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23rd April - Division 2: Malahide v The Hills 2

The Division 2 league season started a week earlier than I had expected, with the Easter Saturday fixture in the Village where Malahide entertained The Hills 2.  With more goings than comings over  the close season, both sides were weaker than they were in 2011, but while Malahide were able to field a team close to full strength, The Hills were not.

Malahide won the toss and elected to bat.  Nick Turner played a couple of nice shots before getting in a tangle and chipping a return catch to Luke Clinton.  That was 14-1 in the 5th over, and positive batting by skipper Callum Riches took the score to 36, when he was bowled by Mal Byrne for 20, the last ball of the 10th over.

Conor Geraghty, playing in a competitive match for the first time since breaking his leg in 2009, had taken root but not offered a shot in anger.  Jimmy Govan came and went, caught and bowled by Mal Byrne for 4 off a delivery that stopped.  John Pryor's score quickly surpassed that of Geraghty as The Hill's bowling power play yielded 12-1, a good effort by Byrne and first change Nadim Akhtar.

Pryor looked in good nick, and would have scored more quickly had his partner put some some thought and effort into running between the wickets.  But Geraghty clearly reckoned that backing up was something you did to files on a computer (if you remembered).  The no. 3 had ground his way to 7 in the 20th over when second change Andy Moore served up a half volley outside off stump which Geraghty drove beautifully through cover.

This arrival in double figures perked him up, and while his running was still poor, he batted much more positively, playing a couple of nice shots off his legs, and the drinks break was reached at 97-3.  Amir Raza had replaced Nadim at the castle end, and started off with a foot fault no ball.  As he made his way back to his mark, the field scattered for the up-coming free hit.

The umpires pointed out to Nadim that he couldn't change the field unless the batsman had changed, and there followed a few minutes of discussion and several false starts as it was established how little change was no change.  When was somebody inside the circle in the covers saving one, and when was he saving two?  (If Nadim were standing at slip would he be saving one or two?)

Later, Amir produced another no ball, and the batsman was stumped off the free hit.  There were more silly exchanges as to how far down the track you had to be before you were run out and not stumped.  (I know that the striker has to be attempting a run to be run out, and so did Mick Dwyer behind the stumps, but The Hills needed a wicket, and were prepared to chance their arm!)

Shortly after drinks they got their wicket when Geraghty was bowled for 26 by Raza.  If 103-4 could have been converted to 110-5, the Wilberries were back in the match.  They thought they had done just that when Howard McDonnell beat Pryor outside off stump and he, Dwyer and a few others went up for the catch.  I heard nothing from the third man boundary, and umpire JJ Labuschagne obviously saw nothing, because his finger stayed in his pocket.

The Hills players were not amused, and there was some more mild silliness.  Meanwhile, newly arrived player/coach Paul Tweddle announced himself with some meaty thumps down the ground.  Pryor had lost his fluency and then lost his patience, lifting Luke Clinton high to McDonnell on the mid wicket boundary.  The lad from the land of black and amber pouched the catch, Pryor gone for 33 with the score on 139-5.

Andy Pyne came in at 7, and immediately tucked one off his legs to Kamran Butt at square leg.  The catch went down, and with it any chance of a Hills victory.  Tweddle and Pyne put bat to ball, and the score reached 170 after 38 overs.  At this point Butt left the field with an injured hand, and before the watching Mark Dwyer had time to tog out and come on as sub, Malahide called the batting power play.

By the time Mark joined uncle Mick on the field, the score was rocketing toward 200 and Tweddle was past his fifty.  Andy Pyne was caught behind for 26 in the last over of the power play, which ended on 209-6.  The final seven overs yielded another 51 runs as Tweddle moved on to 65*, and Peter Saville (8) and Glenn Kirwan (14) brought out their long-handled bats.

Nadim Akhtar kept his line and length to return 2/36 off his ten overs.  Luke Clinton took 2/45 and Mal Byrne 2/50 off their tens.  McDonnell was a little wayward with his 1/68 (two lots of five wides), but a little unlucky (one catch dropped, one non-catch not dropped, a very tough return catch not sticking).  There were 35 wides among the 50 extras.

During the interval I discoved that Malahide had been penalised for batsmen running down the pitch.  JJ is not an unobtrusive umpire, and Azam Ali Baig had joined in with the consultations and arm waving, and I hadn't picked up on the penalty among all the other gesticulation.  Back in the early 1990s the late Cecil Dixon advised me to 'count to six and keep your mouth shut.'  Another umpire who tried to do that was Sean Moore.  I was saddened to hear of Sean's death on the morning of the match.

So The Hills started their innings on 5, and quickly lost a visibly nervous McDonnell, bowled  in Chase's second over for a single.  Mal Byrne and Amir Raza like to hit the ball, and this they did to take the score to 41 in the 10th over.  Then Byrne was glaringly lbw to Saville for 9, and in the next over Raza offered a return catch to first change Callum Riches.  It was accepted, and Raza departed for 19 out of 43.

In came Kamran Butt, who was promptly shooed away by the umpires because he hadn't served his time since being substituted in the field.  There was a thought that he might have been sent back to the hutch because Raza's catch had been off a bump ball, but that opinion didn't hold, and in came Nadim, bringing some smelling salts to treat Luke Clinton's vertigo caused by batting at four!

While Lukie defended and nurdled, only occasionally bringing out the trademark slog over a squarish cow corner, Neddie has a worse defence than Arsenal's, and knows only the nine iron to a straightish cow corner.  Nevertheless, the bowling power play yielded no more wickets, and it was 60-3 off 15 overs.

The score had reached 76 in the 20th over when Nadim finally found Peter Saville at straight cow, Andy Moore came and went, lbw to Stevie Smith, then Clinton was bowled by Jimmy Govan for 23.  Butt came and went for the second time, bowled by Smith.  Jason Magee and Mick Dwyer kicked a few singles and wides to take the score to 98-7 off 27.1 overs.

Then Magee was stumped by Tweddle off Govan for 8.  Next ball Dean Robinson was lbw, and next ball young Maritz bowled.  The Govan'or had a hat-trick and 4/7 to go with Smith's 3/18.  Ernie Extras was joint top scorer (Willie Wides 13).

The Hills 2 can only get better, but they've a tough couple of weeks ahead of them.  On the May bank holiday they take on North County 2 at Milverton, and the following weekend is the return match with Malahide.  The light at the end of the tunnel is the home match with Old Belvedere on the 22nd!

We'll know more about Malahide after next weekend's matches against Leinster in the league and Rush in the Irish Senior Cup preliminary round.  I hope coach Tweddle knows some good drills for running between the wickets.