PDQ 2nd XI Match Reports

Sunday 20 September (PDQ Div 3)

"The batting order (The batting order), Is upside down (Is upside down), The batting order’s upside down…": A song that has become a familiar tune around the 2nd XI as the team regularly find themselves many wickets down for not a lot of runs and, on Sunday, the bowlers finally got the chance to show the batsmen how it should be done. And how they did!

Fittingly for a team who have only played eight of their 20 home games in the last two seasons, Abberton 2nd XI's final fixture was away at Vista Road (the birthplace of Mark Tokley’s infamous "Make ‘em ‘arder" catching celebration) against a Little Clacton side scrapping desperately against relegation. As it was the last game of the season, and as he was grateful to get eleven players out as many understandably preferred to stay at home to watch the 1sts in the Cup Final, the captain decided to pull the batting order out of a hat. To the delight of everyone, traditional number 12 Steve Whitfield was first out of the hat and was joined by Chris Pettit, although the biggest cheer was reserved (by himself) for Mark Tokley when he was drawn at number three. The final order saw the conventional order bulk up a strong middle/lower order: Whitfield St, Pettit, Tokley, Woodrow B, Desborough, Lingard, Cowland, Whitfield Sh, Fosker, Digby, Woodrow D.

All eyes were on Junior as he strode out confidently to the middle and then failed to lay a bat on any of the deliveries he faced in the first over. He soon made amends with some swashbuckling drives and edges and he raced to 14 in an opening stand of 26 in 3.2 overs before succumbing to a very dubious caught and bowled. The introduction of Tokley saw the run rate decrease dramatically as he revisited his anti-pinch-hitting role from Horkesley earlier in the season; nonetheless, Abberton reached drinks on a creditable 109-1.

All the while Pettit was slowly building his innings, remaining watchful when the ball was straight but punishing the many pies that were sent his way. When he was joined by Ben Woodrow the pair put on 99, with the returning Biffo clubbing 40 from 37 deliveries. A brief cameo from Matt Desborough, which was filmed for his A Level PE course, saw the score to 254-3 from 40 overs – the young student may not be too impressed when he hears the Woodrow/Fosker commentary recorded on his exam piece though! Chris Pettit finished with a stunning 142* from 133 deliveries, including 22x4 and 3x6 – a magnificent achievement.

So, the batting order out of a hat had worked and Abberton’s bowlers had given the team a great platform with the bat – could the batsmen show the same aptitude with the ball? Well no, not if Richard 'Slower Ball' Fosker’s opening efforts of 3-0-39-0 were anything to go by – even the flight and guile of his special delivery deserted him as it disappeared over the boundary a lot quicker than it had been delivered. The captain was keeping things tight at the other end, including a stunning one handed caught and bowled when he could only have thought that the ball was a cake, and after fourteen overs the score was 75-2 with only eleven runs coming from his end.

Phil Lingard bowled well without reward and then the slow 'off spin' of Ben Woodrow accounted for two opposition batsmen as their eyes lit up and they were unable to control their slogs to the boundary. The other bowlers were proving expensive and it was left to opening batsman Steve Whitfield to come on at the death and rip through the lower order with 5-37 [that's nine wickets in the weekend for Junior - Ed] as Little Clacton were bowled out ten runs short of victory in the final over.

A decent end to what has ultimately been a disappointing season for the seconds as they failed to gain promotion, but a top five finish is respectable as the team looks to progress with a new captain next year.  DW