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Saints suffer in one-sided opener

Box Score

Apr. 16, 2012

All Saints put up a dismal display in the opening game of the season, against Thornford on Sunday.

In cold, windy conditions, and with just nine men, new Sunday skipper Russell Collins won the toss and perhaps surprisingly chose to field first. The Nunns brothers took the new cherry and started tightly, not giving much away early on. Mike Nunns made the breakthrough early, bowling opener Monk for 4, but it would be the only success for a while. With Fraser Wallace and Ben Roberts delayed in traffic, two of the Thornford players fielded for us, in addition to young Ollie Legg, who made up our ninth player. The home players fielded well, along with the All Saints players, but Dawn and J Legg started to build a hefty partnership.

Josh Short and Dave Boyland bowled decent spells, although the lack of bounce seemed to trouble Russell behind the stumps more than the batsmen in front of them. Legg passed his 50 without much drama, and Thornford moved past 150 before Fraser made the breakthrough, bowling Dawn for a well played 49. Mike came back for his final three overs, and picked up a wicket with the last ball, catching Cosher off a skied caught and bowled chance. However, Wood and Curley came to the crease and bludgeoned another 50 runs between them in the final overs. Thornford finished on 221-4 from their 40, and were rightly happy with their efforts.

The All Saints reply was a dismal affair, Josh going for a duck in the first over, attempting a big shot. Mike went for 9 a little while later, scooping one up to point, before Ben Roberts missed a low full toss to go for 1. James Nunns was triggered lbw for 0 to one that bounced twice and seemingly hit the bottom of his bat. The low bounce was a problem, and with scoreboard pressure, Fraser was just able to stay at the crease, but found it hard to score. Derek went cheaply too, before Fraser hit a flurry of boundaries. He then holed out to square leg off a full toss for 20, before Russell and Ollie were dismissed. Dave Boyland remained on 4 not out, but the innings had collapsed to a mere 52 and defeat by 169 runs.

Certainly a very rusty opener, and not a particularly enjoyable one, but at least we got to see a bit of the football in the bar afterwards!