Maddogs Vs Yale - 4/28 by JPM

The skipper, Tom Haydon, adopted a different attitude to the toss in the rematch with Yale, doing precisely nothing and winning passively. It mattered little, as the Dogs were going to bat either way. Prasanna and Trappler opened the innings, in rather contrasting styles. Prasanna was the first to depart, a characteristically aggressive knock of 16 ending to an excellent low catch by Jimmy at mid-off (13 balls, 3 x 4).

Trappler was out soon thereafter, slicing a high catch that was, to mass amazement on both sides, held one-handed by a back-diving fielder out at third man, the fielder in question being an irregular player in jeans (5, 20 balls). Lawrence and Bannerjee then assembled a stand of 64 in 12 overs, Bannerjee looking a bit rusty with his timing but hanging in there gamely while Lawrence went about his usual business in his usual way, albeit a bit more aggressively than usual. Bannerjee drove a return catch with the score on 98, out for 10 (35 balls), bringing Sood to the crease. By dint of highly aggressive batting, 63 runs were added in the next 6 overs. Sood mowing merrily and running hard in a highly effective innings of 40 from only 29 balls with 3 fours, more than matching Lawrence's own run rate as the great man accelerated, smashing boundaries and picking up singles, seemingly at will. But with a century in his sights, Lawrence swept and missed to depart LBW for an outstanding 76 (49 balls, 3 x 6, 9 x 4). Sood's own terrific knock came to an end with the score on 176 for 5 in the 25th over, as he nicked one to the keeper.

Wilson came and went, mowing a mighty sweep off Jimmy that went very high but not very far to plop back into the keeper's gloves (2, 3 balls). Haydon and Moore settled the innings a little, as there were still 10 overs left, Moore surviving when a ball from Jimmy passed between his middle and off stumps without disturbing a bail - the veteran batsman showing excellent, millimetrically perfect judgment of line in what to leave alone. Haydon was less fortunate, however, feathering the faintest of edges from the same bowler to the keeper (7, from 13 balls). Pratt, on debut, drove a return catch to Jimmy off what was almost a double bouncer (2, 7 balls). Moore and Smith then tried to use the overs up, batting calmly for a few overs until Moore pushed a low catch to cover, Jimmy taking his third excellent catch of the innings, out for 10 (19 balls). Smith then departed LBW for 8 (9 balls, 1 x 4) almost immediately afterwards, leaving Thompson on 3 not out (4 balls) as the innings closed on 218 all out from 33.2 overs.

Wilson bowled Mahan, a sacrificial non-batsman, with the first legitimate ball of the innings and picked up a second wicket soon after when Makani mistimed a drive straight to Smith at cover for 1.Haydon bowled just as well, but with less luck, as the two seamers kept the early run rate way down in nice, tight spells. Smith and Thompson took over, a much younger pair of seamers. Smith was steady but luckless, bowling a 7 over spell in one go and doing well.

Thompson had some significant radar problems, spraying the ball down the leg-side and keeping keeper Pratt busy, but taking a wicket with a rare straight one when Assad (26), no doubt frustrated, drove a high catch out to Simon at long-on where the sub fielder (on for the relaxing Lawrence) judged it beautifully. Moore replaced Thompson and settled into a nice spell of varied pace but tight line, pinning Suyog LBW for 12 as the batsman misjudged the length when sweeping at a flighted ball. Karan (20) also fell to Moore, Simon holding another well judged catch at deep mid-on. Bannerjee had replaced Pratt by this time, and the erstwhile keeper turned his arm over, delivering capable medium pace and taking 2 wickets, Jimmy lofting a catch first ball to Haydon at mid off and Jayson, later in the innings, bowled.

Thompson and Banerjee combined on the run out of top scorer Usman for 43 (after assorted players had botched at least 4 earlier run outs). Simon, officially twelfth man, was allowed an over as the Yale innings ground down and took two wickets, one bowled, the other LBW as he found the old ball didn't swing but went through nice and straight - a useful lesson for the futureŠ.. So, the Yale innings ended on 149 all out from 30 overs, the Dogs comfortable winners by 69 runs. Another pleasant game, a good early season warm up handled very well by Haydon who again got everyone involved.

Wilson 4-0-9-2
Haydon 4-1-16-0
Smith 7-0-35-0
Thompson 3-0-33-1
Moore 7-1-24-2
Pratt 4-0-22-2
Simon 1-0-1-2