It's all action around the scoreboard ...
A warm but murky night at the home of West Witney Cricket Club saw the second league clash of the season between the Ambush and our mates, the Audley Ducks. You may remember, the Ducks beat the Tigers by a comfortable 8 wickets in the first game of the season on 22 May. The Tigers came into this one determined to put up a better show.
But as Ducks' captain Jean-Sebastian Saleem and our Chris Grain met in the middle, the night got off to a bad start. Our skipper lost the toss and was told the Ambush would take to the field.
But J-S may have been forgiven for thinking he'd made the wrong decision. Whilst an unlucky Pete Bartlett was knocked to the boundary twice in his first over by Ducks' opener, Tom Julian, at the other end Cam Newton-Grain's opening salvo claimed the tail-feathers of Chris Jacobs. A duck for the Duck's opener, bowled all over the place by the enigmatic CN-G.
Ducks innings gets underway
But the entrance of Henry Southall soon indicated a restoration of order for last season's league champions as he and Julian saw off Bartlett and Newton-Grain with no further loss of wickets.
A change of bowling however brought about almost instant results. Ed Juszczak bowled an excellent line and length at the Burford Road End. But it was young Tom Juszczak who combined with Mark Westaby to get the Tigers back amongst the Ducks. Westaby quickly earning himself a reputation as a regular Jonty Rhodes as he smartly snapped up his second catch in as many games. Julian had done his bit though, crashing away four 4's on his way to a solid 29.
As Tom Marvin stepped up to the crease for the Ducks, he was happy to play second fiddle as Southall continued his assault on the Tigers bowling. As the number 3 blasted up another 19 runs to Marvin's 1, Ed Juszczak broke the partnership on 20 by neatly taking a catch off his own bowling to send Marvin back to the pavilion.
And as the Ducks skipper, joined the now half-centurion Southall, the Tigers waited just another 13 runs before celebrating again. This time it was the big hitting number three dismissed as Hass Olympia finally bamboozled him with spin. A great innings and a valuable 59 added to the Ducks' total by Southall.
With Dave Clapworthy joining Saleem at the crease and the overs disappearing slightly quicker than the light, the Ducks' skipper decided it was time to start taking some risks. A quick single here and a risky brace there. But Clapworthy was the next Ducks' casualty as he became Tom Juszczak's second victim of the night, finding the hands of the ever-reliable James Harrison.
And as the Ducks skipper finally took one risk too many to be run out by Mark Westaby for 11, it was left to Jim Watkins to steer the Ducks home with an aggressive 23, including four 4's. But the Tigers' bowlers hadn't quite finished as Hass Olympia and James Harrison combined to dismiss Huw Owen for the Ducks' second duck of the innings.
With Tim Allen knocking 3 at the Ducks' tail end, the home side finished on 134 for 7 wickets, leaving the Tigers' batsmen with a run rate of 6.70 to achieve victory. An excellent Tigers bowling performance, with just three no balls and wides conceded throughout the entire innings.
So, knowing exactly what they needed to clock up the Tigers' first league victory of the season, openers James Harrison and Stu Duff found runs difficult to come by. Jim Watkins and Glenn Evans kept the opening overs tight as a ducks a**e and, with just three to his name, Stu Duff misjudged a Watkins jaffa and heard the death rattle behind him. Already well behind the required run rate and with an opener back in the pavilion, the Tigers already looked to be struggling.
Tigers' opener Stu Duff looks to drive
After two excellent league innings', hopes rested on Chris Grain to salvage the situation. But the skipper's luck wasn't in this week as he was freakishly run out by a deflection whilst backing up. Just 11 for Chris this week and with the run rate increasing alarmingly, it was already looking like the Tigers would need a miracle to win this one.
Tigers' James Harrison steers one to leg on his way to 17
Mark Westaby joined James Harrison at the wicket but, as the pressure for runs increased, Harrison stranded himself outside his crease and Saleem stumped him smartly off Huw Owens. As Westaby nudged and clipped his way along, new batsman Dan Raymond-Barker desperately tried to put the Ducks' bowlers on the back foot. But, as he tried to hit Owen over the top of long-on, he found the trusty hands of Southall who held on to the ball well. Raymond-Barker gone for 7.
Ducks' keeper takes cleanly as Tigers' Harrison strolls home
By the time Huw Neyroud entered the crease, the Tigers situation looked lost. And, as Neyroud fell to another Saleem stumping off the bowling of Owen for 9, Tigers' last remaining hope strolled out in the form of Hass Olympia. To give Hass his due, he did try to blast the Tigers out of trouble. But, as Westaby finally succumbed on 18, leg before wicket to Evans, Olympia was bowled for 15 by Watkins and the Ambush innings petered out to mark a fourth league defeat with Newton-Grain chipping in with a token 4 and Ed Juszczak just the 1.
Tigers finished on 93-7 off their allotted overs.
Yes, it was another defeat, but lets take a few positives out of this game too.
Ducks skipper J-S Saleem tells his Ducks how many he's going to get tonight
For the first time since 2009, the Ambush was oversubscribed for this game forcing Ben McPherson, Stewart Moss and Baz Floyd to step down (thus losing the only 100% attendance record). That's very, very good news.
The team we lost to are a tight outfit who are last years champions and have yet to lose to anyone this season. West Witney is a big pitch and difficult to score a lot of runs on and Ducks have a very, very good group of bowlers. Difficult for the batsmen to do much against that.
And lastly, our bowling performance tonight was outstanding. Three bowlers' extras are a testament to the amount of effort that went into keeping a line and length.
So well done SpecialEffect Tigers. We salute you!
Click here for Ducks batting and Tigers bowling
And click here for Tigers batting and Ducks bowling
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