Turriff played their third consecutive match with only ten
men on Saturday, losing a low scoring game away to a full strength Stonehaven
Thistle side. Turriff were on one hand
bolstered by the return of Blair Balment, Dodd Duncan, Craig Peters and new registration
Phil Wrigglesworth. On the other,
regulars Ian and Fraser Smart, David Chalmers, Immanuel Doss and Michael Soper
were unable to play, leaving Turriff without first choice opening batsman,
first choice wicketkeeper, both reserve keepers and two very much in form
all-rounders.
Turriff had been put into bat on a rolled, covered,
Mineralwell Park pitch that looked pretty good, but Turriff's stand in openers
were about to find out how deceptive appearances can be. For although the visiting sides home ground,
the Haughs, is a grassy pitch that does assist the seamers with sideways
movement, it generally offers decent pace and bounce. When the weather is fine and the wicket dry,
the ball actually comes onto the bat nicely, allowing the batsman to drive
anything too full of a good length without too much risk of being bowled out. This is true of most of the uncovered and
artificial wickets that Turriff play their matches on when they are not wet. Of the teams Turriff played last season, only
Huntley have the facilities to produce rolled and covered pitches, and recent
experience there has been of a good wicket with no nasty surprises. While wet, uncovered pitches will challenge
the batsman with variable pace and bounce, low, slow, dry but 'dead' wickets -
where the ball can sometimes quite literally not bounce and just roll along the
deck after pitching - are not something most of Turriff's players have much
experience of.
Steve Lings opened the batting with skipper David Laing in
overcast conditions, hoping to find batting easy against the Stonehaven new
ball pair of Prothero and Gows. Both
right arm medium pacers, Prothero bowled orthadox outswingers while Gows
sported a bit of extra pace, cranking it up to about as quick as one would ever
see in grade four. The demons in the
pitch became apparent in the second over of the match when one of Gows
deliveries stayed freakishly low, bowling David Laing before he could get his
eye in and trouble the scorers. Blair
Balment survived a couple of overs before falling to another Gow
mollygrubber. Dodd Duncan joined Lings
at the crease, and they managed to see the new ball pair off, rotating the
strike, both players picking up a few singles.
First change bowler Wilson, a junior slow right arm bowler,
then came on and exploited the soft wicket, to produce a devastating spell of
bowling to remove three of the Turriff middle order, in three overs, for five
runs. Including one bowled out with a
ball that bounced twice before hitting middle stump. As Stonehaven made numerous bowling changes
to keep turriff guessing, Lings made good use of his experience of similar
English early season wickets. He batted
patiently with the tail to end unbeaten on 58, helping Turriff to 90 all
out. Juniors Noah Balment and William
Wechsler played innings of particular note, showing maturity far beyond their
years as they stonewalled and frustrated the Stonehaven bowlers, allowing the
more experienced - and in form - Lings to reach his fifty against the odds by
simply defending anything straight and only attacking wider deliveries. Although it was never going to be an easy
score to defend without Doss and Soper, and playing away, 90 all out turned out
to be the highest grade 4 first innings score of the week after a lot of damp
weather.
Turriff opened the bowling with the usual combination of
David Laing and Steven Lings. It became
immediately apparent that the Stonehaven batsmen were far more experienced of
their home conditions, as they reacted quickly to anything slightly short of a
full length, being ready with their weight on the back foot to pull two boundaries
to midwicket in Laings first over as soon as they saw the ball get up. Lings opened up against Law, and after firing
two down the leg side, got the third ball right on target, swinging it back
into the left handers pads and sending him back adjudged lbw. After some tight new ball bowling, in the
tenth over, Lings produced a rip-snorter of a swinging yorker that struck
dangerous looking opener Bonds on his back foot, removing him lbw for 25 and
Stonehaven were 30-2.
As Lings tired, Laing brought the taller, quicker Blair
Balment into the attack for the first time this season, and he delivered in his
first over, uprooting Prothero's middle stump for 5. But Stonehaven fought back, and looked to
press home towards the total by picking off anything short of a full length on
the slow wicket. Laing struck once more
for Turriff, when Wechsler took a steepler at mid-off that must have been hit
well over 50 meters in the air. It was a
stunning catch that a lot of adult players would have dropped, or even refused,
at this level of cricket. Handy-looking
middle order pair Long and Devlin ended 21 and 15 not out to see the home team
home after they had survived the new ball and worn down Turriff's three
bowlers. Turriff are away next week
again to Aberdeen Grammar School Former Pupils before a run of home games at
the Haughs that lasts well into June, where they will hope to start picking up
more points.
No comments:
Post a Comment