London Metro Edge Points in Turgid Draw

On Saturday 20th June London Metro hosted Sussex Sharks Visually Impaired XI in the BCEW National League Division 1. The strange fixture list meant this was Metro’s first game of the campaign and only the Sharks second outing. Rory Field won the toss and had no hesitation in asking the Sharks to have a bat.

Metro started by bowling tight lines and England’s totally blind Sam Hoskins claimed the first of his 4 wickets in the first over and bowled impressively throughout returning figures of 9 overs, 1 maiden 4 wickets for 61 runs. Callum Weir (20) and Dan Field consolidated with a stand of 54 for the 2nd wicket before Hardik Patel took an impressive catch to send Cal on his way. 

Si Ledwith (34) Joined Sharks skipper Dan Field to take the score up to 142 before he was clean bowled by Mo Ghalib, his marathon effort of 10 overs 1 maiden, 3 wickets for 33 runs was an impressive display. Dan Field fell just 3 short of his century when Hardik produced another good catch to dismiss him on 97 with the score at 178. The Sharks battled to get to the 200 for their final batting point and managed this off the last ball of the 30th over declaring on 200 for 8.

Metro had bowled and fielded very well in the heat and with a line-up that batted very deep it seemed the game was nicely poised. However, it was clear from the start that the objective was to get the draw rather than look to chase the score down. 

Nick Ebbeck (13) was trapped in front with the score on 55 in the 13th over by the pick of the Sharks bowlers, 15 year old Deacon Finn returning 2 wickets for 26 from his 4 overs. The Sharks then brought all of the field up to try and force wickets but the day belonged to Thomas Froud. 

His masterful innings of 102 not out off 126 balls was a display of patience and power, with the field in close the bad ball was dispatched to the boundary 14 times and in the 2nd half of the innings he protected his lesser batting partner and the Metro innings closed on 146 for 2.

This means that Metro take 11 points from the game with Sussex just 10, this might be a sound foundation for Metro’s league campaign and leave Sussex lamenting the half chances not taken, but it was a long day for anyone watching and perhaps Metro may wonder what might have been had they tried to chase down the Sussex score.

View the full scorecard from the match here.

Match report courtesy of Ian ‘Tiny’ Morris (T20 Captain)