Broadstone Beaten by Compelling Cattistock Display
The first game of the 2016/17 season was always going to be hard going for Broadstone as captain Rich Poole had struggled to find players for the opening game with only 10 players managing the trip to Cattistock. Cattistock had been in fine form the previous season, losing only one of their previous campaign as they dominated Division Two. An overcast sky at Cattistock saw Ben Golledge, the Cattistock captain win the toss and traditionally batted first.
Despite only having 10 players Broadstone started brightly through Greg Parsons and Sol Beer, both creating numerous plays and misses from the opening Cattistock openers of Joshua Legg and Martin Langford. However, it could have been so much different for Broadstone if they had held on to a feather behind by Legg off the bowling of Parsons on 21. Legg and Langford managed to negotiate the opening bowlers well as Legg hit some sublime straight drives as he went on the attack and Langford played well to support his partner down the other end, despite being deprived of the strike. The confident play from the opening batsmen forced a double change of bowlers from Rich Poole as he brought on youngsters Sam Beer and Niral Kerai to force a breakthrough. Sam Beer bowled excellent line to start and despite a slightly wayward start Kerai found his rhythm and bowled with variation and composure. However, Legg and Langford batted brilliantly through this as Langford launched the first six of Sam Beer over the leg side. However, down the other end both batsmen failed to get Kerai away but eventually Legg and Langford managed to negotiate him well as they reached a 100 run partnership. Legg was batting with patience and producing some amazing shots during his display as he began to creep closer to his half-century. However, his partner would not see him bring up his fifty as starvation of strike meant that Langford became frustrated and he aimed to take his frustration out on Kerai but in the 20th over he misjudged a straight shot as he saw Kerai fly to his right to claim a superb caught and bowled. Broadstone had a breakthrough and Langford was gone for 36. Next in was overseas player Brad Johns, a hard hitting wicket-keeper batsmen from New Zealand…. sound familiar? He came in with Legg to help his partner reach his half-century off 44 balls, a relatively quick knock. Broadstone began again confidently to find another wicket and they almost had another soon after as Legg was put down at first slip on 54 off the bowling of Sam Beer and things then became worse for Beer as in the same over Legg unleashed as he hit two fours as he showed no sign of backing down from his quick half-century. However, Kerai again was bowling well as he went for another tight over as he began to force pressure on Johns to start hitting as he had only reached three off seven balls at this time and was playing second fiddle to Legg. This tight bowling inspired captain Poole to bring on Rob Whittle to further increase pressure and possibly force a mistake from the two batsmen against a spell of slow bowling. The next over that’s exactly what he got as Johns was fed up of being tied down as he hit 16 of the first three balls of Kerai’s seventh over before mistiming another slog as he chipped the bowl back to Kerai as he claimed his and Broadstone’s second wicket of the game. Billy Wallbridge came to join Legg at the crease as the pair negotiated Kerai’s final 2 overs as both batsmen found the boundary to keep the score ticking. Whittle was bowling well with plenty of control but with no reward. Wicketless overs saw Rich Poole introduced himself into the attack but the pair continued the bat well against the variations of pace. A solid eleven overs of batting helped the pair build a 67 run partnership with Legg edging closer to a steady 100. However, Broadstone gathered momentum as Whittle got Wallbridge caught behind by Griffiths for 26 in the 35th over and then an over later, a rush of blood from Legg saw him charge down the track at a length ball from Poole, he swung and completely missed it leaving his stumps rearranged and he was out for 97. This left the score at 196 for 4 and Broadstone were back in the game. The two new Cattistock batsmen Steve Tucker and Liam Toohill aimed to rebuild as the aggressive Tucker began to attack the Broadstone bowlers. The reintroduction of Sam Beer and Parsons worked briefly to stem the flow of runs but when Tucker and Toohill struck boundaries in back to back overs, the momentum shifted dramatically. In one Parsons over Tucker struck four sixes of the last four balls of the over to bring him to his half-century off 22 balls. More pressure continued to build as both batsmen were dropped, Toohill dropped off Whittle by Sam Beer. However, Sam Beer did make up for it with a good caught and bowled to get rid of Toohill for 24 who had just started to get going. With the hard hitting Tucker still at the crease, Brad Damen was promoted up the order to add some late quick runs. Despite tight bowling from Whittle and Sam Beer no wickets could be gained and it seemed to be a quiet end to the game but not before 24 runs from Sam Beer to ensure there was a tough target on the board for Broadstone. Overall, despite a well-rounded bowling performance from Broadstone, they still had a conceded over 300 thanks to late heavy hitting, the pick of the bowlers being Niral Kerai with decent figures of 2-54 of his nine overs, but despite this large target Broadstone were keen to chase the target down.
