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Match Reports
Saturday 3rd XI versus Acton at home in a friendly on 22nd April 2006
Jeff Mascarenhas the newly elected third eleven skipper followed his sporting hero, Jose Mourinho in experiencing defeat on the opening day of the season. Jeff claimed that “the 3rd XI defeat should be taken within context as we fielded no less than half a dozen Dulwich debutants against an experienced Acton side”
The special one from Forest Hill went on to say that it is worth mentioning that among these six were an individual who was playing his first game in this country (he would never have stepped onto a ground with as much grass as there was at Burbage Road on the weekend), and an individual who - until the lbw decision given against him on Saturday - had never experienced the joys of succumbing to his first ball in any form of cricket.
Electing to bat in the welcoming April sunshine, Acton's openers started well on a very slow track, putting on over 80 at just under 4 per over. There then arrived a batch of wickets which, combined with some tight bowling, dragged Dulwich back into the game. Special mention must be made here of leg spinner Shak Farooqi who, in addition to probably never having picked up an earlier first 5 wicket haul of a season, had to also wait until his sixth over before conceding his first run of the year! However, some spirited attacking by the opposition's middle order in the latter overs allowed them to reach a final total of 175 in their allotted overs.
In the 2nd innings of the game, it was crucial towards Dulwich’s efforts for victory that we put together a solid start in order to sustain the challenge right through the 45 overs. However, poor shot selection from some together with genuinely bad luck for others resulted in quick wickets being lost. No top order batsman managed to provide the foundation for sustaining any sort of challenge to the Acton score. Only Neil Arendse passed 20 in the poor final total of 64 all out.
Jeff felt that Saturday may have been something of a reality check for some, and he felt that the threes are going to be on the wrong end of such results it is better to do so in a pre-season friendly!
Despite the result, however, a number of positives can be drawn from this game. Younger members of the team seemed to settle well along side those who can better be described as veterans; the drills that the players had been going through leading up to the season were evident in a generally solid fielding performance. Batters and bowlers alike will have found this a useful exercise in advance of the season proper in which the club will be fielding five league sides.
Nevertheless Jeff emphasised that the key lesson to be taken away from this game, in a season in which there will be strong competition for places in league sides playing games lasting up to 100 overs, is that patience and maintaining concentration throughout the match will be critical to the team's success.
We await the Dulwich special one’s next game with interest and we will see if they share more than the same initials!
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