12/09/1999 v HALLS

los

On a very hard flat track halls started off quickly (or so we thought) but lost tow relatively early wickets as Steve Lawton caught a good catch in the covers to dismiss one opener and jock made a magnificent legside stumping from Bob Dunkley look easy. However this just brought in two of Hall's first team players including their imported Australian.

They proceeded to hammer our bowlers all round the park. The only saving grace being that the temperatures were not as high as the day before. The fielding on the whole was not bad but Dartechs were made to rue at least 3 dropped catches one when the Aussie was on about sixty (he went on to score over one hundred more!)

Jock was also denied a stumping from the other batsmen- this was almost certainly out and he also went on to score a massive 97. The innings almost dissolved into high farce as the batsmen tried to outdo each other by crashing the ball into the Bowls pitch. Several octogenarians were seen scurrying for their lives whilst the others stood on benches peering over the hedge looking out for the next six coming their way. A massive total of 340 for 3 was posted beating the previous highest score against us by over 70 runs. Clive and Steve opened the innings and Clive uncharacteristically got off to a blistering start by crashing three fours in the first over and 8 in all It was clear that the pitch was so good it allowed extravagant stroke play and Hall's total was put into some kind of perspective. Steve was out to a lose shot from a full length delivery and a little later Clive almost followed when he spooned the ball to cover.

However the atmosphere between two sides (never good!) worsened as Clive stood his ground in the beilef that it may have been a bump ball Bob Dunkley umpiring concurred and a few choice epithets emerged from down under (and from the slips).

Tony Day continues his dreadful run of bad luck as he skied the ball to extra cover here he was caught magnificently for a duck. Jock crashed a number of fours but eventually fell for 32 just several runs short of scoring 500 in the season. Bob Moore Neil Priddy and Andrew Deal scored useful runs of the slower bowlers and even Martin was seen advancing down the track to belt the ball into the car park.

Only Adam Deal failed to cash in collecting a golden duck and ending a rather sorry match . (Better luck next year Adam!) Old Dartechs eventually scored 195 however it was always a vain chase for the runs . At least some pride was restored but one cannot really call this an enjoyable match (especially not for the bowlers), due to the amount of bad feeling between the two sides.