Story The Tasmanian Green to the Baggy Green? [UPDATED!! - Greetings from Warwickshire!]

[mattfb]

Chapter : vs WA ING CUP
I was sitting in my seat with my pads on with my gloves, helmet and bat sitting next to me. I was downing the water bottles and couldn't sit still and could barely watch when Bevan was on strike as he was looking as awkward as ever. He couldn't find the gaps, and got hit twice as well as playing and missing a few times. It wasn't pretty and every time he faced up I couldn't watch. It was tense stuff and I felt I would be walking out to the middle any time soon. I had Marsh next to me with his pads on as he was coming in after me.

"Bevan is looking rusty"

"Yeah, not like him is it. Hopefully he can hang in there with Div" (Di Venuto)

"Yeah, he's going well isn't he."

And he was going very well in fact. He kept finding the gaps and some good running by Bevan and Di Venuto meant he kept scoring 2's. He kept the run rate ticking over when Bevan was struggling, and despite hitting only 1 boundary his strike rate was constantly around that 100 mark with all the 2's he was scoring. It was a difficult period to bat considering the circumstances and he was to thank for keeping the scoreboard ticking over and the run rate over 5 an over.

But unfortunately, Bevan couldn't play himself out of the bad form. His footwork was woeful and he was constantly on the back foot after being hit 2 or 3 times. He was very very rusty and when Magoffin delivered a half tracker he went on the front foot and went to hit it on the leg side. Once again he couldn't find the gap, and only managed picking out the fieldsmen in Edmondson, who coincidentally had been bowling well himself.

When I heard the cheers of the Western Australian fieldsmen my heart skipped a beat. I turned around and saw Bevan walking off with his head down and the Western Australian players jumping around in joy. I put my water down and took a deep breath. This is it, I had finally made it and I was about to go bat in domestic cricket for the first time. I stood up, put my helmet on, grabbed my bat and gloves and off I went.

"Hey mate, just relax. You will do fine"

Coxxy was nice to try calm me down after getting out not so long ago, but it hardly worked. I was very nervous was I walked out on the field. I stumbled on the stairs and dropped by bat much to the amusement of the crowd around me. That was embarrassing! :o I picked it up and walked out onto the field.

I had to face Magoffin for my first ball who had been bowling really well. I met Divo out in the middle.

"Hey mate, how you feeling? I saw you drop your bat just before "

"Haha yeah I'm alright."

"Watch out for Magoffin's seam here. He's tall and he is banging it in hard and straight and will be looking for the LBW. Good luck mate."

"Cheers."

So I walked to the crease, asked the umpire for center and took a deep breath. Magoffin started running in, and I took my stance. I muttered to myself to watch the ball a few times as he was running in. I angled my bat to first slip, bent my knees, leaned forward a little and concentrated hard as the tall Magoffin ran in. He passed the umpire, got into his bowling action, released the ball and sent down a rocket. It came towards me and....








.......







HOOOWWWZZAAATTT!!???


It thumped me on the pads! They all went up and were appealing hard. My heart skipped a beat, my stomach dropped and I looked nervously at the umpire! Surely that can't be out!?!? Can it?!!??! I got forward, it was on the offside a bit and surely it hit me outside the line? SURELY!?! Magoffin and everyone were appealing hard as the umpire took his time before finally decided.....




......





.......






NOT OUT!!

Oh thank god. I gave a sigh of relief, and went for a little walk down the pitch to calm those nerves. Divo met me half way.

"Haha don't worry about that. It's not out, so your still here and its behind you. Just forget about it"

I nodded and headed back down to my crease where Marsh happened to be close by.

"Your useless mate. Enjoy your first and last few balls in domestic cricket."

I laughed at him and started to go back to my stance. Marsh looked frustrated which I was happy with. I was even more nervous now though and Magoffin was charging in even harder. I took my stance again. The ball was in a similar place and I took a stop forward and defended it. And that was the end of the over. I took yet another deep breath. It's always good to make contact with bat and ball for the first time. Williams was still involved in a long spell at the other end and Di Venuto was still going strong on 30 off 31.

