SDCC first Development XI match took place on Sunday against the 2015 Grade 4 champions, Portcullis CC. After a negotiation over the toss SDCC were elected to bat first on a wicket that has produced over 1,000 runs in the previous two games.
Opening up for the first time Chris was joined by Jack Baby Lamb Chops to face the new ball pairing of B Adie (0-18) and R Collinson (0-49). The opening over was calmly negotiated with just a single of the first over. The next over saw Chris stretch his arms to open his “six” account for SDCC as he launched one over the wall and this set the tone for the following 7 overs as both Chris and Jack waited for the bad ball and with a lightening outfield, the ball regularly went to the boundary. A fifty opening partnership was helped by a couple of missed chances by Portcullis, Chris being the benefactor on both occasions. The pair continued playing their shots as the opening bowlers were replaced by the off spin of O Thorpe (0-29) and medium pacer, M Hussain. Chris was able to bring up his first fifty for SDCC and was promptly retired for a good 51*. This brought Brayden to the wicket and the author has pre-warned the fielding side that “this boy hits the ball a long way”. To which Bray promptly helped a full toss over the wall to kick start his innings. Much like Chris, Brayden was assisted for a couple of missed opportunities but continued to play his shots and the gamble paid off as he too past his fifty before also retiring on 51*. Meanwhile Jack continued to occupy the crease and rotate the strike well as he was joined by Scott making his senior debut. Wickets began to fall at regular intervals after Jack (28) was bowled by Hussein (1-35), Scott (1) was bowled by Poolman (who was unfortunate to have to go off during his spell but picked up excellent figures of 3-17) and Matt (19) was caught by an excellent catch by the Portcullis skipper, Ronnie, with what was probably the hardest chance of them all – showing the others just what to do!
This brought Adam to the crease. Adam had never played cricket before turning up to winter training one day in March. He has turned up for every session since and this game provided the opportunity for Adam to get some match experience. As Poolman came on to bowl, Adam looked to play the Aberdeen FC off side trap and promptly walked out of the crease, forgetting that there is no “off side trap in cricket” as the bowler bowled. Kannan did the rest as he took a stumping to end his cricketing debut innings. Credit however, still goes to Adam for his perseverance and enthusiasm. The fall of wickets also slowed the scoring rate down as Thomas (7) was caught by Kannan off McKenzie (2-15), Gregor became Poolman’s third victim as SDCC fell to 160-6. Portcullis continued to rotate their bowlers around with Ronnie (0-10) replacing the injured Poolman.
This brought Ruben out to bat with Connor (11) and the pair were able to put 30 for the 7th wicket partnership. Portcullis, as is the nature of their club, were extremely sporting and tailored their bowling to Ruben by slowing it down considerably rather than going for the jugular as was their right. Although, Kannan (0-9) forgot about this when he bowled a relatively quick over to Ruben who having survived the over, told Connor “he did not enjoy that bowling much”. In the final over Connor was caught off the bowling of Phillip (1-15) to allow Rufus to join his son for the first time in a match to see out the last few balls as the pair took SDCC to 193-7 off their allotted 35 overs.
Tea was then served before Portcullis opened their innings with A Phillip (2) and D Elrick (7). For SDCC Matt (1-3) opened with Thomas (0-11). The bowling pair kept the batsman tied up bowling good lengths and stifled the runs and Matt was able to get the first breakthrough bowling Phillip. The next bowling pair allowed DJ Ahklaq (1-5) and Scott (0-8), bowling for the first time in a senior game, to come up and once again this bowling pair were able to keep the runs down.
The rain started to get heavier and Portcullis elected to bat one final over to see how it went and Ruben was brought on for his senior bowling debut. He was unlikely to have Mitchell get dropped trying to pull a ball that was pitched up but the chance was put down and with that the teams elected to go off due to the weather.
These games have been arranged to allow a variety of SDCC members that either train each week but are not yet ready for league cricket, our u15s who have little opportunities to play due to the lack of opposing teams, and our regular players to try to find some lost form without the pressures of playing in a league game. The end result was that this objective was reached and credit must go to Portcullis for playing the game in a friendly manner and also trying out players in different roles to ones they may normally have during their own league games.
Portcullis CC MoM: C Poolman for his 3-17 before he had to come off.
SDCC MoM: A close call between Chris and Brayden but Chris for his unbeaten 51* which was the less ugly of the two 50s scored between the two.
Highlight of the Game: Three highlights of the game. First, the last over of the SDCC innings when Ruben was on strike to Phillip and with a crowded off side field, he was able to find the gap to get Connor back on strike to loud cheers for both sides. Second during the Portcullis innings when Hussain came out to bat and was mistaken for Kannan, and the SDCC quicker bowlers asked if they could give a little payback for the quick bowling Ruben faced. The captain promptly corrected the bowlers mistaken identity! However, last but the best highlight was the friendly nature of the game that saw both teams give opportunities to players that would ordinarily not get the chance if the games were always league games.