Saturday v Las Bolas Doradas
We reconvened in Biniparrell for the commencement of the second half of the season. Annual visitors Las Bolas Doradas (Golden Balls) providing the opposition.
The visitors won the toss and elected to bat on a bright and breezy afternoon. A Rydon father and son combo opening up for the Golden Balls. There were good austerity opening spells from Wilson 2/32 and Catterall 1/24 from their respective 8 over stints. Young Rydon 83 was in fine form and cut loose in the latter part of his innings. Sam Evans chipped in with a useful 24 all the other batsman got starts but were pegged back by a tidy performance from stand in skipper Joe Brayne 4/38. Sturgeon picked up a couple of wickets also 2/32 but was a little expensive conceding 32 from his 4 overs. Disco Joe Steen took a bit of a battering in the middle overs conceding 52 from his 5 over spell. Las Bolas amassing 207 from their 40 over stipend.
Menorca´s reply got off to a slow start and we were steadily behind the required rate from the off. Menorca debutant Tom Brockton who has performed consistently well against Menorca for the Nomads unable to pick up the pace initially. He was accompanied at the crease by Sturgeon who was eventually dismissed run out in the 15th over for 21. Sturgeon´s innings was akin to being in the urinal at the rear of the Edrich stand at Lords with an elderly MCC member at your side. There was the occasional spurt in the form of a boundary, the odd trickle down to fine leg for a single amidst lengthy pauses with nothing happening other than the odd disapproving sigh.
Adam Cockroft relieved Sturgeon at the crease and following a few sighters couldn´t understand all the buggering about and hammered his way to a quick fire 39. Brockton 48 was next to fall in the 17th over as the hosts struggled to get on top. Brayne topped off a useful all round performance but when he was dismissed for 21 and Wilson perished for 17 the writing was on the wall. Andy Truelove 12 continued his improvement with the bat but Menorca inevitably fell 23 runs short. Will Greig 3/33 and Henry Rydon 2/29 the pick of the bowlers.
Sunday v Las Bolas Doradas
Once again Las Bolas Doradas won the toss and opted for runs on the board. They were soon regretting that decision as yours truly removed Whelpton and Davis for ducks. Young Burrow 46 dug in despite struggling to find any fluidity early doors. Roblin 35 ably accompanied Burrow and there were good stands between the Greig father and son pairing Snr 36 and jnr 25 Will Rydon also hit a useful 31 batting at 9. They amassed 210 from their slightly reduced allotment of 35 overs. Barker 2/12, Cockroft 2/25 skipper Roussel 2/51 and Wilson 2/55 took the wickets for the hosts.
In response the less said about Menorca´s batting the better. We´ll put this one down to ring rust following a lengthy break although Dow 17 and Brayne 17 battled hard against some tight bowling from the visitors. Roblin 3/10 and Will Greig 2/6 doing most of the damage Menorca dismissed for 105.
September is a busy month at the home of Balearic cricket. We have a T20 game on Wednesday followed by 40 over games on Saturday and Sunday against the Tetherdown Trundlers. Later in the month we host legendary commentator and cricketing raconteur Henry Blofeld´s 80th birthday celebrations. Please check out the details on the club website www.menorcacricketclub.com and keep your eyes peeled for regular updates on the usual social media channels.