He took a 2 off the first ball down to fine leg, before getting a single straight down the ground. I was feeling a little more confident now after that forward defensive stroke and when Williams dished one up a little fully then the one I defended I took a step forward and played the defensive shot but with a little more push straight down the ground. We took a single and the boys on the balcony applauded me as I felt a sense of relief. Off the mark in domestic cricket!

"Well done mate, now let's go on with the job!"

And that's exactly what we did. Di Venuto was still hitting those 2's and keeping his strike rate around 100 as I then hit 2 fours in a row which really released the nerves. The first one was a straight drive off a full ball which pierced the gap between mid off and cover. The ball came sweetly off the middle and felt good as soon as I hit it. It was too good for the man on the fence straight down the ground. Williams was a little upset about being driven so pitched the next ball shorter which I played off my hips and it only just got to the fence thanks to the misfield of one of the fielders.

Di Venuto then started scoring even quicker, hitting the odd boundary and almost a 2 off every ball. The field had been pushed back for Di Venuto and he was just playing either straight for singles, or down to fine leg or third man for 2's. I had a few gaps around as well, and I was hitting them for 4's and 2's. I found myself on 17 off 12 at one stage. After that first blunder, I was feeling great and at home in the middle. The Western Australians and there captain Mike Hussey were starting to get annoyed. Di Venuto soon brang up his 50 as well as we put on a good stand.

We were keeping the run rate above 5 an over, and found ourselves around 3/110 off 20. The problem was that we never got above the required run rate which was quite frustrating. Hogg was brought into the attack to lower the scoring rate as we were starting to push it up after Bevans slow innings, and it did work, and even went one better when he clean bowled the danger man Di Venuto not long after getting his 50.

He bowled a slower one on his pads, and it confused Div as he played all around it and got clean bowled. He was quite angry at himself for not going on with the job and getting out at such a critical stage. Marsh made his way to the crease.

"Hey mate, lets do that good stuff with the ball you were talking about earlier."

"Yeah, we just need to keep a cool head and rotate the strike. We only need 5 and a half an over. Coxxy said you were doing great and to just keep at it and don't do anything stupid."

"Sounds good, lets go get em."

Tasmania 4/129 off 25 overs require another 148 runs to win
M Coll 30* (34)
D Marsh 0*(2)
M Di Venuto 51 (55)

Williams 10 overs 1-49
Magoffin 9 overs 1-43
Hogg 3 overs 1-9

 

[surendar]

Things would have gone in a thrilling way for your career if you would have been given LBW on that first ball ... Anyways, things seem to go on fine for now.. Keep it up and keep it going

Excellent writing and presentation

 

[Dr. Pepper]

Great batting by Di Venuto. Unfortunately he got out though. You're doing really well though so keep it up (despite the nervy start ).

 

[treva]

Down to the newbie to get Tasmania out of a big hole here. Any more quick wickets and I reckon it's too much of an uphill task, but you never know.

Great stuff mate, keep it up

 

[LUMB_YORKSHIRE]

loved the build up to the umpires decision to give you not out great stuff mate :cool:

 

[mattfb]

Thanks for all the positive feedback guys!

Yeah, I was crapping myself when the ball hit me on the pads when I was playing the game. Thank god it was not out, a golden duck isn't a great way to start a career

Thanks again guys!

 

[mattfb]

Chapter 3: vs WA ING CUP
So as Marsh tried to settle in, I continued to pick off singles and 2's off Hogg and Edmondson. I was going along nicely, and I made my way to 40 and was eying off a 50. I was starting to get a little nervous and very excited at the same time. I was batting fairly well and keeping the scoreboard ticking over and if I got a big score we could win so I needed to knuckle down and concentrate on doing just that.

But soon my plan was thrown down the drain. Hogg bowled me a fuller ball around leg stump which I expected to spin down leg, so I went to play a sweep down to the vacant fine leg, only to find the ball had more bounce then I expected, and it didn't really spin. It hit the top edge of my bat, then my glove and went straight up before Ronchi took a good one handed catch. I was really frustrated because now the match was surely beyond us as my dismissal left us at 5/146.

