Felsted – 17th August 2014
Refreshers v Felsted 17th August 2014
Match Report from Anu Mohindru
A strong Refreshers side travelled to Felsted for the inaugural fixture between the two sides. A big thunderstorm in the morning had cast doubts over there being any play, but the well covered pitch and the fast draining out field, along with the bright sun, allowed play to start only 30 minutes late.
Felsted won the toss and elected to bat on what seemed a good wicket.
The opening attack from the Refreshers duo of Dan Burton (3-11) and Jerome Silva was a pleasure to watch and captain. Dan bowled with pace and swung the ball, taking three quick wickets, aided by some superb catching. James Skelton’s catch in the gully, from a full blooded drive off Dan, to dismiss the opposition’s dangerous number 4 batsman, was truly “first class.” (that is how a spectator described it later, saying “ That passage of play was like watching a first class match” ). I know that Dan Burton would want me to tell you about his one handed diving catch at square-leg, but given the fact he could have moved two steps to his right and taken it in his mid-rift, I would rather not. But it looked good.
Jerome bowled very well from the other end without any luck, regularly causing the batsmen to play and miss, and generating good movement off the seam. He had obviously been watching Anderson and Broad at the Oval! Sam Burrett turned his arm, trying to bolster his true all-rounder status and Refreshers debutant Nick Dunham, an Old Felstedian now at the Bar, rolled back the years as he twirled his way through a number of overs. We continued to pick up wickets at regular intervals, through Milo Skelton (3-8), who is developing into an extraordinary bowler, and Marcus Haywood (5-20). Marcus’s status as a genuine all-rounder is well founded. He quietly goes about his business, today bowling accurately and miserly picking up 5 wickets which almost went unnoticed, except by him and Dan. (You will notice we took 11 wickets, because we allowed 12 of them to bat!!!). We restricted Felsted to 137. This was down to some good bowling exceptional catching and ground fielding.
James Skelton and Abhi Mohindru opened our account, putting on an excellent 60 for the first wicket against a strong Felsted opening attack. There was then a small flurry of wickets, but we eased on to the required total with many overs to spare. James Skelton carried his bat for a very well-played 65 on what was at times a tricky wicket and Anu Mohindru ended 43 not out.
It was a very good all round performance from us. Felsted have invited us back as they thoroughly enjoyed the game and the way it was played. Well done to all who played !!!!
AM