Conor Steals The Show!

This past Sunday was one of the easier games to captain, not least because one player dominated the game. Having lost the toss and the opposition choosing to bowl, I was triggered in the second over by fellow 1^st XI player Rob Gibson, however it is worth mentioning that I was that plum to a ball that didn’t bounce higher than 6 inches, I was already beginning to walk. We never looked back after that, my dismissal brought to the crease Conor Thompson, who the previous week had steadied the ship from 49-5 to put on a 140+ partnership with Daniel Willoughby (88*).

Conor & Pablo punished anything short or wide, moving the score forward at 4 per over rotating the strike well on a typically slow & low OE’s wicket. Once Conor got in, he began to charge the bowlers and punishing everything, he was eventually dismissed for a superbly made 66. In came Rob Gibson (I was begging for an LBW shout to return the favour), the opposition skipper even treated him to a very defensive field expecting him to be the boundary hitter – not in our lifetime will Gibbo ever be called that. Despite this, Gibbo still managed to secure 30* and take our score to 192 at the end of our 35 over’s.

After another superb Macca tea, we took the field and opened the bowling with Jonathan ‘Pops’ Smith & Prasanna Silva, they provided tight, restrictive bowling which put Southgate behind the run rate. Pops completed his opening 5 over spell by removing the opener with a coach’s dream of a delivery, the ball clipped the top of the off stump. Asim Akhtar was then brought into the attack, and after a few loose deliveries he provided 5 over’s of superb swing bowling. The fielders definitely backed up the bowlers on Sunday with 3 run outs, 2 direct hits, one each for Conor & myself. Conor also had a further run out courtesy of a mix up with the batsman. With the run rate climbing above 10, and only a few over’s left, I gave the ball to Gibbo, and 2 drop catches and a missed stumping later, he finally got his reward for his loopy non spinning leg spinners as I rescued him with a superb catch at silly point. At the other end I gave the ball to man of the match Conor, and with his first ball he bowled the tail ender to claim his first senior wicket for Old Elizabethans.

A fine performance only outdone my Macca’s sublime tea.