Presentation afternoon Saturday 14/09/24 written by Bailey Loveless On a…
Booth takes 4, Kaush flies through the air to take a screamer, but Bram loses on the Island at festival weekend
Ryde CC 1st XI v Bramshaw 1st XI – HCL Division 1, Match Report by Bailey Loveless
At 10 am on a Saturday morning I’m usually having a wet dream about Margot Robbie or Tom Arnold finally scoring a 100, but this Saturday I was part of a Bram side on the ferry to the Isle of Wight to take on Ryde.
The atmosphere was nearly as bubbly as the San Miguel’s Kaush and Declan were drinking at 10.15. After an assortment of narrow, bendy roads, we made it to the picturesque Ryde ground, which has to be one of the best in Southern England.
After dropping every catch in the warm-up, we lost the toss and were sent out to field on a flat one. Michael “Mick Lynch” Kingston came to an agreement at 12:27 to end his strike about not open the bowling and boy were the rest of us glad as Micky had their opener plumb in front of all 3 and the umpire finally raised his finger. Will Ridley opened the other end and after a few wayward overs found his rhythm. Kingston finished his first spell with 2-6 off 7 which gave us a tremendous start.
Jamie Martin and Bailey Loveless came on first change and weren’t performing at all before the latter got hit on the knee and was in some pain, but his cousin and captain Tom Arnold did not seem to give two f****. Martin was told off for running down the wicket where their umpire said “Hey, J-Mac get your clown feet off the wicket, and also you have a shite barnet” it seemed harsh but ultimately true.
The third wicket partnership was racing away from us as Loveless, Martin and Symonds all bowled some tripe before Loveless broke the partnership. Up step, Bison Booth to put a lot of dot balls together as Ryde collapsed from 150-4. Ollie Vincent took a great catch diving forward off Booth. Patel then took a regulation catch to remove their stubborn opener.
Patel, standing on the ring at midwicket, had to get his sprint on as the batsman skied one to a few metres short of the boundary, everyone there thought this ball is not getting caught, swirling around in the wind Patel kept a watchful eye on the ball. Money was still very much on the leather but Kaushal leapt through the air diving backwards to take a one-handed stunner as the whole team ran over to him, even the opposition gave it a standing ovation. Later that day, Zane “Wisdom” D’Monte described it as the best catch he’d ever seen.
Martin picked up the last 2 wickets with caught and bowled’s as Ryde were 196 all out, with Booth taking a brilliant 4-23 off 9 overs in our best fielding display of season . Ryde did a superb spread for tea with their brownies being the best on the island.
Arnold and D’Monte opened up but the latter was quickly out. Bison Booth joined Arnold in the middle and made steady progress as we were 80-1 after 20 overs. Booth leathered one to midwicket to be caught out by stunning catch which everyone agreed was the pluck of the day. Arnold then sold Vincent down the river, then he got stumped off the keepers pad as we were 89-4 to depart for 51 but hopefully in form again.
Mason and Kingston found themselves in the middle and both hit boundaries as we got to 140 before Mason went too early on one to be caught for 15. He then went to the Isle of Wight Festival to go partying long into the night.
Kaush and Ridley were in and out quickly. Then the big blow came as Kingston was removed for 35 with another 40 needed. The last 2 wickets fell pretty quickly as we finished 18 runs short at 178 all out. We can take pride in our performance and I believe we are turning a corner.
See the full scorecard here:
https://bramshaw.play-cricket.com/website/results/6082811
We sank some beers at Ryde before going for an Indian, where we all became bloated very quickly. On the 11 pm ferry we were all in good spirits, albeit very tired. Thanks to Ryde for being cracking hosts, and we wish them all the best for the rest of the season.
Huge thanks to Steve for scoring and to Chris, Zane and Jamie for driving so the rest of us could have some drinks.
We face Kerala next week, still searching for a win.