Stomped By the Pud Boys

It wasn't expected to be this difficult! Match ups against Pud Boys have traditionally been a light hearted affair. But a couple of ring ins and a pumped up bunch of Pud Boys meant that Blackout were gonna be up against it. We started off on the field with a full team thanks to a late entry of a new player to the team, Wayne. Our first challenge was kept to 28 runs partnership but a lack lustre effort on the field meant only two wickets were taken in that exchange. This partnership also managed to slam a six in one of the overs to not help our cause. Pud Boys followed up the steady flow of runs with their next pair with 32 runs with only the loss of three runs.

We then had Fabio (Pete) and Grumpy Pete come on for a fun match up. But it was Grumpy Pete that was gonna be the victim of some of my better fielding attempts with a run out thanks to a slap on shot at stumps. This was followed up next over with a Third Ball call leading to a pre-empted catch as I was just sweating on Pete doing ANYTHING to get bat on ball! They did still manage to rack up 27 runs which was quite an effort despite the pressure we were placing on these two! But it was the last pair that hurt us... BAD! Peter and (One Inch) Jacob really put together a powerful 42 runs with a Power Play over six (giving them 13 runs in one hit) plus only a loss of two wickets.

So with 129 runs on the board we took to batting with a tough assignment. In the past it's been shown quite often Blackout struggle with 100 runs or more to chase. But the first pair got us on the right path as Keith & Wayne blasted 46 runs. Not too shabby! This included a fantastic effort of 31 runs from newcomer Wayne. Man that kid gets angry with the bat! They both only lost three wickets in total.

Things weren't so great though for the next pair. Due to a quick change in the batting order (guys you gotta time your toilet breaks better! LOL) Rob and Langy took to the field and got off to a dusty start. One run off the first over. This led to a better over thanks to some graceful batting (and a few wide balls) in particular from Rob and his opposition crushing bash into the ground shot to eliminate any run outs. Some more wide balls and good shots in the third over snared more runs. But then Jacob and his crushing fast bowling just blitzed the boys in the final over to bring 11 runs off the total. This meant that Rob and Langy left the field with only 5 runs to their account.

Things didn't much better with Tim and myself heading out next. Newcomers do struggle with indoor cricket and the fast paced nature of the sport and Tim was no different. He lost four wickets all up as Fabio was all over him with the stumping and Tim getting into trouble with some ordinary shots. I was doing OK for the most part up until a leg side ball went a little wider than I expected causing me to scoop it up more than I wanted and leading to my only wicket. It was a small victory though when the last over gave us 8 runs in extras alone and we score 19 runs in that over. Giving us a total of 20 runs. Sweet!

However at this stage the game was pretty much up. 129 runs to chase and we only had 71 runs. Bruce and Brett were not on their game tonight (as the video highlights show) and the struggled to limp across the line with 16 runs.

All up it was the lack of wickets when we were fielding that cost us this one. They grabbed 18 wickets and we could only muster 9. Hmmm...

Stats of note : 
Wickets : Pudboys 18-9
Skins : Pudboy 3-1
Extras conceded : Pud Boys 30, Blackout 20

Best for Blackout : 
With the bat ... Wayne 31, Brian 17, Bruce 14.
With the ball ... Wayne 1/7, Brett 1/8, Keith 2/9.

3 Stars ... Wayne 3, Keith 2, Brian 1.