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Weymouth A
203-4 (2 points) beat Portland A 116-5 (0 points)
Portland B 133-4 (0 points) lost to Dorchester 230-2
(2 points)
Weymouth A
203-4 beat Portland A 116-2
And so it came to pass that Portland Red
Triangle 'A', under the stewardship of John Ryan, assembled
(eventually) at Redlands to face the Indoor league leaders
Weymouth A. With the captain's title aspirations now downgraded
to a solid mid-table finish, JR bravely called wrong at
the coin toss and Triangle took to the floor.
Opening the bowling was Scott Males and
for a change, John Ryan, who were initially backed
up by solid fielding which soon deteriated to the standard
usually associated with Portland during this season's indoor
games. With Jones acting as wicketkeeper in the absence
of either Dave Blackman or Grant Neven, there were laughs
aplenty as he managed to stop the ball with almost every
part of his anatomy except for his gloved hands. Team player/manager,
Richard Stewkesbury, was patrolling the leg side wall with
distinction, and it was that precise area that Weymouth's
opener Andy Jarvis targeted for easy runs. Jarvis gave a
master class in the art of batting indoors as he effortlessly
prodded the ball into the corners, as well as working the
angles off the side walls and retired on 25 just a few balls
into the 3rd over.
Scott Males finally made a breakthrough
as he combined with the captain to dismiss the remaining
opener, as Ryan held a smart catch. Bill Trevett then replaced
Ryan after his 2nd over, and Scott bowled out his three
allowing Stewkesbury to take over. Lehal came in to replace
another retiree, joining Michael Pearce at the crease, and
this pairing proceeded to take quite a fancy to Stewkesbury's
gentle leg breaks as Weymouth piled on the runs. Trevett
pulled off his weekly caught and bowled (after ducking under
a potential catch during Stewkesbury's previous over),
removing Lehal who tried to drive him for six.
The next over was to be The Duke's last,
and it nearly included a run out, as Pearce prodded
a ball straight to Morris and started running, the ball
was tossed to the Jones, who for some reason known only
to himself, slid towards the stumps, missed the ball completely
obliterating everything in his path, as Hugh Lawes jogged
in safely. Lawes then became Stewkesbury's first victim
of the night as the big man finished his spell with fine
figures of 1-57. Ryan and Trevett finished off the innings
as Jarvis returned to guide Weymouth to a very reasonable
203-4.
John Ryan sent out himself with Scott, and
the captain was nearly back on the balcony quicker than
he expected when an appeal for a stumping was given by Jones
at square up in the viewing gallery, but not by Stewkesbury
standing at square leg on the shop floor. After a short
debate between the two line judges, it was decided to go
with the Ginger Biscuit's decision seeing as he was the
appointed square leg umpire, Hugh Lawes continued his barrage
of leg side deliveries and the over ended amicably. Ryan
was then dismissed in the next over as he fell to a delivery
that kept low off the bowling of Trevor Warren, bringing Trevett
to the crease.
Scott then hit his customary cuts for singles
off Lawes, and was there to see Trevett get out to
a low Warren delivery and he was replaced by Morris. He lasted just 3 deliveries, hitting
a fine cover drive for just a single, then perishing in
the same manner as those before him when another delivery kept
low and removed the bails. In came Jones, still suffering
from his efforts behind the stumps, but proved stubbornly
resistant to all that Weymouth could bowl at him, and was
soon joined by Stewkesbury after Males was dismissed. The
tailenders added a few runs with some gusto, especially
Richard who clubbed Lehal into Redlands' version of cow
corner, before he was run out and stayed to watch Jones
protect his average as Triangle finished on 116-5.
Portland B 133-4 lost to Dorchester 230-2
Richard Stewkesbury's
rag-tag band of merry men were up next, which consisted
of all but 2 of the team that played the previous game.
