St Albans 165 beat Cardinals 76. St Albans met Syd Cardinals on what looked like a good surface on Hagley 3. Phil called incorrectly at the toss and as we only had 10 players following a late withdrawal due to illness, I decided to bat to give me more time to try and find an 11th. Gibby and Hampo opened up against the good pace attack of Winder and O'Carroll. 9 overs in , 31 on the board when Gibby departed for 17. Pace replaced by the spin twins Flem and Ken and at drinks 55/2 (Jimmy out for 10). Hampo fell for 33 in the 22nd over (64/3), followed shortly after by Half G (72/4). Iggs joined Rich M and they built an 80 run partnership in 12 overs which really turned the innings around, Cardinals suffering the fifth bowler blues (the main 4 bowlers combined went for 107 from their combined 32 overs). O'Connell returned the the attack and ended up with the excellent figures of 5/19 to see us all out for 165. Rich M 48, Hampo 33 and Iggs 28.
Can't go unmentioned, Bert Walker taking a stunner to remove the opposition skipper :-)
Into the field to see if we could defend our total against a strong Cardinals lineup, thankfully an 11th player was found but he was still absent so one of Mr Winders mates sub fielded for us (thank you).
McKay and O'Carroll faced up to Wellsy and Eagle. 2 early wickets to Eagle, McKay caught by Jimmy for 8 and Phil Walker somehow managing to kick the ball onto his stumps from outside leg pin seeing Cardinals 28/2. Things went downhill from there for Syd's seeing a steady stream of wickets (31/3, 39/4, 41 for 5 & 6, 58/7, 66/8, 71/9 and all out 76) as our attack him the right areas and really put the pressure on. Wickets shared around with Eagle, Wellsy and Jimmy 2 each (Jimmy taking 2/2 off 5 overs) and Potty 3/19. Only 3 Cardinals players made it to double figures, O'Connell the best with 16.
As usual a good game between the teams and a nice social gathering at the end to enjoy a few beers and listen to Bert tell a few good stories.
Cheers Potty
