Baston welcomed Grantham 3rds to the Shrine this week, with another chance of revenge against a side that had beaten them earlier this season. Baston boasted a strong side with Baseball Tom and Teddy dropping out for father and son Neil and Ruben, easily the fewest changes to the side this year. A few players unfortunately couldn’t be picked. There was no place for Dave Greenfield, but he kindly offered to come down and umpire the Baston innings, and score while Baston were fielding. Top egg behavior from Dave. Unlike Rowan who thought he deserved a place after playing well in a game 3 months previously, and then not being available since.
The overseas who had scored 80 off the first 12 overs at Grantham was in the 1st team this week, so no sign of him. In fact, no sign of any of the Grantham side until 10 minutes to 1. No apology from the away side or rush to get ready. Ever the gentleman, Ben refused to claim the toss, but won it anyway and chose to bat on a dry hot day. Grantham’s skipper went off to sulk and take another 30 minutes to take the field, as Ben and Ant walked out to bat at 20 past 1.
In a decent season for Ben, the opposition’s bowlers have worked to find a weakness in his otherwise ECB textbook technique. Grantham’s young spinner Prabhakaran looked to expose this weakness with his first ball as he sent a slow half tracker down the legside. Ben (1) with all the time in the world, got set in a good position and tried to steer it down to fine leg, but top edged it up to a young lad running in from deep square leg. Grantham’s plan worked and Baston were 1-1. Nothing to worry about though with plenty of batting to come, and a supposedly weak bowling attack to deal with.
Lamin spotted a sexy moth
Plenty to worry about soon after as two more form batsmen were cleaned up, with Morris (1) and Garmo (1) trudging off, and Baston 6-3. There was a suggestion that the three men out had all enjoyed too much time in the middle recently, so thought it fair to give others a go.
Thankfully the coolest head of show (due mainly to a lack of hair allowing for cooling from the breeze) Martyn was still in the middle and joined by young Ruben who was making batting look easy. Despite the loss of the early wickets, the run rate never suffered as old and young kept Baston’s total moving.
Important partnership between Ruben and Martyn
Around the halfway point of the innings, Martyn and Ruben had put on a good 89 run partnership. Grantham bowler Cullen picked up both of their wickets. Ruben (24) batted faultlessly before getting one that stayed low. Hans went out at number 6 and bedded in. Run machine Martyn picked up 56 before holing out to mid-on. Jonny (6) didn’t hang around long, and Hans (11) followed shortly after caught in the deep. Bash (8) again was caught trying to hit a six, as Baston were 147-8 and in danger of getting bowled out for a below par total, especially as there were still over 15 overs left to bat.
Martyn 56
Eshan was joined by number 10 Neil, and the pair batted quite brilliantly. They knocked off run targets methodically, reaching the totals needed for batting points at ease. All the Grantham bowlers struggled to make a breakthrough, and the boys got better and better as the overs ticked off.
Eshan's batting getting better every week
Both batsmen upped the strike rates as the innings ended, with Eshan smashing a couple of massive sixes in the last couple of overs, while Neil scored some boundaries of his own. Eshan finished with an excellent 61 not out, with a brilliant 37 not out from Neil, as they put on over a hundred runs for the 9th wicket. Mixed emotions on the boundary as most of the boys celebrated every run, but number 11 John Lamin sat perplexed that he had to sit there for 15 overs with his pads on. Baston finished 254-8, the biggest home total for them in 12 years.
Ben was quick to belittle Neil’s contribution, as he was concerned that the last tailender who received high praise for batting ended up wanting to bat in the top 6 and left the club to seek more batting. Ben’s harsh words to Neil should ensure he doesn’t get ideas above his station anytime soon.
Fantastic partnership between Neil and Eshan
After a short break for tea, Baston went about their work in the field. With runs on the board they had the luxury of 3 slips and gully. Bash and Hans opened with good pace and took early wickets. Bash (1-13) taking the first as Wilson-Law (2) nicked to Jonny behind the stumps. Grantham skipper Donnellan (14) was the second man out as he was caught by a blinder from Ruben Baker in the covers diving away to his right.
Super Hans 3-17
Hans took 3-17 from his 6 overs, cleaning up B Kennedy-Short (0) and Cullen (0). Wickets continued to be shared around as Ruben (1-8) and Lamin (1-21) got in on the act. Garmo also got a go with the ball after not doing much with the bat, and picked up his first Baston wickets, taking 2-11 from his 2 overs, cleaning up two of the Grantham tail-enders.
The Grantham innings was petering out, but young keeper Luke Kennedy-Short batted very well for them, scoring 39 as they looked to get some batting points. Ben brought himself on and got the youngster’s wicket second ball with Ruben taking an easy looping catch at cover. With the 11th man refusing to bat, Grantham finished 98 all out, giving Baston an excellent 156 run win and 20 points.
Scorecard - https://baston.play-cricket.com/website/results/5175409