Sunshine and Cricket, a return to normality ?

A visit to Cranleigh gave the Llama 2nd eleven a chance to blow away the cobwebs and get ready for next weekend’s start of competitive cricket.

Sunshine and Cricket, a return to normality ?

Well not quite as the game was to be played against the background of Covid and to this end the teams had a pre-match welcome and Covid briefing from Paul Bedford the ECB’s Head of Leagues and Competitions.

With Cranleigh playing 2 divisions below the Llamas the (prearranged) toss was won by Cranleigh who put the Llamas into bat; but any underdog tag was soon put away as the Cranes opening bowlers of Harvey Stiles and captain Callum Cozens gave the Llama opening bats Ashwin Bhat and captain Jon Smith plenty to cope with and in the 3rd over Harvey Stiles got some lift to find the edge and Jon was well caught by Harvey’s twin Ethan at 1st slip for 4 with the score on 6 for 1.

Jordan Bunyan joined Ashwin and while they gradually got a foothold in the game with some boundaries, Cranleigh interrupted their progress in the 11th over with the score on 36 when Luke Andrews had Ashwin Bhat caught by fellow wicket keeper Otto Bellak for 4. Will Irving, who didn’t play too much league cricket last season, soon followed in the 14th over when he was bowled by Ross Kiely without scoring; the Llamas were now 45 for 3. James Halton, returning after 5 years away was caught behind by Otto Bellak for 1 to give Luke Andrews his 2nd wicket (2 for 20 from 7 overs) and at 50 for 4 in the 15th over Reigate were wobbling.

Just as Will Brewis and Jordan were beginning to lift the run rate with some boundaries to get Reigate back on track, Jordan (40 from 62) was caught behind by Otto Bellak off Sonny Clephane’s leg spin with the Llamas now 89-5 in the 25th over. Will Brewis (30 from 49) followed when bowled by perhaps the ball of the day from Robert Harvey and Reigate were 99 for 6 in the 28th over.

The lower order needed to give the Llamas something to defend and Harry McInley and Jonny Flanders set about their task with Jonny getting five 4’s in his better than a run a ball 40 and Harry three 4’s in his almost as quick 32. Their stand of 53 was broken when Harry became wicket keeper Otto Bellak’s 4th catch, this time off the bowling of returning opening bowler Harvey Stiles and 152 for 7 in the 35th over was soon 168 for 8 in the 37th as Ollie Thilo was caught by Will Tristem to give Harvey Stiles his 3rd wicket (3 for 37 from 8 overs).

The tail was far from finished as Toby Briggs smashed three 4’s and a maximum and sprinted to 22 off just 9 deliveries and with Jonny Flanders continuing to enjoy himself; they took the Llamas to 200 before Toby was caught by Sonny Clephane to give the Cranes captain Callum Cozens a deserved wicket. Last man Mobeen Tahir was not out on 1 as the Llamas finished their 40 overs on 202 for 9 which was an excellent recovery after being 99 for 6 in the 28th over.

The young Cranleigh team (all under 19) had bowled well and it was time to see how they fared with the bat against the Llama opening attack of Toby Briggs and Ollie Thilo. Early success for Toby as he had Josh Pike lbw for 2 in the 3rd over and 3 for 1 became 10 for 2 in the 6th as Ollie had James Green lbw also for 2.

A change of bowlers saw Mobeen Tahir bowl with his usual nagging accuracy at one end and while Jonny Flanders had a good day with the bat, he struggled to find his run up and with 4 no balls (one of which would have been a clean bowled wicket) his 2nd over went for 22 runs. Harry McInley replaced Jonny.

Cranes opener Ross Kiely and Ethan Stiles were looking comfortable when Mobeen asked for a field change and then saw his change draw immediate success when he had Ethan Siles (23) caught by said field change in the form of Harry McInley to stall the Cranes progress at 87 for 3 in the 21st over. Mobeen finished his 8 over spell with 1 for 18 and was replaced by Will Irving to give the Llamas spin from both ends.

It was Will who struck in his 1st over to interrupt the Cranes progress getting Cranes opener Ross Kiely caught by Harry McInley for an excellent 54 with the score now 96 for 4. Harry’s turn next as he got Robert Harvey (13) lbw on the full and 109 for 5 soon became 118 for 6 in the 30th over as Will Tristem raced down the wicket but was beaten by the spin and Ashwin duly did the honours with a stumping to give Harry his 2nd wicket. Next over (31st) and it’s Will Irving’s turn next as he entices a skyer by Harvey Stiles (1) to have a caught and bowled and to leave the Cranes wobbling at 119 for 7.

With less than 10 overs to go the Llamas were in the driving seat but the Cranes weren’t finished and wicket keeper Otto Bellak and Sonny Clephane took the score to 143 in the 36th over when as Will Brewis bowled a no ball Sonny (18) attempted a run and was run out by a throw from Toby Briggs. Meanwhile Otto Bellak (34no) was just keeping the Cranes in the game until Will Irving bowled Luke Andrews for a duck and then finished their innings having Cranes captain Callun Cozens caught behind by Ashwin, also for a duck as the Cranes innings finished in the 38th over at 170 all out.

While the early bowlers set the innings up with some tight bowling Toby 4 overs 1 for 13, Ollie 6 overs 1 for 18, and Mobeen 8 overs 1 for 18; it was the spin twins who did the damage with Harry’s 2 for 34 from his 8 overs and Will 4 for 35 from his 7.1.
The Priory were given a run for their money by the young Cranes who are 2 divisions below the Llamas so we can expect a harder test from our Challenge Cup group that contains all Premier 2nd eleven teams.

1 pm starts are programmed to finish at 6.40 for 40 overs so this week’s finish time of 7.15 (with a 1.30 start) was about par. The 6 over sanitising does interrupt the game and the young Cranes were reminded no sweat or saliva and various non striking players needed reminding about standing wide of the blue line; and this Umpire needed reminding how to count to 6...I’m using Jonny’s 10 ball over as an excuse). But all said if that is the price to pay to get a game on then we’ll happily accept our lot. A reminder to the bowlers that next week leg side wides are back. All 11 had a bat; admittedly some longer than others, and 7 had a bowl, ideal practice in match conditions and it was pleasing to see Will Brewis test his skills at this level; but it won’t be seen to be a complete return to normal until we have Cricket TEAS