OK... I know it's late and I should go to bed blah blah blah...
but just finished a fishing great 1-dayer I had to tell everyone about...
Playing on Pro, 3rd ODI of a full tour of England by my club side (dead rubber after getting thumped in the first 2)
I lost the toss on an absolute Road and England had no hesitation in batting. They took advantage of the conditions and rollicked along, especially early against my pacemen with the runrate at one point being nearly 9 an over. My spinners managed to slow the rate down and make some key breakthroughs to limit the total to 266 all out in 44overs (has anyone ever had the AI bat out the 50 overs?)
Wickets were shared around, 5 to the spinners (who bowled 20 overs) and 5 to the quicks, an lbw, 5 catches by the keeper (4 from spin) and 4 field catches; still no slip catches
In response I stared strongly being 20 after 3 overs before losing an opener to a fine feather behind off Broad. My number 3 came in though and batted steadily while my other opener continued to attack. He was on course for a great 50 (my first in Pro) before being dismissed for 42(30) by a "magic catch" caught one handed after a sweetly struck back foot drive by silly midoff
leaving the score at 2/68
This didn't worry me too much as it brought the skipper and best bat to the crease and the pair quickly move the score past the 100 and reduced the required run rate to a manageable 4.5rpo.
It was at this point I thought "It's late; I should save the game and come back to it tomorrow"... but foolishly I decided to press on...
I had successfully managed to attack Swann and Panesar after they came on first and second change respectively but one reverse sweep too many from the skipper gave Swann his first wicket and England the opening they needed, out Lbw for a well made 22(16)... 3/104
Shortly after another another "cheat" wicket
as the wicket keeper took a catch off one of those cut shots off the spinner that look and sound like it came off the face of the bat
saw me lose my number 3 who had batted sensibly for his 32(45) leaving me in trouble at 4/117 and with my 2 all-rounders at the crease
Any chance of a revival looked to have been dashed when my number 5 was given out Lbw off Panesar but a review showed that the ball had pitched
just outside the legstump and I was reprieved. This was short lived however as in his next over he again got through my defences - I thought, left armer bowling over the wicket, must be spinning past offstump and reviewed again. Turned out it was the arm ball or doosra and was crashing into off... another wicket and no reviews.. 5/125
At this point the panic started to set in not withstanding the fact I still had my keeper and an allrounder in with 30 overs to get just another 141 runs...
A procession of wickets began some trying to smash it others vainly trying to dig in and I felt like I couldn't do anything to stop it...
IN the end I was bowled out for 190 in 36overs; losing the game by 76 runs with the spinners doing the damage in the middle and Anderson coming on to take the last coupe of wickets... My no6 allrounder batted valiantly to remain not out on 36(58) but to no avail...
The main point is that (with the exception of the 2 cheap super fielder/keeper wickets I mentioned) every dismissal was my fault... caused by playing the wrong shot, poor execution, panic (and if I'm going to make excuses - fatigue; why, oh why didn't I save and quit!)
Next step on the tour is a 4 day game against Gloucestershire followed by a 3 test series (including a 3 day tour game between the second and third tests). Gonna keep it on Pro; I suspect I'm going to lose every game on this tour but when you're having so much fun losing - who the fish cares!
Just 2 issues I noticed for those who've read this far:
1) When batting against AI spinners I noticed that every time I blocked the ball they would put in a short leg and silly mid off and every time I attacked they would take them out the very next ball. I could get the AI to change the field 5 times an over doing this!
2) The way the bowlers pace (including AI) drops so drastically after just 2 or so overs. If seeing Broad bowling to me at 113kmh bothered me so much in an ODI I can only imagine how I'll feel about it during a test. Especially as bowlers do not seem to recover pace between spells or between innings
ANyway - summary - great fishing game; thanks so much @
BigAntStudios and of course @
Ross
Chris Gayle!
