Croesy 3rds v Blaina Match Report

This should be on the Croesyceiliog Cricket Club Website imminently, but here it is in advance. My personal bowling figures were 10 overs, 3 maidens, 0 wickets for 27 runs. Economical as I usually am but none of the all important Ws:

This week the thirds were away at Blaina. The skipper won the toss (first time for everything!) and following last week’s sterling efforts with the ball decided to insert Blaina, reasoning the track would dry out and become easier as the day progressed. How wrong he was.

Andrew Hagger and Richie Bean opened up and kept it reasonably tight without threatening too much. Soon the batsmen settled and started to push the ball around at ease. Catches were dropped and heads went down as the afternoon progressed and the runs started to pile up. A great spell at the end by Gareth Berry (including a hat-trick) and tight bowling by Owen Hagger meant that Blaina could only add 40 from their last 10 overs, despite being at one point 200-0 and they ended with 270-5. Best bowling was Gareth with 4-64 off 10.

Obviously this would be a tall but not insurmountable run chase given the depth of the batting talent available. Unfortunately early wickets put a dent in our chances from the off, and the batsmen were unable to establish innings and build a score in the face of unthreatening but accurate bowling. Wickets continued to fall regularly with Croesy limping through to 93 all out at the end.