Match report The 4s travelled to North Middlesex looking to bounce back from the heavy defeat at the hands of SKLP, and a weather enforced abandonment that had seem them slip down to 4th in the table. In the absence of skipper Roheet, Billy Hussain took the reins and won the toss inserting North Middlesex on what looked a good track considering the amount of rain that had fallen in the previous 24 hours.
Bob Love and Ramon opened the bowling and started well against a blend of youth and experience at the top of North Middlesex’s order. Bob strangled one opener down the leg side for no score and Ramon cleaned up the hard hitting Bamber who came in at 3. The 4s fielding was excellent throughout, all chances were taken, with some excellent snaffles early on from Cox behind the stumps and Sam Worrall proving to be calmer under the high ball than many of his senior colleagues could hope to be. There was genuine pace and carry in the pitch, and the height, pace and bounce of Love and the skiddy Rezaul consistently troubled the North Middlesex batsmen. A key run out removed the experienced Teesdale who scored a composed 33 and from then on only Mulla troubled the scorers unduly with some hard hitting. Love came back to hoover up the North Middlesex tail showing excellent pace in his second spell. This probably was not the best bowling performance from the 4’s despite removing the opposition for 107, but excellent fielding kept scoring to a minimum off bad balls, and most importantly the chances that came were well taken.
In reply the North Middlesex bowlers fed Billy a diet of waist high full tosses in the opening balls of the innings which were tucked into with gusto. With the scoreboard showing 30 off of barely 2 overs the 4s were looking at an early finish. It was not to be. The Youthful Harris found the lines and length to match the good pace he had generated and removed Billy’s off stump, before beating Steve Cox and Ramon for pace and creating simple chances as they attempted to pull short balls. With Grant chipping one to mid-on and barely 40 on the board a position of dominance had disappeared and the 4s looked concerned. Mulla had tidied up his bowling and had dried up the runs from one end, after an expensive first over. However Marilyn Smith came out and steadied the ship, through obduracy in conjunction with Sam Worrall, and then in partnership with Rob Love, the North Middlesex bowlers each broke upon her front foot defence. It should be noted that a considerable number of extras were generated as the North Middlesex bowlers tired, strove for too much, and sprayed the ball around. Bob’s innings mixed lusty blows with the necessary defence and it was this partnership with Marilyn that took the game away from North Middlesex. The return of a tired Harris was always going to swing the game one way or another, and unfortunately for Harris his radar malfunctioned in his second spell, and the extras conceded all but sealed the game.
The 4s won to keep the promotion dreams on track, however we really got out of jail chasing a small total that should never really have been a problem. This was however a really good fielding performance after the SKLP debacle in the previous outing. Low scores always make for the most interesting games, and we look forward to the return fixture against a welcoming North Middlesex.