A few weeks ago I came across a call for players for T20 tournament and jumped at the chance. Playing 3-4 quick T20s across just the one weekend was a great opportunity to get some more game time under my belt.
Game 1: Sons Of Pitches v Mater Hill
We came up against one of the strongest teams first up, and were sent in to bowl. Unfortunately it didn’t go too well for us. Mater Hill racked up 241, and my solitary over was punished for 20-odd. It’s pretty rare for me to bowl to left handers as it is, and the odds were never in my favour starting against a batsman already well past 50, especially still sore from footy the previous night.
I fared much better with the bat. Coming in at 6 with the score about 4/30, I made a fairly quick 17 with 3 boundaries before attempting a reverse sweep against the only ball that turned for the match and could only help it onto the stumps. We were eventually bowled out for just 77.
Game 2: Sons Of Pitches v Mater Hill 3
Up against another Mater Hill side, but this time a team closer to our standard. We batted first and after scoring the second most runs for us in the first game I was promoted to open. Unfortunately I could never really get going, making just 6 runs before skying a slog sweep to be caught behind. We only managed a couple of boundaries for the entire innings as we scraped our way to 72 but we managed to bat out the overs at least. I didn’t get a bowl as our seamers bowled fairly well but our total was chased down in the 18th over, 19 wides didn’t help our cause.
Game 3: Sons Of Pitches v Gunners
Back for day 2 and facing a team who also didn’t win a game on day 1, we were hoping to have a decent chance. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case, as they raced along to almost 100 in the powerplay through some brutal hitting. I was brought in in the 9th over and plastered for 25 off it. I decided to change to bowling seam seeing as spin wasn’t working, and it paid off immediately. I took 1/13 from my 3 overs of seam, regularly beating the bat and hurrying the batsmen and didn’t concede a boundary, finishing with total figures of 1/38. Those figures looked even better as they managed to finish on 269.
Batting at 3 this time and I found myself at the crease midway through the powerplay. With plenty of time and no real chance of chasing down the target I was able to play my natural game, knocking the ball into gaps and running hard. I only managed a solitary four and a six off a free hit as I made my highest ever score in competitive cricket with 30 before getting caught on the boundary with just a couple of overs to go. We finished on a respectable 128 with two other batsmen passing 30, although that meant we still suffered a massive loss.
Although we lost every game, it was a really fun weekend. It was great being able to show my skill with the bat, scoring almost as many runs over the three games as I did the whole summer season, and took my first wicket bowling seam since 2008. I might explore returning to bowling seam regularly next season, but I’ll need to do a lot of work on my shoulder over winter to be able to pull it off. Hopefully my exploits with the bat will give me some opportunities higher up the order next season as well.
Down on one knee to slog sweep a boundary in game one 
Swatting away a full toss in game three