2024-05-19_Islip

Match Data vs Islip on 2024-05-19 at Islip (Season 2024)

  • Result: WIN
  • Game Type: 35 Overs Game
  • Salix: 275 for 7 wickets (35 overs )
  • Islip:  155 for 9 wickets (34 overs)
  • (Salix Batted First)
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Report by Davski

Comfortable win to start the season

Expectations were worryingly high ahead of our 2024 season opener, 25 years* since our first trip to Islip. As it turned out what seemed to be a strong team on paper turned out that way in reality as well, Andy Spurr’s contribution with bat and ball proving decisive.

After a predictable lost toss, early season struggles for form saw two of us fall cheaply to good swing bowling, but right from the start the skipper appeared to be playing on a different level and pitch, scoring freely and finding a good partnership with Ben solid at the other end. A superb ton saw us 134 when he was finally bowled for 103, but there followed a brief mid-order wobble featuring a trademark Arsey dismissal clean bowled while trying to send the ball somewhere out of the county. Fortunately, that brought Spurr to the wicket, and he scored at a sensational rate as the Islip attack weakened, supported by a steady Sai cameo. Finally it came down to the last ball with two needed for a second Salix ton of the game, but it was to be an agonising dot ball leaving however an innings total of 275 which looked like it was a winning score.

An early Syed breakthrough was followed by the home side’s batters starting a decent response, until they were once again faced by Spurr, who removed the rest of the top order, albeit the first coming from probably the worst ball from his entire spell. That settled the game, the rest of the play after drinks being comfortable seeing good spells from Fergus and Arsey somehow not being rewarded with wickets, while Sai’s new look slow bowling encouraged batters to take more risks to take three wickets, while yours truly also somehow got a wicket from a dreadful over. A few tough catches went down, though Ben finally got the one his performance behind the stumps deserved, the whole day was punctuated by searches for the ball sent into the trees on one side, and overall this was a good all round team performance.

*We played Islip for the first time in 1997; we didn’t have a game in 1998, 2016 and 2020 and there have been 3 rained off games. Of the 22 completed games this was our 10th win.