Portchester A v Fareham & Crofton A - 09.12.07

Portchester A (7pts) - 99 for 3 (12 ov) lost to Fareham & Crofton A (21pts) - 100 for 4 (11 ov)
Match report by Paul Hungerford

The A Team suffered a second reverse of the season to Fareham & Crofton A. Put into bat by the Fareham skipper, we got off to a good start with some quick running between the wickets and extras helping the run-rate. With the score set on 39 for 0 off 4 overs the innings was looking in good shape. However Fareham dragged our effort back well with some straight bowling and good fielding and the following 6 overs only yielded 29 runs with the loss of 2 wickets - Ed Jordan run out for 18 and Steve O’Neill caught for 4. Lee Hungerford, our indoor-specialist opener was first off the court, retired on 27* in the 7th over. The final 2 overs of the innings were more profitable with 31 taken off them - with Lee retired and 4 wickets still left we ran for everything. Paul Hungerford finished off on 18* and Craig Coward on 5*. Dave O’Neill was run out in the penultimate over for 9.

We finished up on 99 for 3, so despite only losing 3 wickets we still couldn’t make the hundred. Getting pinned down in the middle overs hurt us when really we should have looked to build on a solid start and score at least 120. Still, 100 was a target we felt we could defend and was more than anybody had scored against us this season.

Craig got the bowling got off to a great start with 2 wickets falling for only 6 runs. The first fell when Paul took a good catch whilst sliding leg/knee first into the side wall (I felt it afterwards!) to dismiss Pennycott. The second fell 2 balls later when Paul hit the stumps at the Keeper’s end, running out the other opener, D.Emery as they went for a quick single. However all the damage was done in the next 5 overs and at the half way point Fareham had reached 73 for 2! Paul bowled the second over which went for 14 and Lee (2 overs for 29) and Steve (1 over for 17) were also both expensive. At this stage barring some very quick wickets the game was effectively over. Both Paul (2 overs for 16) and Craig (3 overs 14 for 1), who again bowled superbly came back strong only going for 2, but Fareham were happy to not take any risks and just hit the side walls. Dave O’Neill also bowled well, taking 1 wicket for 23 runs off his 3 overs. He claimed the 4th wicket of Hillier with Steve claiming a good diving catch low to the ground at point. With Marchant also run out to Paul’s direct hit at the bowler’s end and only 2 wickets and 2 overs remaining, we felt we had a chance of winning . However Fareham won with L.Gould who had returned after retiring, hitting 12 off Dave’s final over (the 11th) to finish on a well made 42*.

So it was a very disappointing result, despite some good passages of play, 4 or 5 bad overs with both bat and ball cost us dearly. The main difference between the sides was extras - 18 compared to 40, which was far too many! With the season now basically over in terms of finishing in the top 2, expect the skip to change things a little……Ed may even get a bowl!!