Don’t Rain on My Parade!

Do you remember when Cricket was played in warm weather under blue skies ? So far this season it has been cold weather and rain and this Saturday proved to be no different with drizzle greeting the teams to delay the 12 o’clock start. That we started at all was thanks to Brickers and the willingness of both teams to play in less than ideal conditions. A 12.40 start with a reduced interval meant 48 overs a side would be possible.
Smudger won the toss and asked Spencer to bat. Hutch and Toby opened the bowling and Hutch was first to hit the stumps but unfortunately it was from a free hit for a no ball that was a rare blemish on a fine opening spell. A bouncer from Toby then hurried Spencer opener Aymun Ali (17) into skying one to Nick Rotsey to see Spencer 37-1 in the 9th over. Hutch, bowling his 10 overs in one spell (10-0-29-1), got his reward when Jack Hunter-Lees (3) chopped onto his stumps for 42-2 in the 12th over. Toby’s turn again but not bowling as this time Toby, fielding at short fine leg, produced a direct hit to run out Richard Fleming (5) at the bowler’s end and peg Spencer back at 52-3 in the 15th over.

Connor Newbold and Will Brewis were next to bowl and it was role reversal from last week when Connor took the wickets and Will bowled well without reward; for this week Connor’s spell of 10-0-31-0 kept Spencer in check but this time it was Will Brewis who took the wickets. In his 2nd over (the 24th), having just removed the slip, Will had Saqib Malik (11) caught behind by Jordan Bunyan for 78-4 and followed this up in his next over when Rory Haughton caught Adam Caddy (2) at mid on for 86-5 in the 26th over. Will wasn’t finished and got his 3rd wicket (7-1-18-3) having Freddie Horler (8) caught behind by Jordan for 104-6 in the 30th over.

While 6 wickets were falling opener James Smith was underpinning the Spencer innings and he passed his 50 in the 34th over. Nick Rotsey (4-0-18-0) and Harry McInley joined the attack and with the score on 127 in the 38th over Harry got the 7th wicket to fall having Freddie Eltringham (11) out lbw in attempting to sweep.

With just 10 overs left Spencer opener James Smith and Captain Simon McConnell accelerated the scoring but then lost Simon McConnell (9) when he was stumped by Jordan Bunyan off Macca’s bowling (7-0-24-2) for 153-8 in the 44th over. Toby came back for his 2nd spell and bowled Babar Hussain (1) for his 2nd wicket (10-2-50-2) and Spencer were 154-9 in the 45th over.

Tail ender Cameron Ponsonby (7 n.o.) ably supported opener James Smith in getting the Spencer score up to 181-9 after their allotted 48 overs; which included an excellent 87 n.o. from opener James Smith for Spencer together with a faultless fielding performance from the Llamas.
Some parts of the Spencer innings were played in drizzle, some in light rain, some in heavy rain and even some when it wasn’t raining at all; so hats off (or given the rain should it be hats on ?) to both sets of players.

Jordan Bunyan and Smudger opened for the Llamas and built a 50 partnership against Spencer bowlers spinner Cameron Ponsonby (1st 5 overs 0-15), seamer Jack Hunter-Lees (3-0-21-0) and spinner Saqib Malik (7-0-39-0) but it was Freddie Horler who produced a fine 10 over spell of off-spin (10-2-23-1) who broke the partnership in the 13th over when he bowled Jordan (20) to see the Llamas 56-1.

Henry Tye joined Jon Smith and the pair gradually increased the tempo before Jon was next to go, out lbw for 46 to Adam Caddy (4-0-23-1) for 102-2 in the 26th over. Rory Haughton in next to join Henry Tye and the pair proceeded to mirror their innings from the previous week as they managed the chase for the runs; defending when needed, punishing the bad balls and running well between the wickets. Henry was out for 35 when he was caught at mid off by a diving catch from Spencer captain Simon McConnell off the bowling of Cameron Ponsonby (9-1-45-1) with the score at 139-3 in the 34th over.

Will Irving replaced Henry and was soon caught hitting one to the deep mid wicket boundary; however all was not as it seemed as the (one handed) catcher was Galer who was walking round the outside of the boundary so 6 runs was the outcome. Will continued to score rapidly but fell for (21) to another smart catch by Spencer captain Simon McConnell to see the Llamas almost to their target at 176-4 in the 39th over. Harry McInley then joined Rory (41 n.o.) who hit the winning run off the 1st ball of the 41st over to see the Llamas to a win at 182-4 with almost 8 overs to spare.

While there was no outstanding man of the match performance from any individual Llama; this was a real all-round team effort with 4 different wicket takers and 5 batsmen all 20+. The Llamas, along with Wimbledon are the only 2 unbeaten sides after two games while the 2 teams the Llamas have played (Dulwich and Spencer) occupy the bottom 2 positions.

Early days !