Catches win Griffins the biggest match of season

Saturday morning games have been a rarity in the Rozel Shield over the years, but they tend to carry great significance when they occur and this weekend was no exception as Tom Kirk’s side went up against fellow unbeaten team Independents with the importance of the outcome virtually palpable from the moment the two sides took the field just before 11am.

And in a competition in which bat has largely dominated ball in 2021, this top-of-the-table clash turned out to be a low-scoring thriller in which young Marcus Thomas’ 29 not out proved as valuable as any century at the KGV this season.

His cameo gave Griffins both a total to work with in the field and, crucially, the momentum going into the second innings.

They capitalised on that with the confidence of a side who are now on course to achieve a weekend-and-evening championship double, taking a couple of stunning catches in a very impressive fielding display that saw them defend 124 with 11 runs to spare in the end.

Such an outcome had looked highly improbable by the end of the first-innings powerplay as the men in black were reduced to 26 for 3 and Indies were cock-a-hoop.

Star man Luke Le Tissier was first to go, eventually well caught low down by Jake Roussel at mid-off after a bit of a juggle in Kieran Le Gallez’s opening over of the match.

The same bowler struck again in his second over, this time it was him who had the awareness to grab the ball at the second attempt while falling forward after Matt Philp had hit it back towards him firmly at shin height.

Kirk briefly looked as though he would wrestle the initiative back for his side with a couple of well-timed pulls for four, but when he was trapped leg before by Matt Stokes in the sixth over, the odds were firmly against his side.

The Martel brothers Adam and Jordon did a decent job in rebuilding the Griffins innings, adding 51 for the fourth wicket in the space of seven overs, with the older sibling top-scoring with 34.

However, when he sliced a catch to backward point off Ross Guilbert’s slow left-arm spin, it seemed to put Jordon in two minds about how to go about his business and he soon joined his brother back in the pavilion having played around a straight one from Roussel.

With all that had gone before in a long-anticipated game such as this, Thomas’ subsequent contribution belied his tender years.

His eye-catching strokeplay in driving three boundaries – two through the covers and one straight – was crisp and duly rewarded, with his 23-ball stay at the crease pivotal in setting Indies a target that would test their nerve.

Griffins still needed to make a good start with the ball and Luke Bichard obliged.

Firstly he removed Zak Damarell for a duck, caught at point off a leading edge, and after Stokes had made a positive start with two square drives for four, he had the Island all-rounder adjudged LBW in the third over.

Captain Nathan Le Tissier and CJ Peatfield steadied the ship to get Indies to the halfway point of their innings without further loss, but the required rate was rising.

In an attempt to move through the gears, both then fell to Adam Martel in the space of three balls with Bichard taking an outstanding tumbling catch at long on to dismiss the skipper before Peatfield had his off stump plucked from the ground.

It was nigh-on impossible to keep Martel out of the action and he was there to take the catch when Will Peatfield clipped Kirk to mid-wicket in the 14th over, as well as being the bowler once more when Morgan Clayton was out LBW in the next.

However, Tom Nightingale was still posing a very dangerous threat to Griffins, timing the ball as well as anybody on the day in hitting a couple of fours and a six as he made his way to 25.

With 36 needed off the final three overs, he was on strike to Kirk as the 18th over began and for all money it appeared as though he had reduced the target by six off the first delivery as he smashed the ball flat and hard towards the de Beauvoir-end scoreboard.

Adam Wakeford had other ideas, though, and having sprinted to his right, he took off like a goalkeeper dealing with a shot bound for the top corner of his goal and grasped it in spectacular fashion – complete with a splendid slap as it thudded into his palm.

It was the moment that sealed victory for Griffins and they completed the job with Bichard taking his second catch at long on before his direct hit effected the first of two run outs that brought three hours full of drama to a conclusion.