Ring Commons v. Halverstown

Whelan Cup 20/20, Tuesday 28th June
Ring Commons won by 28 runs

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”.

On the way to the match Sean Conroy regaled me with the statistics for Ring Commons. A Division 11 team, unbeaten in 10 matches with an impressive batting record. When we arrived they had the swagger to go with it. 

However we hadn't travelled that far to be rolled over and when we were put into the field the two 'long lads' from the Glen opened the bowling.  In summary this has to be one of our best bowling/fielding performances for years. Wickets fell regularly and none of the batsmen got established. Neville case is definitely 'back' after one or two lackluster matches judged against his own extremely high standards. He got a 'fourfer' while Moon, Wasif and Ashan shared in this wicket 'fest'.  The fielding backed up the bowling and not a catch was dropped or a ball fumbled. Wasif took 4 catches; Moon got the 'prize' for making an extremely difficult skyer literally look like a walk in the park and Barry too was safe under the high ball. The whole team contributed with excellent ground fielding. Newcomer David Murphy was notable in this regard.

To say that Ring Commons looked shell-shocked was an understatement. We had put them back in the pavilion for 105 runs.

As with practically every match this season the rain came down and it interrupted the start of our innings. After such a fine performance in the field we didn't want to replay this match and eventually the rain cleared and gave us our chance.

Trevor Wardrop and Mark Ronaldson opened the batting with confidence. They had scored 29 runs when misfortune struck and Mark was run out after slipping on the wet mat. Unbelievably Wasif was lbw after a couple of balls and Trevor was skittled without adding to the score. Suddenly it was a different ball game and Ring Commons knew they were back. After that only Moon (18) and Barry (14*) offered any sort of resistance. Special mention must be made of Sean Conroy who stayed at the crease for 4 overs and allowed Barry to get us to a reasonable total of 77. Geoffrey Boycott would have been proud of him.

After a perfunctory handshake from the opposition the match concluded. We went on our way thinking about what might have been but knowing that we hadn't been rolled over.