Broadstone started brightly with the bat with opener Griffiths and Parsons building steadily to negotiate the opening bowlers of Brad Damen and Callum Mullins, Damen bowling tightly and Mullins, when he got the bowl straight was on the money as well. However, this didn’t seem to bother Griffiths as he struck 2 boundaries from the fourth over of the game to keep the runs flowing. However, despite somewhat tight bowling the opening bowlers brought about their own downfall as they failed to find their radar as 7 wides came from the first 4 overs. This forced a bowling change from the Cattistock captain as he brought on Liam Toohill to start add more pressure to the Broadstone openers. Due to tight bowling before Damen was kept on but for once failed to control Griffiths and Parsons as they both found boundaries in the over. As Toohill continued to control the openers but failed to find his radar as well as 2 more wides were bowled, Joshua Legg was brought on to slow the overs up with his spin. However, the two openers continued as Parsons and Griffiths balanced each other well to take them to their 50 partnership. However, after so much patience Parsons became frustrated as he tried to smack a ball by Liam Toohill through the leg side but could only pick out Steve Tucker and was out for eight. At number three was Matthew Ormerod who picked up Parsons role of playing support for Griffiths. These two batted well especially against the spin of Legg who conceded three fours off three balls between overs as Broadstone began to build. The target of 312 seemed far away and it seemed further when Broadstone lost both Griffiths and Ormerod to Legg within nine runs, with Ormerod first falling as he tried to play a ball to the leg side as was bowled for 5. Then Griffiths fell as he was adjudged L.B.W for 34. This brought youngsters Sam Beer and Niral Kerai together, who batted very solidly against Toohill and Legg as both hit players began to hit boundaries, with Kerai playing more aggressively and looking to attack whereas Sam Beer played more defensively and left the good balls. Kerai looked tough to remove as he took on Toohill, playing the short ball well as he hit a pull shot into the boundary. However, a ball later another short ball came down and he bottom edged a ball onto his stumps and was out for 14. Rich Poole came in next but an over later he had to depart as Toohill produced a ball that nipped in a touch and this went through the defences of Poole and hit middle stump, this left Broadstone in a tough position of 87 for 5. Only needing three wickets, Cattistock were confident in finishing off the job off bowling Broadstone out. However strong batting from Sam Beer kept them in the game as they edged closer to their first batting point. However, a collapse of three wickets for seven runs meant that it was to be only one batting point that they achieved. First there was a complete mix up as Beer faced Brad Mullins, Sam Beer thought he was out caught by Langford but a front-foot no ball was called, however Whittle hadn’t realised this as he wandered down the pitch waiting for Sam Beer to walk, however Langford pounced as he threw the ball to Johns behind the stumps and Whittle was out for a duck. The over Cattistock had another when Simon Beer was caught behind through a thin edge of the bowling of Callum Mullins for 1. Simon Abbott was the last man in to join Sam Beer, but Sam Beer’s brilliant resistance was finally ended when he was caught behind off the bowling of Brad Mullins as he was out for 19 and Broadstone were all out for 105.
Broadstone MOTM: A joint award for Sam Beer and Niral Kerai for their excellent all round bowling and batting. Sam for his brilliant line and length with the ball and his stubborn resistance with the bat. Niral for his brilliant bowling and two caught and bowled’s plus his good attacking effort with the bat.
Sam Beer 19 off 58 balls and 1-72 off 9 overs.
Niral Kerai 14 off 17 balls and 2-54 off 9 overs.
Cattistock MOTM: Another joint award as I have picked Josh Legg and Steve Tucker. One for an excellent all round performance the other for his power hitting to take them from 240 to 300 in three overs.
Josh Legg 97 off 108 balls and 2-20 off 7 overs.
Steve Tucker 68 off 26 balls.