Hillhead 2s toil in the heat and fall well short
Hillhead 2s Match Report – St Ninians (A)
With the sun beaming down on a scorching day in Prestwick, Hillhead 2s won the toss for the first time this season and elected to bat first. On what was a grassy wicket in good nick, the objective was to bat the overs, put on a defendable total, tire St Ninians out in the field and come out aggressively for the second half of the game.
Hillhead 2s started with their usual cautious approach, with Paul Bartlett and Sai Kumar being watchful against some testing bowling in which the bowlers were generating some swing and bounce. Bartlett fell for 9, caught behind. Ganesh Adarkar was the next one to go for only 3 runs, out LBW. S. Kumar got cleaned up for 21, leaving Hillhead 2s 48-3 after 14. James Thornhill and Mark Forbes looked to rebuild at the crease, picking up 1s and 2s where they could. Forbes was bowled for 3 runs shortly after the first drinks break at 17 overs, meaning Hillhead were not in a healthy position – 60-4 off 17. Fehzan Irfan, Hari Sathian and Alex Bell were all sent back to the hut having each made less than 10 runs. Thornhill and Gowtham Kathiravan managed to rebuild the innings to a degree and were going nicely. A mix-up running between the wickets meant Thornhill had to depart for 45 – a very well ground-out innings and the pick of the batters; a shame for him to miss out on his half century but an example to us all on how to bat the situation. Kathiravan picked up a few more before being caught off an aerial shot, departing for 29. Deepak Kumar was the last wicket to fall, leaving Hillhead 2s with a well below par total of 163 to defend.
Hillhead 2s 163 A.O. (46.1)
J. Thornhill 45, G. Kathiravan 29, S. Kumar 21
C. Roger 4/27, R. Bartsch 2/37
St Ninians made light work of the Hillhead bowling attack and picked up easy runs, showing good aggression and intent with the bat early on. In combination with the extras flowing, the game was very much slipping away from Hillhead. Not enough pressure was applied to St Ninians batters at any point. Hillhead 2s picked up 3 wickets through Forbes, Bartlett and Kathiravan, respectively, but the runs were being scored too quickly for these wickets to have any real impact on the game. R. Bartsch for St Ninians batted fantastically and should be commended for his aggression, intent and on making a well-deserved 60*. F. Roger also gets an honourable mention for his impressive 42*.
St Ninians 167/3 (21.1)
R. Bartsch 60*, F. Roger 42*, C. Roger 15
P. Bartlett 1/29, M. Forbes 1/39, G. Kathiravan 1/40
Hillhead 2s picked up 1 losing bonus point from taking 3 wickets and this was as much as we deserved from the game. Batting partnerships need to be carefully built and more of them are needed. Hillhead 2s are yet to bat the full 50 overs this season so a sense of “looking after your wicket” is very much at the fore. Batting with intent and aggression (when it is right to do so!) puts the pressure back on the fielders and will allow us as a batting unit to pick up runs more easily. Running hard and looking for more runs where the opportunity arises needs to be applied. In the field: extras, loose and uncommitted fielding, and wayward bowling all need to be minimised and drastically reduced. There will be more tough fixtures to come and there will need to be a dramatic improvement to compete in Championship 1 this season.
Well done to Club President, James Thornhill, once again for his battling 45 and for rightfully winning the Player of the Match award. More innings like that please – both individually and collectively!
Hillhead 2s face Langloan at Hughenden on Sunday. We want to get back to winning ways and so we all must be ready to throw our bodies on the line, dig deep when the going gets tough and be up for the fight!
