Cirencester Cricket Club > News > December 2003 > Cirencester come close to providing cup upset
Cirencester
come close to providing cup upset
Sunday 21 December 2003
Cirencester
(133/4) lost to NALGO 2 (136/5) by 1 wicket
[Scorecard]
Cirencester put up a brave fight to knock out Division 2 side NALGO 2 but were left to lament on what might have been after a high-scoring match failed to go their way.
Captain Andy Cooper lost the toss and his team were asked to bat first. Opening batsman Rich Hudson was not at his most fluent but still managed to gather 19 runs from the first two overs to give Cirencester a competitive start.
Dan Hudson did not face a delivery until the third over but after he got off the mark with a driven six the scoring rate soared. 22 runs came from the fourth over, and although the batsman received a reprieve when he hit the roof off a no-ball, he retired after bringing up his 25 with his third 6.
Rich Hudson continued to accumulate and his excellent run of form was sustained as he also retired at 25. Unfortunately, captain Cooper was dismissed hit roof off a leading edge.
Andy Lobo has proved to be adept at the indoor game this winter and he continued a good run of scores with more precise placing of the ball into the gaps before a mix-up with Dan Hudson resulted in him being run out for 20.
Dan Robbins (c & b) and Tom Burgess (run out) both fell in quick succession in an effort to maintain the run rate but the return of Cirencester's opening batsman continued the flow of runs.
Dan Hudson's 43* was the team's highest individual score in 2003/04 in the Swindon Indoor Cricket Association and the final score of 133 was the team's highest ever total.
NALGO 2's opening batsmen ran aggressively between the wickets from the opening ball though Lobo was unfortunate to have a close LBW appeal turned down. However, in the next over the breakthrough occured when Lobo and Cooper combined well to run out Legg.
A partnership between J Davis and James appeared to have put the game beyond Cirencester but J Davis' retirement at 25 gave Cirencester a vital opening. This led to the run out of James as Dan Hudson produced a direct hit from backward point.
NALGO 2's continued to attempt to collect singles at any available opportunity but Smith chanced his arm one time too many and was run out. Three balls later Andy Cooper took an athletic high catch at cover to dismiss Morse.
The pressure was now on NALGO 2's with 43 runs required from 3 overs and this seemed to tell as the returning J Davis threw his wicket away with a suicidal run out. This led to an unsavoury incident where J Davis petuantly kicked down the stumps at the non-striker's end, almost hitting Burgess in the process.
S Davis was left to score the remaining 40 runs and Cirencester were unable to take their chances when a run out opportunity presented itself. S Davis drove the first ball of the tenth over down the ground for the winning runs and left Cirencester to realise how much their performances, both individually and collectively, have improved this year.