed to be scored quickly,
Gates sent out his most potent weapon, and allowed Stewkesbury
to open with Scott. Alas this plan failed after just 2 deliveries
as the big man was heading back to the balcony thanks to
a straight one from Weymouth's New Zealander, Dawson. Morris
was sent in at no. 3, but was out in similar circumstances
as The Duke, and it was left to the Captain to resurrect
the game with two balls still remaining in the opening over.
After fending off Dawson's final deliveries,
Gates and Males began to give the score some respectability,
with the good Reverend being subjected to some very hostile
short-pitched bowling, and finally could take no more and
went hooking. Unfortunately he top-edged the ball into his
top lip and was caught off the wall, leaving Triangle on
not many for the loss of 3.
Marc Nott, who had done sterling work with
the gloves earlier on, set about the Weymouth bowlers with
his characteristic straight drives, notching up a useful
12 runs before he too saw his wickets fall. It was left
to Males, now joined by Trevett to steer Triangle to victory,
but Scott was run out after being too keen to get the score
moving. In a fine last-man stand Trevett single-handedly
took the score to 90, though was aided by Weymouth's left-arm
bowler adding a multitude of wides to the extras column
as he bowled a line down leg-side from over the wicket.
Trevett finished on 26 but Triangle came in trailing over
60 runs behind, but with a wicket intact which is a positive
Gates will look to improve on if he is to get any points from
the remaining games.
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