Rain Too Late to Rescue 1s

Following some critical words from skipper Charlie Tomlinson last weekend it was always going to be interesting to see what reaction the First Eleven showed at home to Sleaford. Despite the horror stories of cars pulling off the road for safety and Jake Benson front crawling to his nan’s for breakfast the Lindum only ever got moderately damp. Steady rain delayed the start of the match as Jake’s nan’s proclamation of “Rain before seven means fine by eleven” not quite coming true. However by 12:45 the umpires declared that a forty over contest would take place commencing at 1:30pm. Sleaford won the toss and with poor weather predicted for later in the day made the very interesting decision to bat first.

Joe Peatman struck early with Bish snaffling a chance in front of his face with the score on 25. A 55 run partnership then ensued as Tom Shorthouse and Andy Hibberd pushed the score onwards through a combination of intelligent running and errant bowling lines. Will Taylor caught the dangerous Shorthouse for forty as a quick change of ends for Elliot Dalton did the trick. It may have looked an easy catch but it went high, loopy and spun like a top. When you are underneath a catch like that on a gloomy day with the knowledge it’s the opposition's best player up for grabs it is a lonely place…..80-2 and Lindum were like a new side. Rolfs, fresh into the attack, soon saw off Oliver Bean which brought Oliver Burford to the crease. ‘Burfs’ and the wily Hibberd then put on 51 before Hibberd fell to a returning Peatman thanks to a fantastic head high slip catch from Jake. Burford quickly followed as Rolfs, now fully in rhythm, seemed to have got him questioning his scoring areas. More wickets for Rolfs followed as Sleaford, much to the shock of their confident travelling support, slumped from 136-3 to 151-8. Some late resistance from Cameron Hall pushed the visitors to 184 before the returning Shane Barr took two quick wickets to give us the fall bowling bonus bowling points. 184 all out was not bad but the frustrating thing for the home spectators was that there was not much wrong with the first half of the innings, just minor details that when totaled together make the difference. Parts of our fielding were sloppy with the ground fielding being indifferent at best. We bowled far too many extras throughout the course of the innings. It would seem word has not filtered through to Moscow yet that Joe Peatman has left the RAF. KGB spies (no names mentioned) seem intent on playing with the tall paceman by fiddling with his tape measure ensuring he bowls far too many no balls. A new tape measure is surely required else the matches may have to come out at Grimsby away! However, the catching was immense and the intensity we played with when we got a sniff of being on top was excellent. Rolfs with 11-1-44-5, bowling with great control and guile, will gain a lot of the plaudits but it was a real team bowling effort.

Tea was the usual Tomlinson food fest with an exquisite selection of sandwiches, savoury and patisserie items. Whilst the players gorged themselves on the ample quantities of food on show the groundsman re-marked the pitch and hopped on the heavy roller he had been instructed to use. The skipper wanted to deaden the impact of the new ball for the start of the chase.

Charlie’s tactics looked to have worked a treat with the visiting attack struggled to trouble Bish and Pierce in the opening few hours. Bish was his usual fidgety self and with PMB having to take some of his usual muscle shots out of his game he displayed great adaptability with his game plan. Often accused of skipping it Pierce turned Saturday into ‘Leg Day’. Using excellent cricket craft and knowledge of the game he worked the fielders nicely as Lindum ticked to 37 without loss. Bish was then adjudged to be leg before wicket for a tidy 14 and it was safe to say the little man was not overly keen on his decision. Rolfs came in and went out quickly for five as he was neatly caught and bowled by Sreedharan. Caught more in two minds than by the bowler though as Ben lamented later he should go up and over rather than check those sorts of shots. PMB was next out in the twelfth over but it felt like he was given out at drinks ? as the umpire certainly took his time to send Pierce on his way. At 53-3 you were always need your big players to step and Charlie and Will Taylor took the total to 82 before Will fell for the second week in a row just as a big partnership was looming. Euan quickly followed bowled by Tom Shorthouse as our promising position had evaporated to 83-5. With heavy dark rain clouds in the air all thoughts were looking up and Sleaford began to hustle round as with Grant Watkins coming in 7 they clearly felt they were into the tail. After falling last week playing outside of his comfort zone the tough Watkins was not going to perish in the same way this week. His defensive shots were all played firmly and positively and when he hit the ball, it stay hit! Charlie plays how Charlie plays and the scoreboard suddenly began to tick along and the confidence began to seep from the Sleaford camp. A once chirpy outfit they began to wobble as 56 was put on for the sixth wicket before Tomlinson fell for another excellent knock of 49. Joe came in wielding this bat like a mad Cossack and raced to what would turn into 25 off 14 balls but with Grant and Jake falling quickly our chase fell just short as we finished on 168 for 8 off our forty overs.

We learned a lot about ourselves in that chase in terms of the pacing of it, especially on our own ground. A few players will have found different ways of scoring runs and also re-enforcing their own scoring areas.

Lots still to work on but some huge positives to be taken from a much improved team performance. It starts again this midweek because as Jake’s nan says ‘If on Thursday you ain’t netting by Saturday night you’ll be regretting”.

It is going to be a long hard season as we are only seven points off of bottom spot but if the work ethic of the last seven days is replicated week after week then relegation can be avoided. If not………………….

Report by James Kempton