JR sat out as Jones was relieved of wicketkeeping duties
by Tony Quayle who was making his debut in this season's
indoor league after recovering from a hernia operation,
and Mark Nott replaced Bill Trevett after the first over. The
coin toss went ahead, and Stewkesbury declared that the
B side should take to the field as 4-man Dorchester were
batting.
Scott took the new
ball and immediately was on the spot, putting Dorset's captain,
Rintoul, under pressure and was rewarded with his wicket
when Trevett took a fine catch at mid off before departing
upstairs for square leg duties. Tony Quayle, who should
by now be familiar with the rules of this version of the
game, then marched to the bowler's end as he wrongly thought
that the team's changed ends in the manner of the traditional
outdoor version. After Quayle returned to his rightful place
behind the stumps, Nott was brought into the attack immediately
and repaid his faith shown in him by the skip by launching
a succession of wides down the leg side to test out his
uncle behind the stumps. Marc got rid of his jitters in
his remaining overs and bowled a straighter line and was
unlucky to end up empty handed.
Dorchester had got
over the quick loss of Rintoul, as Pete Diffey and Brian
Keegan had obviously paid attention during Weymouth's innings
as they found scoring easy if you hit it in the corners,
patrolled by the eagle-eyed duo of Jones and Stewkesbury.
Keegan was lucky to still be at the crease as he spooned
a dolly of a catch off a Nott straight 'un, but somehow
Morris conspired to spill the ball. With his confidence
high, he was given the ball to replace Mark, and due to
a combination of sloppy fielding and a sudden attack of
the yips, Morris was replaced after one over going for what
seemed at the time an expensive 21 runs.
Someone needed to stop
this runaway express train that was Dorchester's innings,
as at the halfway point they were past 100 with just one
of their four wickets down. Richard Stewkesbury entered
the attack and Keegan soon departed as he reached his 25,
bringing Sean Walbridge to the middle. After being beaten
by the flight and guile of Triangle's finest (and only)
leg spinner, Dorchester's captain with his aide, Diffey,
then set about reaching the 200 mark.
They did this with
consummate ease as first Diffey was replaced with Keegan,
and then Walbridge with Diffey, as the Triangle attack of
Stewkesbury and Jones were under siege as that darned orange
sphere kept hurtling back at them much faster than they
were bowling it. Stewkesbury finally got his reward as Quayle
took a neat stumping to remove Walbridge, but it didn't
improve his figures greatly as he ended with 1-61 off his
12 ball stint. Jones saw the warning signs but was unable
to interpret them as he went for 33 off his 2nd over, as
the four men of Dorchester notched up a very impressive
230-2.
Knowing that a quick
start to the innings was needed if they were to even threaten
Dorchester's score, Stewkesbury sent out Jones and Males
to open proceedings. With the opposition operating without
a wicketkeeper (remember this fact for later kids) 2 fielders
on the back wall and one on the off side, Rintoul opened
the bowling, putting Jones on the back foot from the start
with a brute of a bouncer that had the big man rattled.
A couple of wides later and only a single to his name, Jones
passed his examination and swapped ends with Scott, who
was then cleaned up first ball by Pete Diffey.
Tony Quayle came in
at three and used the lack of a leg side field to good effect
as he made Jones run at every opportunity. Somehow Jones
reached his retirement before Quayle, and was replaced by
Tony Morris who dispatched Keegan for four off his first
delivery, and then was nearly run out by Quayle without
facing another, as the veteran reached his 25 and moved
upstairs. The captain came to the crease and looked to poke
and prod the ball for runs, but then hit his customary shot
for 4. His next shot was his famed late cut, hit into the
corner adjacent to Diffey, calling Morris through to the
danger end, Stewkes was run out at the bowler's end as Diffey
took the safe option. Jones returned to the action and his
first action was to hit the ball straight at Diffey, who
fumbled the ball but ran Morris out after a very late call
from Jones.
Quayle and Jones were
back together again and in the remaining few balls, Jones
reached a credible 38* with Quayle just adding a single
to his retirement score, ending on 26* as Triangle limped
home to 4-man Dorchester with 133-4 to their name.
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