Baggy Blues Artosz won by 3 wickets

The opening match of the 2010 HCL season brought Baggy Blues Full Tossers up against Phoenix CC. Having won the toss, BBFT captain Christopher Priest decided to bat hoping to post a substantial total to challenge the opposition.

Things however didn’t turn out as planned as some very uneven bounce coupled with disciplined bowling made scoring very difficult. Dinesh accounted for the openers as Sean Morrissey was bowled beaten by the low bounce and Martin East was caught behind off a beautiful delivery angling across him just kissing the outside edge. With Mark Bownas and Hiran de Silva at the crease, the two focused on consolidating the innings happy to pick singles and wait for the few extras that came their way. Just they were looking solid, Hiran was run-out after he was beaten by a throw from long-on. In came and went Christopher priest who received a snorter of a delivery first ball, which bounced from a good-length and brushed his gloves on its way to first slip. Having dismissed the opposing teams captain, Shobith got Henry Mills caught behind off the slightest of edges. It concluded a lively and aggressive if at times erratic bowling spell from him. In between these wickets, Bownas was dismissed by Rob Smith after an inspired bowling change from Phoenix captain Benjamin Lebor. The slow bowler got a ball go the “other way” no doubt with able assistance from the pitch, but as just reward for bowling on a good line and length.

At 39 for 6, up came the two experienced Baggy Blues Arthosz guest players Eddie Allnutt and Mike Glover to try and rescue their adopted team from such a precarious situation. The two were solid, with Allnutt looking in especially good touch. But just as they were looking to get a little bit more adventurous, he was given out lbw off the bowling of Lebor. The rest of the batsmen then fell to the precise and fast bowling of Dinesh, who collected stunning figures of 5 for 7 off 5 overs.

With a target of 67 runs, Phoenix set its sights on gaining a bonus point from the match. They were up against the experienced new ball pair of Bownas and Allnutt. The latter was especially especially hard to get away as the batsmen looked for some quick runs. Allnutt kept a very tight line and was duly rewarded with figures of 3 for 9 off 3 overs, but even that wasn’t enough to stop Syed, who laid the other opening bowler. Bownas, though conceding runs, was very unlucky only to get one wicket. In the end Phoenix, or should we say Syed (41 not out), chased down the target inside 8 overs, thus gaining a bonus point.

Phoenix began the season with a comfortable victory, which was expected of them even if the margin was surprising. The Baggy Blues will however surely feel that they have better performances coming up as today they were simply outplayed. Spare a thought also for Ralph Bownas who played amongst the seniors, keeping his wicket while also taking a couple of blows on his body in the process. Surely he is someone to look out for in the future.