Sat 13th August 2011

 

Sway II 78-0, Burley II 77  Sway won by 10 wickets

 

Sway II hosted Burley II with the visitors, following some internal issues, only able to put out 8 players. Sway skipper Pete Bennet, unaware at that stage that Burley were so short, took the logical step after having won the toss to put Burley in to bat on a soggy wicket. Burley for their part clearly had a plan to bat for as long as they possibly could. This combined with tight bowling and the damp pitch meant that runs were going to be as rare as a Dave Hurrell's comb. From the first couple of overs it was clear it was not going to be an exciting day in the field for Sway with 4 out of the first 6 overs being maidens. In the second over Dave Marshall (9-4-15-1) clean bowled M Rapson bringing in the belligerent Ray Gunn to join A Martin. With both Marshall and Matt Bramwell bowling tight lines and Burley understandably not keen to take risks, the game plodded on slowly - not helped by Gunn's Trott-like preparations and Marshall indulging in idle gossip with the Burley umpire before every ball. Burley eventually plodded to 21 off 13 overs when Sam Nailor was introduced at the pavilion end, albeit with an injury forcing him to bowl off a few paces. Nevertheless in his 2nd over he bowled A Martin for 5 bringing in left hander A Moorman. There followed an even slower period of play with not a single run off 5 overs. The next wicket did not fall until the 28th over by which point Burley had reached 49 - Moorman was comfortably caught by Ross Clark at point off the ever-tidy Will Woodfine (7-3-7-1). Sway kept expecting Burley to up the rate, but clearly worried about the tail/lack of players Burley kept their powder dry. It seemed that Burley were content to bat out the 42 so. Sway introduced spinner Nathan David (5-2-9-0) but this did not excite the Burley batsmen, so needing wickets for points, Marshall suffered the ignominy of being replaced at the Hare end by "lanceur de tourte" F-J Charton. Whilst his over did not pick up a wicket it did at least excite the Burley batsman sufficiently to play some strokes, allowing the returning Matt Bramwell (8-2-10-2) at the other end to pick up a couple of clean bowled beauties to finish with 8-2-10-2. Sam Nailor (6.4-2.21-3) then returned at the other end in the 40th over, first eventually removing  Gunn for 36, then having veteran B Price caught and bowled for a golden to leave Burley all out for 76.

In reply, despite a decent spell of bowling from A Martin, Sway knocked off the runs in 17 overs without losing a wicket. Despite far from easy batting conditions, Ross Clark (46) and Dan Stevenson (22) played some fine strokes to wrap up a comprehensive if rather one sided victory.