Bannockburn or Taunton?

Need a big day boy!
By Grockles
June 17 2003

Scotland destroy our bowling attack....with a little help from Raul Dravid....This is a group of amateurs..They scored 296. What does that make us?

Laraman (River) & Burns (Old Pavilion) open after the Scots win the toss and bat
20 runs come off 1st 5 oversbringing Frankie on at the Old Pavilion end. The runs are coming thick and fast - into the 40's in the 7th, thankfully Frankie bowls Lockhart as he goes back too far - a quickfire 30 - 43 for 1. No Dravid yet - out comes Williamson instead.

Frankie takes wicket 2 with Williamson 0 LBW 49 for 2 - in comes Dravid and he's off the mark with 1 and the 50 up 9.3 overs. 50 at 10
Jonah's on at the River end looking back to something like normality.
79 at 15 overs. The Scots don't look in huge amounts of trouble but the boundary isn't being smacked as much.

Blackie comes on at the River end for the 16th - 82 for 2 - he goes for 1, a good over. Nevertheless, the 100 is up at 19.2 overs and Dravid is accelerating - he's caught off a no ball which can only be related to field restrictions - 113 by the end of the over and it's unravelling once more.

Watson goes to 50 at 121 (58 balls and 8 fours). KP comes on at the OP in the 21st that doesn't work but it's good to see him uninjured. Dutch tries at tthe River end for the 24th - 138 for 2. We still see the 100 partnership at 25.5 - 149 for 2 - and the 150 follows in the same over.

Burns keeps trying variation with Francis at the OP to try and break this partnership - 29th over 166 for 2. A great catch by Turner sees the back of Watson for 75 - 29.2 overs - Kent in.

170 with 15 to go - it's looking like 250 plus. Dravid (57 balls and 4 fours) goes to 50 172 for 3. It's money for old rope! Burns brings himself on at the OP at 182 for 3 in the 33rd - goes for 1 good containment. But it can't be maintained. Dravid starts to open his shoulders and it moves to 196 with 10 overs to go. 200 up at 35.3.

Jonah's back at the River end for the 36th. But Dravid isnt stopping - he pummels a massive 6 off Frankie. The 50 partnership flies by and 280 looks on.

Laraman returns at the OPinn the 39th at 233 for 3 and thismoves on to 240 at 40 overs. Dutch nearly gets Dravid - but the ball loops over him, he's just too short!

It gets even worse as Blackwell saves a 4 by kicking the ball to Francis, they run 3 and he misses the keeper and hits the boundary board -7 and the 250 arrives!

42nd over - Dravid goes to 100 (91 balls 8 fours and 2 sixes) Kent is bowled by Jonah for 48 - 266 for 4.
Brinkley comes to the crease as an end of innings slogger. 267 at 43 overs. Dravid hits another huge 6 into the Ondaatje pavilion. Brinkley smacks another onto the Old Pavilion. With the score on 284 is the 300 on?

296 and Scotland rip the heart out of our bowling - Dravid 120. It's a joke, or a bad dream. It's a long way from one day cricket.

So we have a hell of a hill to climb - we need a good start and we send in Gazzard and Bowler to get it going. Hoffman has other ideas and first ball of the second over Peter is trolling back with his wicket splattered to the four winds. 1 for 1 chasing 297 - been here before?

In comes Mr Cox and he and Carl start to rebuild slowly. We are only at 5 after 3 and Brinkley is giving as good as Hoffman. Good thing Jamie has found his touch and there are some absolutely sublime shots from the Tasmanian. At the other end Mr Gazzard is punching out boundaries like a good 'un and the 50 and 100 come and go as Somerset exert more pressure than we've seen for a long while. They put on 160 before Gazz punches once too often and is caught by Watson for a really good 81. If Rob T doesn't hit some batting form he is going to be fighting for his glove place with this guy.

Burns sends in Dutch - also in some one day form with the bat - and he settles immediately into the role of 'nurdler'. He provides the awkward batsman while Coxey continues in classic vein. The 50 partnership sees Dutchy putting on 31 of them and it is cruel irony when he is run out backing up with the score on 202. Scotland must be startiing to brick it because we now send in our next one day specialist - Keith Parsons - going great guns aren't we?

But we can always cock it up and we start about now. Firstly, the innocuous Haq sends KP back without score and then Mr Cox gives Williamson a catch and we are 205 for 5 - 92 looks like a real mountain.

Ian Blackwell joins Captain Burns to re-stabalise and holds in his natural desire to smash the ball until he's sure he's in. Burns is taking the singles and the run rate is staying at a run a ball so that's all they need to do. Just as we get it together, it falls apart again as Blacky goes to Brinkley with 50 still needed. Rob Turner is in need of a decent run and he looks like this might be it with 2 boundaries to get the scoreboard ticking but Brinkley is playing big game bowler and bowls the unlucky wicket-keeper at 254.

Now we are down to the tail and we still need loads. Aarron Laraman is at the crease after a long lay off and he isn't looking fully fit, a bit slow - so slow in fact that he is run out for 3 after a mere 4 minutes. Who the hell is going to stay with Burnsy and get us to this total? It doesn't look remotely on.

Enter Steffan Jones - a traumatic season up to now, poor form with the ball and asked to do little else - we need 37 and he is determined. He plays straight and he plays well. He lets the man who is in get the majority of the runs and together with his captain he adds 30 in 14 minutes. With only 7 to go Steff tries over the top and just doesn't get it high enough. Wright pouches it and the match is back in the melting pot. 7 needed and one wicket left - out strides Simon Francis. 12 balls left and we are all sending mental images of 'Take the single, give the strike to Burns'. Simon gets the message and...hits the ball for 4. He then takes a single to take the strike for the last over - mental messages again - 'single', 'single', single' - Frankie gets the message and wins the game with another boundary.

Good grief this one was hard!! The Scots put up a hell of a fight and we nearly came a cropper. All in all it was a hell of a game - loads of runs and close run wickets. This was Scotland and they are no pushovers, but it is Scotland and we need to do better than this. We have to put sides under pressure with the ball or we are constantly going to put pressure on our fragile batting line-up. We can't handle that - Middlesex hammered Scotland today - bodes well for Southgate!