We travelled to Greystones with a full team including Darren Ryall who despite his youth has been a member of this team for longer than most of us can remember. It was a relatively young team with a few ‘old boys’.
The weather forecast was indifferent but we only got one heavy shower. Mick Neville won the toss and conscious of the weather elected to field.
Moon and John opened the bowling. John’s first ball was signaled wide, something he is not used to. With a scowl on his face he added an extra yard to his run up, snorted, charged in like a bull and delivered a ball that brushed the edge of the bat and landed safely in the wicket keepers gloves. You don’t mess with JT!
Greystones, Ian Oliver (27), was the only batsman to score a significant amount of runs such was the accuracy and penetration of the Halverstown bowlers. Neville Case was on a hatrick with his first ball but the batsman wisely left it alone. The fielding was generally good and the throwing kept the batsmen on their toes. There are some good arms out there but it would be hard to beat Darren. He ran out the Greystones No.2 with a throw like a rocket, over the top of the stumps, which the wicketkeeper merely had to catch and flick off the bales. He also took an excellent catch covering a large amount of ground to watch the ball drop into his hands. He made it look easy despite suffering a significant amount of pain from an injured knee.
Barra bowls right arm spin ‘through and around’. This is a level of sophistication that we aren’t used to. More caviar than cod’s roe. It certainly confuses the batsmen. He is a very effective change or ‘death’ bowler and ended the day with 1-9.
Mamoon is another interesting case study. He gets quicker as he moves through his overs. After his first over one of the batsman was heard to remark that he wasn’t very quick. “Nothing to worry about”. After his second over there was a certain quietness as the batsmen mentally adjusted to the faster ball. His action doesn’t change and so the increase in speed is deceptive. Similarly you can’t pick his slow ball which is an attribute shared by JT. In his last 2 overs he went around the wicket and dismissed the last 3 batsmen for 8 runs in total.
It has to be said that we are well captained and this makes a huge difference. Bowling changes are astute and field placing is precise. Mick sometimes feels we are too relaxed but actually we are happy.
At tea Greystones were all out for 87.
Our skipper who always has an eye to the weather opened with himself and Moon. Moon is the nuclear option. On his way to 57* Moon clubbed three mighty sixes over the long boundaries clearing them by some distance. He was ably supported by Barra (16) who unselfishly kept him on strike as much as possible.
The match was wrapped up in 13 overs and Halverstown were victors by 8 wickets. Greystones were very sporting opposition and there were no disputed decisions or less than civilized exchanges.
Once again it was very much a team effort and the vocal support for both successes and failures signifies a team at one with itself.
On 14th June we have the next round of the 20/20 away to AIB. On 17th June we are away to Malahide in the league and on 25th June we have the club barbecue our main fund raiser.
https://www.cricketleinster.ie/results/view/-greystones-druids-glen-2017-06-03-130000