Sports
Napa Valley Cricket Club Convincingly Avenges Defeat to Sonoma
Napa played the Gullies on Sunday.
Press Release:
The Napa Valley Cricket Club laid to rest the ghost of their previous loss to the Sonoma Gullies with a thoroughly convincing win at the Fairgrounds in Calistoga on Sunday. An early finish to the game thanks to strong bowling and batting meant the team could toast their first ever home win.
A historic first ever home win was toasted with bubbles as Napa defeated the Sonoma Gullies convincingly in their second and final “Cricketing Battle of Wine Country” for 2012
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Napa lost the toss and were surprisingly asked to bowl first on the newly laid pitch. Unlike in the previous encounter in August, Napa struck early and didn’t allow any of the Sonoma batsmen to build either substantial innings or partnerships. A wicket with the fourth ball of the first over sent the Sonoma opener back to the sidelines and given his score of 65 in the previous encounter this was a major breakthrough for Napa. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals as the Napa bowling attack made the best use of the early start and the swing that was available to them before the heat of the day kicked in. A purple patch for Amrtipal Bhatal in the 16th over almost brought a hat-trick of wickets but instead he was very content with 3 wickets in 4 balls thanks to some superb fielding from Irishman Andrew Healy at backward point. Captain Irwin brought himself back on and helped clean up the Sonoma tail with assistance from New Zealander Gus Cleland. Irwin continues the Napa Valley tradition this season of “5 fors” joining Cleland and Rob Bolch (2) on the honors board.
After lunch, Napa started the chase with Australian pair Phil Bourke and Richard Mattner opening the batting. The set off at a brisk pace racing to 20 runs after the first 2 overs chasing the Sonoma total of 104. An LBW decision against Bourke brought Amritpal Bhatal to the crease and he and Mattner set about chasing down the total in style. A flurry of boundaries off a number of Sonoma bowlers ensured that Napa reached the target with 17 overs and plenty of wickets to spare.
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‘We’re a social club,” Club Captain Tim Irwin said. "But boy does it feel good to win a game, especially at home. I was surprised that they offered us the ball after losing the toss and our bowlers did a great job in keeping their score down and the wickets kept on falling. Having seen Amritpal produce his magic spin bowling I only wish we could schedule more games on a Sunday as he works on Saturdays. Our fielding has improved in our last couple of games and that old cricket adage that “catches win matches” certainly came true today with another fine fielding performance with great work from Andrew and Englishman Clive Richardson, who has hands like glue.”
Score Summary
Napa Valley CC 108 / 1 beat Sonoma Gullies 104 all out by 13 wickets with 17.3 over to spare (30 over game).
NVCC Batting – Richard Mattner 56 runs off 34 balls (4 x 4, 4 x 6), Amritpal Bhatal 24 off 32 (2 x 4, 1 x 6).
NVCC Bowling – Tim Irwin 5 wickets for 21 runs, Amritpal Bhatal 4 wickets for 23 runs.
Next Game
Saturday, Sept. 29 at Piper Park in Larkspur vs. Marin CC at 11:30 a.m. as Napa Valley plays Marin in the 2012 season decider. Currently the series stands at one win for each team.
More details on the Napa Valley Cricket Club can be found on their website – http://napacricket.com/ - where you can find details of their games for the summer ahead on the Calendar page.
For more details please contact Andrew Healy on 707-227-4273 or by email at NapaValleyCricket@gmail.com
More details on the game of cricket can be found on the following websites
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket
Video series on “How to Play Cricket”
