News & EventsLatest NewsCalendar
A little bit of Goodie Rock & Pyrah

A little bit of Goodie Rock & Pyrah

Mike Palmer15 May 2009 - 08:34
Share via
FacebookTwitter
https://www.pitchero.com/clubs

30 Goodie points

Saturday 9th May
Potters Bar 4�s (180-5) vs. Rickmansworth 3�s (179-8)

Potters Bar 4�s claimed their first 30 points of the season on Saturday with a 5 wicket win over Rickmansworth 3�s at the school. After last weeks near miss against Monken Hadley it was always going to be important for the 4�s to bounce back and get the first win under their belts.
After losing the toss returning skipper Paul Kennedy was asked to bowl first on what appeared to be another excellent pitch at the school and despite a tight first few overs the pressure was released by the Rickmansworth openers when they took 17 off one over from the unlucky Steve Brown. This bought off-spinner David Rock into the attack and for the next 30 overs he worked in tandem with the experienced Rupert Pyrah to plug away at the top order of Rickmansworth. Both bowled well and got through their overs with some speed to help build up the pressure on the batsmen while continuing to pick up wickets with Rock finishing with figures of 4-62 from 20 overs and Pyrah 2-49 from his 20 overs. They were well supported at the end of the innings by U16 off-spinner Luke Watling who chipped in with 2-29 which helped restrict the opposition to 179-8 from their 53 overs. The only downside was some easy chances being put down in the field which although were not too costly could have reduced this total even further.
The Potters Bar reply got off to a slow start due to some tight bowling from the Rickmansworth seam attack and they were rewarded early on with the wickets of Metselaar for 0 and Errol for a hard fought 18. These two breakthroughs bought together the partnership of David Rock and Andy Hughes who after a few early swings of the willow settled down to produce a fine partnership of 81. Both played well and when allowed either hit the loose ball to the boundary or they simply took the 1�s and 2�s that were on offer to keep the momentum going. Hughes eventually fell for 37 which bought Dave Goodier to the crease who helped Rock through to his 50 before letting loose himself with a series of crashing boundaries. However just like the previous week both batsmen fell in quick time, Goodier for 25 and Rock for a fine 82, which meant that the Bar still needed 10 runs from the last 3 overs to secure the 30 points. It eventually came down to the last over when Luke Watling, 5*, took a single from the first ball and it was left to Dave Burrows, 6*, to crash the next ball straight back past the bowler for the 4 runs needed for the win.
This was a very good win for the Bar against a decent opposition whose bowlers kept up the pressure right until the end, and it was a much needed 30 points to get the season up and running and take momentum into the next game against Leverstock Green 3�s.

Further reading