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Jonathan Fair stars in Hospital victory
Philip Chant26 Jul 2015 - 09:22
Backwell suffers first defeat after Jon "Toggy" Fair's super innings of 141
League leaders and unbeaten Backwell Flaxbourton asked Bath Hospitals to bat, after skipper Matthew Joyce had won the toss. The welcome return of Malcolm Bond saw Hospitals skipper Andy Boyce reshuffle the batting order after the recent poor form of the middle order. Toby Patrick joined Malcolm Bond as they opened the innings and were having to wait patiently for the bad ball as Backwell opening bowlers gave nothing away as they were bowling a miserly line and length. Taking the score to 28 in the twelfth over Bond (14) was the first to go, caught behind from the bowling of Ian Gear. Jake Dyer was then stumped for no score bringing Jonathan Fair to the crease. Patrick and Fair remained calm and steadily took the score to 59 in the 20th over as drinks were then taken. The pair then decided to attack the Backwell bowling and take the game to them. With Patrick playing the anchor role, Jon Fair took on the bowling with a mixture of graceful and belligerent stroke play dispatching the ball to all parts of the ground. The pair put on 87 before Patrick was bowled for 39 taking the score to 119 in the 27th over. Again the talented Hospital middle order failed again as Finn Barnard - Weston (7) Stuart Webb-Martin, Dan Hatcher and Henry Haydon who all failed to trouble the scoreboard. The tail- enders then held things together to allow the Jon Fair onslaught to continue and with Mark Patrick (5) and Andy Boyce (17 not out) and with one ball left of the innings Jon Fair was run out for 141. His innings consisted of 15 fours and 8 sixes and Hospitals managed to score 180 from their final 20 overs and posted a total of 246 for Backwell to chase down.
After a magnificent tea from the dependable “Tea Queen” Carol Humphries, the Hospitals side saw an opportunity to upset the table topping Backwell team. Andy Boyce decided to open the bowling with the pace of Stuart Webb-Martin and the off-spin of Jonathan Fair. Webb-Martin bowled one of his quickest spells and he was too good for the very prolific Australian run scorer David Mudaliar and Zimbabwean Webb-Martin took out his middle stump with 4 runs on the board with Mudaliar going for a duck. He then trapped the other opener Sam Flowers LBW and Backwell were 7 for 2 from 7 overs. Skipper Boyce did not allow the Backwell team to settle and interchanged the bowling at every opportunity. Harsha Vardhana (55) and Adam Burn (31 not out) showed some resilience in the Backwell batting as they were all out for 141. Webb-Martin 7-1-28-2, Fair 8-3-22-1, Hatcher 5-0-15-2, Barnard-Weston 4-0-17-3 took the wickets for the Hospitals. Hospitals visit the Brownsword ground at Lansdown and take on an expected strong Bath side as their skipper Mike Roe looks to bring in the big guns to avenge defeat at Prior Park.
After a magnificent tea from the dependable “Tea Queen” Carol Humphries, the Hospitals side saw an opportunity to upset the table topping Backwell team. Andy Boyce decided to open the bowling with the pace of Stuart Webb-Martin and the off-spin of Jonathan Fair. Webb-Martin bowled one of his quickest spells and he was too good for the very prolific Australian run scorer David Mudaliar and Zimbabwean Webb-Martin took out his middle stump with 4 runs on the board with Mudaliar going for a duck. He then trapped the other opener Sam Flowers LBW and Backwell were 7 for 2 from 7 overs. Skipper Boyce did not allow the Backwell team to settle and interchanged the bowling at every opportunity. Harsha Vardhana (55) and Adam Burn (31 not out) showed some resilience in the Backwell batting as they were all out for 141. Webb-Martin 7-1-28-2, Fair 8-3-22-1, Hatcher 5-0-15-2, Barnard-Weston 4-0-17-3 took the wickets for the Hospitals. Hospitals visit the Brownsword ground at Lansdown and take on an expected strong Bath side as their skipper Mike Roe looks to bring in the big guns to avenge defeat at Prior Park.
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