14/05/2000 v LUTON VILLAGE

Won

A lovely ground awaited the Dartechs bowlers, the covers obviously had been put to good use, because the pitch at the services ground was rock hard. Bob Dunkley and skipper Coverly opened up, and did well to restrict the Luton openers. In fact the elder of the batsmen was struggling so much to find a run, he ran out his partner as he desperately tried to find a single on the leg side. Stringer getting to the ball quickly and returning a “safe” throw to keeper Steene.

Jason came on almost as soon as he arrived, and bowled well, Coverly dropping a straight forward , though quite sharp , catch at slip. A second run out courtesy of a stunning throw by Adam Deal., left Luton on 51 for 2. The Luton skipper found Jason difficult to deal with, and following a fast ball that thudded into his pad, somehow wrenched his shoulder and had to retire hurt. (He later returned at the end of the innings to provide an easy wicket for the skipper.). Richard bowled economically, without ever looking particularly threatening on the flat pitch. Neil replaced him, and found it difficult to find a consistent line and length. Luton . Martin too found containment difficult and Luton were moving along at 3 runs per over. A good catch by Jock behind the stumps, and an even better stumping from Martins bowling put Dartechs back in charge , with Luton on 113 for 6.

However some judicious late order slogging, including a flat six over cover from Allens bowling, allowed Luton to reach 147, with Coverly picking up same late order wickets, including 2 wickets in his last two balls- a hat trick beckoning in the next match. A good tea- (some rather tasty cakes and scones for future reference) was followed by a bad batting performance. Lawton and Stringer started off well enough against some tight bowling, but Steve was adjudged LBW off the front foot, and Clive played on after trying his favourite shot through gully. Worse was to come as Andy Steene was bowled after hitting a glorious cover drive. Neil was also bowled , which left Andy May and Jason Allen to stage a mini recovery. They took Dartechs to the fifty leaving a gettable target of less than 100 in the last 20 overs. However Dartechs were to get less than ten more runs, as the Campbell brothers cleaned up. The end was not without drama however. A pre-arranged short single between Bob and Jonathan saw Bob haring down the wicket towards Jonathan who stood looking aghast. There was no stopping Bob though and Jonathan finally had to leave the safety of the crease for a rather dubious run. The batting had better get going at some stage if the Coverly captaincy- he handled the bowling rather well- is going to bear fruit. Martin gave the showers 9 out of 10- only the presence of Jock in the communal portion preventing the ultimate accolade.