Scorecard

Hospital Services v Mere Cricket Club Mere CC 1st XI on Sun 16 Apr 2017 at 1.30
Mere Cricket Club Won by 62 runs

Match report Mere in Rude Health at Hospital

After last season's woeful display at Ferndown v Hospital Services when we were thoroughly examined in all departments and found wanting, we returned to Dorset hoping that all our pre-season training (2 nets for some, one for most and none for Ryan and Rutherford) would stand us in good stead for our first outing. Winning the toss and electing to bat Weir and Cassidy (snr) kicked off the campaign in warm sunshine. Duncan looking in good form from the off and Cassidy displaying his new shot (the very late cut of the very edge of the bat) on no less than 3 occasions saw Mere off steadily. Cassidy snr was out for 32 inventive runs and his place was taken by Cassidy jnr, last season's top run scorer. It was noted by some that the tactic of putting his old man out first (and hoping he would stick there for most of the day) would allow Captain Weir the head start in this year's batting cup which he relinquished to George was a stroke of cunning genius on his part.
George kicked off his season with a lovely cover drive to the boundary first ball and it looked like he was going all out to catch Weir until he was stumped dancing down the track on 17. Duncan moved up the gears and it looked a certainty he would start the season with a century when an exocet on drive was snaffled by the smallest and youngest player on the park. Out for 96...jug avoidance at it's worst and he was to rue it later in the pub. Will Batty Smith came in at 4 and played well for his 19 but that was followed by an acute case of lower battus crapus syndrome to give it its' correct Latin medical terminology as we saw 4 wickets go down for the addition of just 9 runs.
In fact the rash of wickets lead to the long awaited arrival of Mr K Whitmore....so long awaited we were fearful for a timed out appearing on our first scorecard of the year. Eventually appearing to take his place at the crease with Steve Parton he then  played a typical Whitmore cameo scoring a quick fire 2 but showing every shot in the batting textbook in just the one delivery where he danced forward, back, to the side and forward again...still by far the best feet in the club..."SEVEN" was the cry from the sideline...let's hope those Croatian discos are ready for Kev come September.
Mere finished the innings on 184-9 from the allotted 35 overs. Not as good as the start had promised but at least 100 more than we managed last time...it would have to do.
After a fine tea...although not the Indian buffet that some were hoping for...(it was rumoured that Mike Ryan had made the trip for the tea alone.) Now he's gainfully employed by HMRC we were expecting better returns (no pun) from Ryan but the runs evaded or was that avoided (no pun) him and batting looked taxing for him. Let's hope his bowling stood up to scrutiny!
Well no buffet for us but we did our best for their opening pair as we started with our very own English buffet offering...Bryan the unused batsman starting the season with his customary taster menu of wide down the off, wide down the leg and then one straight (turning slightly) to take the outside edge of their danger man Wje (who had earlier taken 5 of our wickets) a chance gladly snaffled by Cassidy snr behind the stumps. At the other end Steve served up a mixture of looping inswingers interspersed with his own culinary offering...the pie. Becky bowled well without reward and the Captain's move of putting Bryan from the slips to positions he's never dreamt of worked well as he wasn't in her eyeline and she wasn't in his earshot saving us all from any early season Father Daughter Angst.
Hospital Services rebuilt well, putting on 77 for the next wicket with Bamford scoring a solid half century before he was claimed by the taxman himself....(nobody likes him but he'll get you in the end) as he bowled an absolute snorter to remove top of middle. So good was the ball that the batsman actually congratulated Mike and shook his hand before leaving the middle...he obviously didn't know what Mike does for a living but when told later promised he wouldn't be late with his return again.
A good hostile spell from Dave Rutherford didn't yield a wicket but rarely do we get both Ryan and Rutherford firing at the same time...this time the honours went to Mike, the stick to Dave but no doubt he'll have his day.
Two more for Mike, a brace for Will Batty Smith and opening their accounts with one more each, Mark Williams and George saw a good solid all round bowling performance close the game out with the last 2 batsmen, both young children providing stubborn resistance even in the face of some testing stuff from our own child catcher KW. The winning margin of 62 runs more than made up for last season's debarcle..a good solid start to the season.
Next game...at home v Horningsham.

Mere Cricket Club Mere CC 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
2w 2b  
for 9 wickets
4
184		        
Duncan Weir Caught  96 2
Mark Cassidy Caught  32 1
George Cassidy Stumped  17
William Batty Smith Caught  19
Mark Williams Lbw  5
Mike Ryan Stumped  2
Rebecca Yeo Bowled  0
Dave Rutherford Bowled  2 1
Stephen Parton Not Out  5 1
Kevin Whitmore Not Out  2
Bryan Yeo  

Hospital Services Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
C. Baker5.022100.004.20
S. Baker5.012100.004.20
Thomas5.003200.006.40
T.Richardson4.0027127.006.75
O.Richardson4.0029129.007.25
Dino3.011800.006.00
Wje5.001252.402.40
To.Richardson4.0022122.005.50

Hospital Services Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 19w 1b  
for 10 wickets
21
122 (30.3 overs)		     
Wje Caught  0
Bamford Bowled  63
Theaker Caught  14
Broady Run out  0
S. Baker Bowled  5
T.Richardson Bowled  0
C.Baker Bowled  4
Ansell Caught  7
O.Richardson Run out  2
Thomas Bowled  6
To.Richardson Not Out  0

Mere Cricket Club Mere CC 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Bryan Yeo6.0025125.004.17
Stephen Parton4.002400.006.00
Rebecca Yeo3.001800.006.00
Dave Rutherford2.01100.000.50
William Batty Smith4.0122211.005.50
Mike Ryan3.001234.004.00
Kevin Whitmore3.011200.004.00
Mark Williams4.00818.002.00
George Cassidy0.30010.000.00