http://sheffieldcollegiate.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/scorecard.asp?id=...
The 2nd's had a shambolic start to the season on a clear, cold day at Abbeydale against Whitley Hall. Brimming with confidence after a good pre-season and with a few new players, a tough warm-up was followed by a lost toss and being asked to bat first.
Bill Croft produced one of the best wickets at Abbeydale for years but poor shot selection and typical early season lack of concentration meant we found ourselves 32/5 and wishing the season started a week later. Alex offered catching practice to 2nd slip, Riaz played all around a straight one and Mike, Danny and debutant AJ Patankar were all trapped lbw. Bartles and the other debutant, Matt Thompson offered some resistance until an awful mix-up resulted in Thompson's run out, followed swiftly by Nadeem bowled first ball. Colty, Benji and Ben scratched around to ensure we passed 100.
Tea was marginally better than the batting!
Defending 104 on a flat deck was always going to be difficult and was made more so by Ben bowling more bad balls in one spell than he usually does in a season. Matt showed signs he will be a more than useful acquisition getting birthday boy Fletcher, to glove one which Colty dropped and saw the umpire signal byes. Nadeem ensured he got all his poor form out the way by following a dropped catch with his worst spell for the club. AJ, who showed promise in the nets, seems to have caught Bully's disease of bowling medium-pace with a good loop and helped Fletcher race from 50 to 89 in two overs. Benji was the only bowler to emerge with any credit managing to pick up the only wicket, bowling a consistent line and length.
The worst possible start to the season but not all doom-and-gloom. There was an honest chat afterwards with everyone accepting responsibility for their lack of performance and committing to working harder and smarter to ensure there is an improvement next week.