Pannal Home Match Report

Scorecard

On another generally sunny day - though with the threat of rain present early on, Pannal won the toss and we were inserted - so a good toss to lose.

We opened with Steve Lawrence and, in an attempt to maintain wickets in hand for a later push, we opted to open with Steve Ellison - with Stevie E given instructions not to give it away and not worry so much about the runs. This he did with aplomb for 22 overs - and was therefore given instructions to launch a whirlwind of pain on the Pannal bowlers, or to die tryin'. Sadly neither whirlwind nor death came briskly enough - the only criticism that could be made in what was otherwise a superb job done by Steve.

Steve Lawrence fell to a cracking one handed return catch by Andy Ellis for 60 (84-1) , thus bringing Robbie Andonovski to the crease. Steve Ellison then departed for a hugely encouraging 27, but it seemed that 30 overs of pad rash got to Robbie and he was deceived by a good slower ball from Pannal's aussie and was bowled for 11 (104-3)

This brought the skipper and Tom Scott-Smith together, who duly set about slogging with gay abandon in an attempt to raise our score towards par (which was probably around 180). This was more successful for TSS than for the skipper (9) who departed to the last ball of Jon Smith's spell to an ungainly hoick. TSS managed some lusty blows in his 22 before wickets fell in a heap towards the end of our innings, with no batsmen really able to get into a hitting groove - save for Callum McIntosh's cut shot in the last over which rocketed off to the point boundary, and Chronic's inimitable flat bat cut over mid on for a one bounce 4. I think you had to be there to really appreciate that one.

So that last over lifted us to 151-7 off our allocated 45 overs - a score that in my experience has been a winning score more often than a losing one at Dacre. However Pannal clearly had a strong batting line up, and early wickets were key. Pannal made steady progress until the 9th over when Steve Ellison (6-0-17-1) removed Rob Ellis (caught behind) for 19 (36-1).

After encouraging performances in the nets in pre-season, the skipper saw fit to bring himself on for some of his military medium outswingers. However, the skipper had failed to realise that after football on Thursday he was unable to lift his leg from the floor, and proceeded to serve up perhaps the worst bowling the 1st division has ever seen. Somehow, this seemed to utterly flummox the Pannal batsmen - with Andy Ellis edging behind, only to see the keeper stood too far back to receive the regulation nick and Travis Baker skying a rank long hop to mid-wicket - only to see TSS's blue walking trainers grip the turf rather too well causing Tom to do an imitation of Coco the Clown rather than catching the dolly that was offered to him. Of course the skipper is sanguine about such matters and will in no way be taking any form of revenge on the culprits ;)

By the time Steve Lawrence (10-1-54-2) removed Travis Baker (27) with the score on 114-2, it was looking a little late for us - especially when Andy Ellis launched an assault on Steve Lawrence's bowling. However, Steve gained his revenge when Andy went for one shot too many, and was brilliantly caught just inside the boundary's edge by Steve Ellison for a match winning 72 (133-3). Robbie Andonovski then found his range and took 2 wickets in 2 balls with quick straight balls. However, with the score on 150, it was perhaps a little late for Dacre and the hattrick ball was fired down the leg side and disappeared for 4 byes to end the game with a 5 wicket defeat.

So the verdict? Well a point's a point - and there were plenty of positives again against the side who are probably favourites for the title. Steve Ellison bowled, fielded and batted well, Steve Lawrence looked like he was starting to find form - and despite the sabotage of the skipper's figures the fielding performance was in general much improved from last week. However, we need to find ways to make early inroads to the opposition's batting lineup.

(Thanks to Barry Gill for the photos)