Sharks 122-4 (Pat 25*, Jeeva 25*, Brett 2-19, Barker 1-13, Kavanagh 1-15), lost to Jags 123-4 (Parrish 25*, Horner 19*, Phillips 18, Jeeva 1-12, Pat 1-24) by 6 wickets
MOTM - Liam Brett
The Sharks games are always a highlight of a Jags season and this was no different. For those of us who have played for many years they are a team filled with familiar faces and there is always a good spirit between both sides. For once captain Parrish lost the toss on a gloomy evening at Queens and Sharks (obviously) opted to bat first. We did come equipped with an excellent bowling attack though and still felt happy with our chances chasing.
Liam and debutant Ben Kavanagh opened things up for the Jags amd had both Sharks openers in a bit of trouble. The ball kept leaping up from the pitch at Liam's end and usually keeping low from Ben's. As a result early scoring was low and Liam got the breakthrough in his second over using the extra bounce to find a glove through to Phillips. Ben smashed the stumps apart in his 3rd over before Liam found the edge again in his 4th to cap an excellent opening spell.
This brought Pat and Jeeva to the crease who we know are very capable batsmen. Tyler bowled with good pace and accuracy which forced the batsmen to play slower than they usually would, whilst James H made great use of the extra bounce from Liam's end. No wickets through the middle overs but a run rate we could be very happy with. We did have one casualty though with Tobias pulling a hammy chasing the ball to the boundary. No matter where I moved him though the ball just kept following him - Credit to the man he kept on chasing the ball, palm gripped firmly around his own leg at all times.
As we moved towards the death Pat and Jeeva retired and the grey clouds swarmed making visibility for all difficult! James B and Sawyer saw us through, keeping up the great standard of bowling. In the last over Sawyer drew a hoik from the batsman straight to yours truly who lost the ball in the dark of the trees, allowed it to smash himself in the chest before promptly falling over spectularly. Drew a few laughs from all in the field, especially Sawyer who I think prefferred it to getting a wicket. Innings ended in the dark with a few drops of rain. 122-4 not usually a game winning total but with the visibility it would still take some chasing.
Sharks opened up with pace off this time but it played into our openers hands. Both Parrish and Barker made their runs quickly including a big straight 6. This prompted a change in bowling with Jeeva and Pat coming into the attack and slowing the scoring down but a lot of damage had been done with 43 being scored off the first 5. Barker had amassed a nice looking 17 before getting bowled by a beaut (aka big swing across the line to a straight one ;) ) and Parrish retired on 25 exactly, after taking a good 10 minutes to get the final retirement run.
Dan and Phillips were in charge of the middle overs, the scoring slowing due to the dark conditions and the good quality bowling but they were able to tick things over well and made use of getting their eye in. Dan eventually fell bowled for a quick 13 but Phillips prioritized partnerships batting time with both Dan and Horner. By the time Phillips was caught and bowled for 18 we looked in very good shape. Sawyer came in and didn't hang about finding the boundary 3 times and the job was basically done. Kavanagh joined for the final flourish with Horner knocking to 4s in a row to end things with 15 balls to spare.
A very good win which makes it 3 out of the so far in the friendlies. MOTM could have gone many directions as there were good performances all over but once again the choice is ball over bat with Liam's opening spell making a decisive impact in keeping the 1st innings score down. On to next week for our first league outing of the season.
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