Reading 280-4, Hetairoi 200 all out.  Result: lost by 80 runs

Having managed to get from 6 players on the Monday before the match (due to Spritzer's broken thumb & various clashing work commitments) to 11 players on the day of the match, it was with some optimism that I arrived at the Reading ground.  The first inkling that this may prove to be misplaced came when getting out of the car as I saw a women's match on the 2nd XI square where our previous matches had been played, meaning that we were in fact the day's main attraction, a fact that reflected itself in the even higher than usual standard of the opposition we were playing.

As the opposing skipper and I walked out to toss, he casually informed me that his team was made up of a couple of players from each XI (that's 1sts, 2nds, 3rds and 4ths...), plus a couple of youths.  When I lost the toss and he elected to bat on an absolute belter of a pitch, I had the feeling that this could be quite a long day.

We opened well with Hiley bowling a sprightly opening spell, and while Giles Hobson was finding it difficult to find his rhythm at the other end, the opposition was kept under some check while never really looking like losing a wicket.  An early change at both ends brought Chris Ward and Siddle into the attack, and though both initially threatened and bowled well Reading continued their progess reaching 80 odd for 0 off 21 overs.  It was at this point that we suffered our first piece of bad luck, as the increasingly dangerous looking opener was dropped off Ward by an unlucky Asif at mid off.
While Ward swiftly bowled the other opener, our man started to pick up the run rate and the #3 started off his scoring with a couple of sixes against the newly introduced debutant Richard Rowley at the other end.  Richard soon got his man, with another attempted six well held by Mark Bartholomew out on the deep midwicket boundary, but this didn't really slow the scoring rate, with each new bat apparently able to pick up where the last had left off.

Richard did eventually get the opener caught and bowled off a mishit (for 86), but an interesting decision by the home umpire, who apparently failed to see that his son had been run out by around 2 feet, spared us any sight of their lower order with both #4 and #5 making 50s in a rapid 100 stand before one of the them fell in the last over to Asif who had bowled a good death spell as Reading plundered 200 off the last 24 overs to reach 280-4.

So the target was 281 off 45 (having agreed to the Reading captain's desire for a limited overs game, due to the unlikelihood of being able to bowl a team out on such a good wicket).  We started off against one of the 1st XI openers, who was quick but didn't realise that you have to pitch it up to hit the stumps if the batsmen are playing and missing at it most of the time.  Tim Drake did hit some fine shots through the covers before the Sth African got him for 18, although the experiment of opening with Asif to hit a few quick runs ended in failure as it took a while for him to get his eye in and he was stumped off the first change spinner for 3.  

The entry of Mark Bartholomew at 3 added spice to the contest as he promptly hit the 1st XI opener (who had got 1 for 7 off 5.4 overs at this point) for
4 and 6 off consecutive balls, and another debutant Nitin Bajaj (a work colleague of mine) also looked in control as we steadily built the total toward 90 for 2 off 21.  Those with good memories will recall that this is 10 more than Reading had got at this stage, but despite the best efforts of Mark who went on something of a rampage as he took 26 off the next 3 overs before being bowled for 69, we weren't able to keep up with the required rate.  Phil Davies at 5 and Siddle at 6 were able to keep it going for a while longer but we were always slipping slightly further behind, and once Davies had been caught by a brilliant one handed diving catch at square leg for 8 and Siddle had gone for a rapid 39, caught one-handed at ankle height by long on going for his fourth consecutive boundary, we added only a few more to our total to finish 200ao.

In the end the result was a fair reflection of the relative strengths of the sides, rather than an indictment of our own performance on the day, and if we want to keep fixtures like this (and maybe even win them some time) we really need to make sure we can get full strength teams out rather than having two captains both scratching around to fill a team on different days of the weekend.

Finally, many thanks must go to yet another debutant, Tom Wrobel, who volunteered to stand in as keeper just before the match started despite having broken a finger the last time he had done the job, and made a sterling effort.

Champagne moment - has to be Mark's 4 and 6 off the opener.  Great stuff!!


PS I have added Nitin's contact details to this email - nitin.bajaj@uk.fid-intl.com