Sat 21st May

2nds record goes at last

Sway 2nd XI saw their superb almost 2-year unbeaten run finally come to an end after being beaten by Parley III at Jubilee Fields. That said, without meaning any disrespect to Parley who put in a tight performance, Sway managed to beat themselves following a poor performance out in the field. As a Parley veteran politely put it- "If you bowl 77 extras you can't expect or deserve to win a game!". Sway fielded first and things did not really get off to a good start with a steady supply of wides being topped up with a dollop of byes. Whilst Sway did claim a wicket with the score on just 10, even this came as a result of a comedy of errors - the batsmen having taken two already, took another following an overthrow then their opener managed to run himself out whilst going for a cheeky 4th run! Sway opening bowlers Sam Nailor and Matt Bramwell troubled the batsmen when they hit the right spots, but this was too infrequent and as there were too many extras the Parley batsmen really did not have to do much in the way off hitting - as was quite clear from their between overs discussions, they were happy about this. Skipper Pete Bennet turned to Charlie Smith who had just returned from South Africa. With perhaps jetlag to blame for the mother of all dolly drops a few overs before, Smith was determined to make a breakthrough and this he did when the Parley opener and skipper gloved one through to the Bennet with the score on 42. Twenty one runs later Smith struck again, this time following a diving catch at first slip by Dave Marshall, his 50th catch for the club. With Steve How on first team duty, U16 Nathan David was called up as a replacement spinner - a tough ask given his relative inexperience. David, who is a great prosect for the future, did pretty well and was unlucky not to pick up a couple of wickets. Nevertheless, Sway missed the miserly control that How had bought in the previous two games.

After David's spell, Dave Marshall replaced him at the pavilion end producing a tight but wicketless first spell and it appeared that the Parley batsmen were biding their time, keeping wickets in hand before having a go later on. New Parley player, the clearly experienced M Sinha settled in slowly and began to pick up the run rate as the Sway openers came back on. The same control problems returned, albeit simply by stringing a few good balls in a row together, Bramwell induced a false drive with Dan Stevenson taking the catch. With Nailor in particular suffering, Bennet switched to Marshall again to bowl out the innings from one end and Chris Hammond at the other. Marshall did manage to trap Sinha LBW for 33 before he truly took off, whilst at the other end Hammond took a very sharp caught and bowled.  After the 42 overs (which was actually effectively 49!) Parley finished up on 193-6, Willie Wide top scoring on 59 with Billy Bye, Nobby Noball and Larry Legbye contributing a further 18 between them!

 
In reply the Parley opening bowling duo of Payne and Elrick started with an accurate and at times pacy start. Rick How was bowled by Payne with the score at 10 and at 33, fellow opener Ed Golding was caught out. With Sway really struggling with a run rate with just 48 scored off the first 20 overs raising the required rate to almost 7 an over. A partnership between Dan Stevenson and Chris Hammond began to accelerate the rate, however, Stevenson  was bowled for 12 by the  speedy Sami Chaudharry with the score on 62. This brought in fellow big hitter Marshall to join Hammond with both players in pretty good nick. Hopes were raised for the partnership following some lusty blows, however, disaster struck when the marginally more fleet of foot Marshall called Hammond back for a second run which he did not make and was run our for 22. With Marshall's now shouldering the burden for the big hitting, new batsman Steve Hannibal played an excellent innings full of concentration - defending the good and punishing the bad. The pair put on 61 and Sway were still in the game when Hannibal was finally dismissed for a fine 24 with the score on 127. Just a few runs later Sway's chances deteriorated further when Marshall was caught on the boundary for 30. Cameo innings from Sam Nailor, Charlie Smith and Nathan David kept Sway in with a chance, needing 20 or so off the last couple of overs. However, in the penultimate over last man Nathan David was bowled leaving the skipped Bennet unbeaten on 13 as Sway fell 13 runs short.
 
In conclusion, not a good day at the office and it was a shame that such a fine record should go in such circumstances. Net of extras, Parley would have scored 116 and Sway 148 giving Sway a victory by 32 runs - therein lies the importance of making the batsman try and hit the red thing with a stick! On the bright side, there was an encouraging and educational debut for Nathan David at this level, and an excellent batting display by Steve Hannibal who like David stepped into the breach. Finally, if you were a gambler you would still fancy this Sway side - they played very poorly but nearly won the game against a decent Parley side. Given that hopefully it will be almost impossible to bowl like that again, even a moderate improvement should get the team back to winning ways as on paper the team is at least a match for anyone in the league.
 

 

 

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