Honours even in Harvel

Dave Fletcher and Tim Gannon opened proceedings for the Park in this traditionally very competitive fixture and were soon off to a flyer, rattling up 31 in the first 4 overs with both batsmen finding the boundary regularly. Gannon however edged a ball to first slip where the Harvel skipper took a great catch low down and departed for 18, with Park on 40 for 1. Digger Barnes was in at no.3 and looked very solid from the off, but Fletch was next to go, edging behind for 14 a couple of overs later, with park on 43 for 2. With Simon Ewin joining Digger in the middle, a good period of consolidation was in order and thats what we got, as the Harvel bowlers put the pressure on. Si and Digger put on 22 in the next ten overs when Digger was given out LBW for 9. Park on 65 for 3. Craig Partridge was up at no.5 but only managed a couple of runs before being bowled to leave Park on 72 for 4. With Sean Pritchard being run out for 0 in the next over, a traditional Prospect Park batting collapse was in full effect at 72 for 5. Matters got worse when Alan Russell was bowled for a duck to leave Park reeling on 81 for 6, and still with a very long time to bat. John Ling came out at no.8 and was straight off the mark with a big four. Simon had by now decided that the time was right to go for the runs and started to play his shots. These two staged a bit of a recovery adding 21 before Lingo was bowled for 5 but he'd seen Park through the hundred (102 for 7). Dave Partridge joined Si in the middle but 4 singles later he was caught out (Park 109 for 8). Bill Partridge was in next and he too set off well, with a lovely boundary before being bowled for 6 (116 for 9). Last man in was Terry Shannon who lasted only a couple of balls before he was bowled for a duck. Park bowled out for 116 with 15 minutes left on the clock and Simon stranded on 34 not out, a superb knock we'd have been nowhere without. Bearing in mind we'd scored 200 here last year and still lost, the skipper was a very worried man over the tea interval.

After a quick team huddle in the middle, the Partridge boys Dave and Craig opened the bowling. Craig was very fast and accurate and Dave swinging the ball prodigously as usual. Dave struck early, having Wilmer caught behind by Sean Pritchard in only his second over. Craig was repeatedly beating the bat, but was not getting the edge until his 5th over when he found the gloves of Downing and Sean once again took the catch behind the stumps. Johnny Ling and Bill Partridge then replaced Craig and Dave in the attack. Lingo took a bit of stick in his first over but recovered well later, but Harvel managed to get a few runs on the board at this stage and the game looked like it was starting to get away from us. Bill came to the rescue and broke this threatening partnership by bowling the big hitting Marable for 32. With opener Vidler still in on 25 Alan Russell was brought on at the other end and he responded by bowling Vidler in his second over. With four wickets down, we were in with a sniff if we could get a collapse going. Alan Russell was switched to the other end and Terry Shannon came on. After a shaky first over, Terry found his line and length and the Harvel batsmen were caught between attack and defense as they were harried by Russell at the other end. Alan was pushing the ball through a bit quicker than usual to great effect and took wickets in both his third and fourth overs, and by now hardly any runs were being scored. In his sixth over Russell secured two LBW decisions and all of a sudden park were looking like they might just pull off the most unlikely win. With 4 overs left russell did it again bowling Harvels no.10, and with Bill back on for the last few overs at the other end we were in for a nail biting finish. With three overs left, one wicket remaining and only a handful of runs required Bill induced Goodwin to loft one to deep mid on only to see skipper Gannon put the catch down. Russells next over went for only one run and so in the final over, 5 runs were required and any result was still possible. The first ball was a dot, the next, a big swing and four runs. The scores were level. the next ball, a dot. The next and a scrambled single saw Harvel through to victory. Or so we all thought. On totting up the books at the end, the Harvel skipper found that they were actually still two runs short of our total and with two balls not bowled in the match, the respective Captains agreed on a draw for the record books.

Win, lose or draw, this was a great match played in a tremendously friendly spirit by both sides, and is a fixture to look forward next year. Well done to both sides.

On the batting side, Simon really held it together as the team collapsed around him, and we would have been lost without his contribution. In fact this season Si has been the real anchor man of the Park middle order. On the fielding front we were a different side and everybody contributed to a great perfromance. I thought Sean did particularly well behind the stumps especially when Craig was bowling such a heavy ball. But obviously there is one stand out performance, and what a weekend for bowling figures its been with Alan Russell taking six wickets for only 9 runs. Al was experimenting with bowling a bit quicker and i think he's better for it. Al walks away with this weeks MOM.