League Cup (20 over): WFCC vs Bushwackers, Match Report & Scorecard

Bushwackers (145/6) beat Western Flyers (122/4) by 23 runs.

Match Report -

Western Flyers suffered an agonising defeat at the hands of Bushwackers in their opening match of the Bristol Construction Industries league. Flyers lost the toss and were asked to bowl as Yameen called incorrectly, forced to stand in for Shehan who was once again running late. Not the most punctual start to the season for our new captain, rumours circulating in the dressing room are that should he make it a third late show in a row then his tenure will only be saved from mutiny if he were to buy a round of drinks for the entire team.

Imran, recovered after his brief visit to A&E last week, opened the bowling for the flyers in a manner that caused some to question whether or not he was still concussed, with 17 runs in total coming from the first over. After that though the flyers bowlers found their rhythm, Naufel opening with assurance from the other end and Imran finding his line and length. The run rate dropped and the pressure began to build. Imran was the man to make the breakthrough, forcing the opening batsmen into an ugly swipe across the line that sent the ball straight up in the air and Nathan took a smart catch running backwards at pace. The momentum was now with the flyers as the run rate continued to drop and soon more wickets fell, one batsmen caught off the bowling of Naufel and the next struck in line on the back pad to Oliver. 

Unfortunately this brought what seemed to be a more accomplished pair of batsmen to the crease and thoughts of a nice low total to chase started to drift away. Tim was given a chance to turn his arm over but failed to find any rhythm and gave away 16 runs at a crucial point in the game. Bushwackers accelerated to a total of 145, far higher than what looked likely half way through the innings. Shehan chipped in with a couple of wickets towards the end and Nathan took a lovely catch off the final ball of the innings from Yameen to finally dismiss the man who had done most of the damage for 43.

A target of just over 7 an over held no fear for the flyers openers, and Shehan and Tim calmly set about seeing off the opening bowlers. Anything straight was defended, the bad balls were put away and very few chances were given against a bowling attack that was not looking too threatening. With the innings almost at the half way point the run rate was slightly below that required and it looked like flyers would coast towards victory. Then within the space of a few overs the balance of the match swung dramatically. Tim (24) struck a loose drive at extra cover who took a smart catch, Shehan (29) top edged one straight up in the air and then Ian became the unfortunate possessor of undoubtedly the shortest flyers innings in history. He had barely put out his cigarette and reached the non-strikers end when he was called through for a single that was never really there by Naufel. At least he didn’t have to break stride and could just carry on jogging off the pitch.

At this point the runs dried up and boundaries started to be few and far between as Bushwackers introduced a fantastic young spinner into the attack. Naufel eventually fell for 22 leaving Oliver and Yameen to try and force the issue but with a defensive field, some tight bowling and a run rate that was always climbing the flyers eventually fell 23 runs short.

In truth this was a game that always looked winnable and many players were left wondering how it slipped away. Numerous mis-fields, the obligatory handful of dropped catches (two in two balls by the same fielder at one point…..surely this warrants some sort of forfeit) and the odd wayward over all contributed to Bushwackers scoring around thirty runs more than they should have been allowed to. Even then it was an achievable target and to lose a T20 match when chasing and be only four wickets down by the close hints at a need to open the shoulders and go for broke a little more. 

Still, a good chance of redemption arises next week against Henleaze Old Boys. The man of the match goes to Shehan Somaratna.

Match Report by Tim Fewster

Scorecard -

Bushwackers Innings (20 overs maximum)		R	B	4s	6s	SR
D Simson P Simson C Duggan Sam Williams S Pepler M Henish Lucas† S Williams A Davies* O’Donoughue Goodenough Extras Total	c Nathan b Imran c Player b Naufel lbw Oliver c & b Shehan c Nathan b Yameen lbw Shehan Not Out DNB DNB DNB DNB (w18, b9, lb1) (6 wickets, 20 overs)	3 17 26 19 43 1 8 - - - - 28 145		- 3 4 2 5 - 1 - - - -	- - - - 1 - - - - - -

WFCC Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
Imran Ali Naufel Saleem Yameen Hussain Oliver McCambridge Shehan Somaratna  Tim Fewster	4 4 4 3 4 1	0 0 0 0 0 0	28 12 17 25 26 16	1 1 1 1 2 0	7.00 3.00 4.25 8.33 6.50 16.00

WFCC Innings (20 overs maximum)		R	B	4s	6s	SR
Shehan Somaratna* Tim Fewster Naufel Saleem Ian Randles Oliver McCambridge Yameen Hussain Imran Ali Simon Roberts Paul Remfry Nathan Sanders† Richard Green Extras Total	c Player b S Williams c Player b Goodenough c Player b S Williams Run Out Not Out Not Out DNB DNB DNB DNB DNB (w9, b5, lb2) (4 wickets, 20 overs)	29 24 22 0 20 10 - - - - - 16 122		5 3 3 - 1 - - - - - -	1 - - - - - - - - - -

BW Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
A Davies O’Donoughue Goodenough S Williams Sam Williams S Pepler D Simson	3 4 2 4 4 2 1	0 0 0 0 0 0 0	25 17 14 23 11 12 11	0 0 1 2 0 0 0	8.33 4.25 7.00 11.50 2.75 6.00 11.0

Match Detail -
Toss: Bushwackers won the toss and elected to bat first

M.O.M - Shehan Somaratna

Playcricket scorecard is available here.