Portland (M. Nott)

Scott Males

A bright, but breezy, spring afternoon greeted the return of cricket to Reforne's Jordan pitch after a seemingly endless winter. Things ran true to form from the off as a dispute between Club Secretary Grant Neven and returning guest player, Rev'd Bill Gates, over who should be skippering the side was resolved by Marco Nott taking on the responsibility of the toss. With the instructions to let the opposition bat if he called correctly, Nott's decision was influenced by the persuasive veteran Colin Grindle, and Dave Males and Gates were soon padding up. Nott immediately then withdrew his right to lead Triangle and Simon Barrett assumed the mantle of leadership.

Triangle made a steady start on an unpredictable wicket, the new strip that the groundsman had only cut a year ago and appears to still need a few seasons to rise to the standard of the more established ones alongside. Gates showed off the edge of his bat to great effect slicing a couple of boundaries, and also demonstrated his knack of counting to five and then running a quick single, much to the annoyance of Dave at the non-striker's end.

Alas Gates' ploy was to be his downfall, as he top-edged an attempted hook shot off a Holman bouncer, splitting his top lip and dislodging a tooth. Luckily paramedic Andy Randell was on hand umpiring at square leg, and patched him up enough for Pete Tombs to ferry him first to A&E Dorchester and then to a plastic surgeon in Salisbury.

The second choice skipper was rushed in to replace the injured man, and displayed the sort of patience he is renowned for by attempting to hit most deliveries to the boundary. Males was out minutes after Nott's arrival, as Dave Warne managed to squeeze a delivery through Males' defences and he was bowled off his pads. Current captain, Barrett was next in, and with Nott ran some well taken singles, thanks to incisive calling from both parties. This naturally led to a mix-up as Barrett thought there was an easy run to mid wicket, but Marco silently stood his ground, and Simon was marching back to the pavilion fuming.

Weymouth Evening League record innings scorer, Jon Dixon, made a brief two-ball cameo, missing a straight one on middle stump and subsequently complained endlessly about the state of the wicket. He was replaced by Scott Males, who helped steady the ship with Nott, as they moved the score on from a precarious 43-3, onto 96. Nott, who had already survived a drop in the outfield, chanced his arm again and this time the fielder made no mistake.

New wicketkeeper Rob Lewis made little impression as he became acquainted to the famous Triangle bounce, or lack of and was duly undone. Scott followed soon after, pulling a ball straight at the man at backward square leg, and Grant Neven was hot on his heels as he played a slower delivery back to the bowler Warne, very much in the style of Ben Doidge.

Perrenial no. 10/11 Tony Morris joined another debutant, Gary Redfearn, and the pair moved the score onto a more challenging total of 147/7, with Redfearn hitting some lusty blows for four, though Squeaker thought he was playing "too correct" on this wicket.

After a fine Mrs Stewkesbury tea, Triangle took to the field with a mix of youth and experience opening the bowling. TV's Squeaker Browne started in his usual economic fashion up the hill, with Scott Males getting to run down the slope. Males struck first, removing the young opener Armfield, and then Squeaker replied in the next over with the wicket of young Mitchum, not quite a stoater, but a fine ball nonetheless.

From then on it was a procession of Abbotsbury batsman, but all the victims of Scott, as with ruthless efficiency carved his way through the Swan's middle order taking 6 wickets in all, including the prized scalp of Grindle after facing only two balls. Scott missed out on two hattrick chances in his 6 over spell as he only surrendered 6 runs.

With the pressing need to make a game of it, Morris was tossed the ball to replace Browne, but let his captain down with a tight four overs yielding just 10 runs and made way for young Simon Proffitt - who was substituting for the injured Gates. Simon claimed his first wicket for Triangle, finally breaking the resistance of the opener John Pengelly who hit a skier to long off, only to see Morris stumble and then pull off an almost too casual one-handed catch.

Down the hill, Males had been swapped for the equally frugal Dixon, who should have claimed more than one wicket if not for some missed stumpings. Realising the only way was to hit the stumps, he eventually removed veteran Mick House. Lewis redeemed himself to take a smart stumping to remove young Warne off Proffit's bowling, much to the chagrin of Dicko, and the game was wrapped up.

Econ.

4.14

2.80

3.80

3.25

2.50

6.00

1.33

3.50

Econ.

1.00

2.83

2.75

2.50

4.55

1.00