Back in the saddle

We had lost our unbeaten run against Browns the previous week and now our record was won 7, lost 1. It was important to get back in the winning trail so that our title bid didn’t come off the rails in the game against Mistley at Drapers. As was typical we made 3 changes to the side defeated the previous week. Out went Goz, Rare and James Ellis and in came Rubber, Ruddy and Legend...with Toby in the side as well we certainly had lots of options in the slow bowling department. Spaggs won our 6th toss in a row and this time, despite cloudy skies, had no hesitation in electing to bat first. He strode to the crease with Elmo and just like the previous week the pair begun quickly but were separated in the 4th over when Elmo departed with the score on 21. His run of low scores, he hadn’t passed 15 in 5 innings, was certainly influenced by his knee problem and this was to be his final game of the season as his surgery was imminent. Dubbers joined Spaggs at the crease and the two of them scored freely all round the ground. 50-1 off 8 became 90-1 off 14 as the two laid the foundation of a big score. Just before he could register his first 50 of the season Spaggs was caught and bowled for 47 with the score at 96. Rubber came and went in the blink of an eye as we lost our third wicket at 115 in the 22nd over. Around this time Dubbers passed 50 for the 5th time in only 9 innings. He’d made a 100 in his previous dig at Drapers and the stage was set for a repeat. We only scored 30 runs between overs 20 and 30 but this quiet period was followed by a swift acceleration as we added 135 off the final 20. Dubbers and Arkle shared an impressive stand of 145 (navigating a 35 minute rain break and an early tea along the way). Arkle who made 60, including 19 singles as he farmed the strike back to Dubbers, before departing in the penultimate over with the score at 260-4. These guys had added 157 together in our last home game and obviously enjoyed batting together. It was Arkle’s second 50 of the season and he looked more comfortable in 1st XI cricket each week. Bizarrely Dubbers was then joined by Toby Pugh who was our new number 6. He must have spent the afternoon telling Spaggs that he was in form and should be moved up the order! Credit where credit is due he helped add another 19 off the final 10 balls with Dubbers who ended with 136 not out including 22 fours. It was another great innings and took him past 500 runs for the season with 7 games remaining. He was unquestionably in a purple patch and feeling invincible! It was unlikely that Mistley were going to chase down our big total of 279-5 and within 5 overs there was no doubt about that. Trevaskis was working his magic from the lake end with 3 wickets in 4 balls leaving Mistley in tatters at 10-3. We were made to wait until the 20th over for the 4th wicket which fell to Elmo. It was his final contribution of the season on the field although he was on the boundary willing us on after his surgery. This wicket sparked another collapse much like we had seen for Copdock and Braintree. This time Mistley lost 7 for just 41 as Trevaskis went on the rampage, twice more he took two wickets in an over ending with 7-34 off 12 overs. Just like Dubbers he’d repeated his achievement from the last home game and this haul took him to 36 wickets for the season. I was considering whether getting back to back hundreds or seven-fers was the greater achievement. It’s almost impossible to decide but in the end I’m voting for the wickets...although it’s fair to say that Jay benefitted from Dubbers runs in making both contests into impossible run chases, as well as his catching at 3rd slip!! The other two wickets were shared by Toby and Legend (a smart stumping by Ruddy which showed that he was definitely better with the gloves on). The latter bowled a 7 over spell which contained 38 dot balls. It was a hugely comfortable win and in the end the margin was 154 runs with us bowling Mistley out in 37 overs. What we would have done for some of those runs the previous week! Drapers was fairly raucous that evening as we celebrated the win. Our top scorer and leading wicket taker were the ring leaders but had plenty of willing drinking partners as we made merry. Our record was now 8-1 and next up was a trip to Ipswich and East Suffolk although the forecast made it look likely that we would have another washout. If we could win 5 of the remaining 7 we would probably be champions for the first time.