One Day Competition - Cardinals vs Hospital, Presidents, Sydenham #3, 29th October 2011
Hospital at Sydenham 3 is never an easy game, but fronting up to such a match without several of our more lauded players; Adamson, Murdoch, Julian, Spence, and Millers Geoff & Jason, was always looking like a daunting task - although Hospital have sat behind us in the league table for the past couple of years, they nonetheless always seem to save their best for us, and have upset us on a regular basis. That said, if the ABs could get down to their 4th choice first five, and still manage to win, then so could we!
One plus was that we finally found a captain who could win a toss, not that it was going to be a decisive factor on a wicket that was infinitely better than the green, soft, uncut strip that we found two weeks previous after an unsettled week of weather. The toss was won, Hospital inserted into bat, and a dominance immediately asserted. And that was largely thanks to some very tight-fisted bowling Thommo and Flem, immediately backed up by Julien. Thommo was the pick of the bowlers with his 3-12, taking his tally to 7-23 from our two games to date. All the bowlers performed strongly - Bertie in his new role as an off spinner, and Bill as usual on a dime - but the real bonus came from the performance of newcomer Ralph Winder in his first game for us taking 2-15 from his 8 overs, and hitting Thinny's gloves increasing harder as he got into his stride - Ralph looks an exciting prospect to be joining us this season.
So Hospital never really got going and struggled throughout most of the match to get the run rate up above two before finally being bowled out for 112 with a couple of overs to go. Our batting response to a lowish score was how any captain would want it, solid, with runs being ticked over without undue risk being taken. Kevy Moore and Stu Simpson produced a fine start before Kev was dismissed for 33 with the score at 41. Stu then carried on with his time at the crease punctuated by a full toss into the rib cage mid-way through his innings that necessitated a runner for the rest of his innings, and a likely trip to the doctor come Monday morning. Of course the incident is a reflection of poor game preparation on Stu's part when compared to some of his other more senior colleagues who have spent many hours/years putting on conditioning to protect the ribs from such trauma so as to not put an important innings at risk. Stu and Thinny then took us quietly through to the total with 13 overs left, scoring 45* and 19* respectively, Thinny building upon his solid outing in the first game and looking capable of a solid contribution with the bat this season
So a good win against one of our boggy sides who were themselves admittedly short of a few of their better players but who will also take heart at the promise shown by 2-3 of their newer players which argues for a much tougher match when we play them again later in the year.
Check out the scorecard from the game.
Editors Note: The Cardinals retain the Noel Moorhead Trophy which is always up for grabs between these two teams. Well done the Cardinals!