Cavs a few runs short but run Dugongs close

This fairly dull game was brought to life in the final quarter thanks to some spirited bowling and nervy batting. CCOW (nickname ‘The Dugongs’ surely?) had bossed the game up until then with a strong performance with ball and then bat. But, after racking up an untroubled opening partnership of 90 in 15 overs in chasing down the Cav’s sub-par 177, the oppo began to falter. First, it was the canny, accurate spin of Jiva Delambert (8 overs for 22 runs) who made them more watchful. Then, as the overs began to run down, it was great death bowling from Sumair Qasim and Manoj Rajarethinam who nearly managed to steal the Cavs a win from a no-hope situation. In the end, the Dugongs needed 4 runs off the last two overs, with two new batters at the crease, and it was just, just possible we could nick it. But, they managed to scramble the four runs to win with an over to spare.
Earlier on the Cavs had struggled to impose themselves against a good bowling attack. The pitch was a great one for cricket, with pace and bounce for the bowlers and batsmen to enjoy. The decidedly sharp Barber was a handful at the start and the Cavs were lucky not to be in big trouble early on, especially as their two best batters had not yet arrived at the ground. After 25 overs we were 88 for 3 and going nowhere slowly. But Brijesh Bharatiya (53) and Rhys Fletcher (44) combined well to accelerate the scoring and give the Cavs something to bowl at. Unfortunately they both departed at the same time and the new batsmen had to face the returning Barber, which was not easy, despite the ball becoming softer and batting getting easier. The Cavs would have to bowl with that ball and so knew in their hearts the total of 177 was not enough, and so it proved to be.