Two wins in the trot, and West Penno were a confident mob when we turned up to play Normanhurst. Although we knew that they would be our toughest assignment so far. The first day didn’t start off well with Blake losing the toss and Normo decided to bat first. This wasn’t a surprise as the outfield was lighting quick.

We were ver pedestrian in the field early. Our bowlers were being hit to all ends of the park and it reflected in the score after 20 overs with Normanhurst 3/135 which is a run rate of 6.75 per over. The only light of the session was a stunning catch by Anjan Oberai at first slip. The boys had a wake up call in the second session with an incredible fight back led by left-arm orthodox spinner Aditya Vishwanathan. Aditya was on a hat-trick at one stage only for his hat-trick ball to be dropped by our keeper (although it was a very tough chance.)

We finished off Normo for 226 after just 38 overs. It was a very good thing we bowled them out; otherwise 300+ looked a reality on the scorecards. We had to bat 19 overs and our prime objective was to create a solid base for next week’s run chase.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite the way we planned. We lost 3 batsmen in three overs after a steady start by our openers. At the end of the day we finished 3/52 with 175 runs to get next week off 41 overs.

The next week saw us in trouble early after losing three quick wickets to see us 6/63. Fortunately, Blake Mather and Bharat Ramesh put on 113 runs for the 7th wicket to put us back in the game. But it was too little too late and we were bowled out on the last ball of the innings for 206, a great comeback from our position.

Next week will have to see a better effort from the bowlers and in the field and a couple of big scores from our top order to see WPH Red back on the front foot.

Man of the Match: Bharat Ramesh (for his wonderful batting effort)

Report by Alex Rashleigh

Posted by Peter Andrew Rashleigh on November 6, 2008 10:49 PM