Torrevieja against La Manga is always a match worth watching.
In another thrilling game involving lots of runs La manga travelled to Torre c.c and after winning the toss put the hosts into bat.
Returning from England earlier in the week K.Wood entered the middle with C.Guichard and what a start it was when K.Wood hit 12 of the first over in a flying start. runs dried up straight after when the openers managed only 41 runs by the first drinks break, some fine tight bowling from the la manga bowling kept the openers at bay after the first over. After drinks the batsmen looked to open up the run rate but saw K.Wood (30) play a shot too early against youngster of la manga Z.Simkins and take a simple catch at short leg by I.Hunt.
In game P.Harvey and had no intentions of being ticcy tacker and went on and hit some quick boundaries. only to see C.Guichard bowled a few overs later for a well worked 18. D.Reid came to the crease and became the new anchor man holding his ground and nudging the runs, By the second drinks break at the 30th over the new partnership had build a great partnership reaching 154/2 (somin like that) and decided to go for the hit out or get out solution.. P.Harvey went about well with the plan before being caught on the boundary (after a little vote on weather his foot was on the boundary or not). a great 103 partnership over. P.Michael entered with 5 overs left and went out swining hitting what balls he could before seeing D.Reid fall for a well fought 36 and bringing R.Maini to the centre. the final 5 overs saw the 2 batsmen build a brilliant 40 run partnership and push the team 235/4 in their allotted 40 overs………
After seeing past results on this ground, 235 seemed the best possible chance of winning, the only thing in the way was the force of the 10 man la manga team.
The innings started well seeing A.Mcdowell and C.Guichard bowling tight lines and restricting the runs for the first 4 overs until the 2 openers of la manga got used to the wicket and went on a mission to start the run chase. With often bowling changes, nothing seemed to work to contain the batsmen nor find a way to get them out. With a few very difficult catch chances and couple of missed run outs which the keeper forgot to hold the ball before knocking the bails off. a break through was finally taken when youngster C.Wood bowled an absolute beauty of a ball to dismiss D.Williams for a nifty 30 odd.
In came R.James and departed a few balls later after trying to take a silly single which saw him run out by a direct hit from R.Singh. A great run out which saw youngster C.Hunt come to his favourite pitch (NOT) and a big ask with 160 needed to win from 20 overs..
C.Wood being restricted to only 5 overs saw a few more bowling changes but none working out as C.Hunt and S.Simkins flew by the run rate. After an earlier run out, R.Singh came on to bowl and seemed a miracle when he bowled a magical moving Yorker to dismiss S.SImkins for a powerful knock in the 80´s, In came Stefan and fell soon after when R:Singh struck again !!! By the 2nd innings drinks break the ecuation was 60 of the last 10 overs…. pressure from both teams as everyone walked out but it was Torre that seemed on top when R.SIngh continued his spell and C.Wood returned and the first 4 overs went for 8 runs !!! but a simple caught and bowled chance was missed when C.Hunt chipped a ball back to C.Wood only to see the ball bounce out his hands
With the Youngsters bowled out, the fate of the game was left with R,Maini and A.Mcdowell to defend the brilliant start to the last session. the pressure built on the batsmen as dots were made. losing concentration when It mattered most, line and length was thrown off and C.Hunt took advantage of the poor bowling hitting boundaries around the park. R.Maini bowled out leaving A.Mcdowel and K.Wood to defend 17 of the last 3 overs…… Pressure of the scoreboard ran thro the bowlers to the batsmen delight as 10 was taken from K.Wood´s over and with 7 to defend C.Hunt finished the game with 2 4´s to end the game and an unbeaten half century to top it off….
Torre 235/4 (40)
La Manga 236/5 (39)
A fantastic game all round with fair play and the spirit of the game being the winner at the end of the day.
Torre travel to Alfas C.C next Saturday with positives to go by and negatives to work on.
Torrevieja CC