Whitchurch 2s were looking for their 3rd win on the bounce on a balmy summers day in North Cardiff. Captain Hopcraft lost his 4th consecutive toss – Pontymister used their prerogative to bat first. After a good opening spell from Whitchurch’s bowlers (Michael “Chunder” Ley & Simon “the athlete” Morgan) Pontymister’s openers began to find their feet (after Morgan found their opener’s foot 7th ball of the match right in front – but it wasn’t to be).

Some tight lines from Usman Malik brought about the first wicket with a good catch from Jack Kellam in the covers. Pontymister continued to score, but Whitchurch kept plugging away on a hot afternoon with only 10 men, and kept taking wickets to just about keep the run rate in check. Ramaman Rajasundaram and Umar Khalid bowling a good set of spin in tandem (2 wickets for Raj, 1 for Umar) before Michael Ley came back after a tactical reorganisation of his stomach, to mop up the tail with 2 wickets and give Whitchurch full bowling points for the first time in this season (ignoring the fact they had 9 players). Reports that Ley will be reported to the league for chucking are unfounded (C) Simon Morgan 26May2012.

Whitchurchs reply began comfortably with Hopcraft and Alun Jones comfortably pushing the runs around with many gaps to be found in the field. Hopcraft was soon undone with a sharp catch from the wicket keeper with only 21 on the board. Owen Williams joined Jones and the scoreboard moved onto 39 before Williams played on. Umar Khalid then played as Umar Khalid does, effectively but not particularly sensibly, and Whitchurch moved onto 93 before Umar sauntered down the wicket to hit a large piece of fresh air. But with wickets in hand, gaps in the field, plenty of overs to spare, Alun Jones in confidant mood Whitchurch should still have the chase fully in hand. Cue 93/2 becoming 136/8 – still 47 short with James Sewell and Michael Ley at the crease. But in adversity, and with the chance of his name in neon flashing lights, Michael Ley tends to thrive. Sewell and Ley, punished the bad balls, respected the good, rotated the strike sensibly and pushed the score onto 166 with another 18 required. The return of the Pontymister opening bowler was the decision that could see the match end in a hurry (good) or end in a hurry (bad). His first ball came onto the bat nicely and was neatly blitzed through the covers – but a comfortable 2 became an ill-judged 3 and the last wicket magic failed to materialise.

A personal plea: please can you let us (the captains) know as early as possible if you cannot make the weekend. We can accommodate if we know Tuesday / Wednesday. But Fridays makes it very difficult to make arrangements. It’s been very difficult this year getting a 3rd / 4th team out – so I’m asking for that little bit more commitment and organisation to ensure that we can continue to put out 4 teams and ensure that you can all still play cricket on a Saturday. I appreciate that those reading this site probably are the ones who do turn out week in week out and I am probably preaching to the converted – so thanks to you.