I walked off really angry and disappointed at myself. I put my chin strap over my mouth so the tv cameras couldn't pick up exactly what I was saying () and didn't look up once, and ignored the abuse Marsh sent my way as I headed back to the pavillion. Kremeskothen passed me down the stairs as I made my way into the dressing room, turned left into where our lockers were and threw my bat down on my kit and started taking my gear off. Not long later I heard more cheers of the Western Australian fielders and my Tassie teammates swearing. Marsh was out to a shotty LBW decision against part timer Wates. Now we were certainly done with.

"F***, I hate going out to bat when theres nothing to play for."

"Well you shouldn't have to be going out, what a crappy decision!"

Dawson was next in, and he wasn't happy with it, nor was anyone in the team. Us batters let him and the lower order down by getting out to cheaply, plus it was a bad decision from the umpire.

​

Kremerskothen was going really well though, hitting fours and 2's all over the place but Dawson was soon out, and Wright couldn't get off the mark, but he still shared a 20 run partnership with Kremerskothen thanks to a huge over by the in form batsmen where he hit a few boundaries. But after Wright (0) followed Dawson (3) back to the pavillion we found ourselves at 7-173 and any small chance gone. Griffith came in and scored quite freely, and Kremerskothen continued to score freely.

Griffith was batting scratchly, but scored 13 before finally being bowled by Edmondson. Downton scored just 3 runs before being run out and that was it. We were bowled out for 223 and we lost the first match of the season by 52 runs. Kremerskothen finished with a respectable 42 not out, and I was the 3rd top scorer with 40 behind Kremerskothen and Div who scored 51. It was a decent effort, but we lost to many wickets before we could get a decent partnership.

In the dressing rooms Tim Coyle had a word to us.

"We have a lot of work to do. We couldn't bowl under pressure and we lost to many wickets at key intervals. We couldn't put together a partnership and we were made to pay. That was poor boys, very poor."

And that was that, we packed our stuff and headed to the bus to head back to the hotel. We had a shield match against Western Australia in two days. No one talked much, and it was fairly quiet. The bus ride was short, 10 minutes at most so we by the time we all settled down into our seats we were almost there. I was rooming with Marsh who I have already built a strong relationship with. We headed back into our rooms and put our stuff down.

"Do you wanna go down to the pub for a drink?"

"Do we have training tomorrow?"

"Yeah light training at 2."

"Hmm, yeah we might as well. Don't wanna sit around here all night."

So there it was, I was about to go for my first pub session on an away trip with some of the guys. Big moment . We saw Birt and Wright down there as well so we all caught up before going to dinner. We called it a night at 11 as we didn't want to get on Tims bad side. He is big on the fitness side of thing so if he found out we were staying up late drinking 2 days before a match he wouldn't be happy!

 

[Jaztheman]

Brilliant writing, Matt.

Unlucky on not getting your half century and losing, you can't put all the blame on yourself, if any of it. You just need to pick yourselves up and beat Western Australia in two days.

Good stuff, mate.

 

[Roofrom50]

Bull crap, everything needs to be blamed on Matt shocking performance mate, you needed to do a hell of a lot better haha

Just kidding, you did good in ya first outing kiddo, now you need to back it up, and up, and up.. and then by the time ur done, your better then my mate Haydos

 

[LUMB_YORKSHIRE]

unlucky in your first match great writing KUTGW!!

 

[treva]

Nice knock of 40, which, in the circumstances, was an excellent score. Not a great start to the season, but you can't win them all.

Great writing Matt, keep it up

 

[saladguy]

Not a great start to the season, yet it's still early days

 

[shantanu_rooney]

yeah not a great start to the season. But its just the start to the season. Good batting by you in the circumstances and hoping to see some big scores..

Excellent presentation and writing stuff mate KIU

 

[Highlander999]

Drop Matt!!!! He obviouly is not good enough for state cricket

Nice read mate, great work

 

[stevo1]

Brilliant story.