MARSH LEADS GRAFTON IN WINDSOR SUN

December 8, 2015. It had been almost a decade since I last visited Windsor Park – an embarrassing outright loss inside five sessions, for those wondering. It is, just as I remember it, a rare single-wicket ground with a lush and long outfield. The wicket was green, the sun was (finally) out and East Coast Bays and Grafton were primed to resume Jeff Crowe Cup action.

East Coast Bays won the toss and elected to bat first. Parth Patel opened up from the clubhouse end into a stiff breeze. The keeper was up and the tall right-armer found a nagging length. By the third over, Patel had thrice beaten the outside edge of left-handed opener Kieran Seedall. A tempered shout for a legside stumping also added to the early drama. Patel bowled full – almost overly so – but he couldn’t find a decisive edge before he was replaced by spin in the fifth over.

Seedall drove loosely outside off just out of reach of a leaping backward point. It was positive intent. That same intent would later desert Bays for some time. It was a tricky wicket to manoeuvre deliveries into gaps. A lot of firm strokes went straight at fielders down the wicket. An aggressive Dexter Marsh overpitched, but Tristan van Ingen-Kal missed the low full-toss and the umpire sent the batsman on his way.

The laps around the ground started early for the players. Saturday Bowls were in session as Bays spent most of the first hour conservatively building a platform. Grafton’s spinners squeezed the hosts with changes of pace and accurate lines. It took two wickets and 21 overs for the first boundary to come off the bat.

Nikheil Bhana contributed to a lot of the pressure as he too had the keeper up to the stumps. He straightened one particular delivery up on Ryan Harrison finding the outside edge. The opportunity went down behind the stumps, but Harrison offered up another two overs later when he pulled high to deep mid-wicket. Patel settled underneath the steepler and calmly held on.

The shot of the day came from the bat of Seedall as he drove handsomely into the wind over Bhana’s head. It was a sumptuous six and was greeted by that’s a risk, Bhana. I couldn’t help but think that was just another way of saying we don’t mind seeing that. It was exactly what Bays needed.

At the midway point, chat turned towards what the par score may be. There was mention of 150, but that surely wouldn’t have been the number Bays had in mind when they chose to make first use of the wicket. Left-arm spinner Hamish Robertson had Bays’ Captain Seb Langridge caught sweeping at square-leg by a running short fine-leg. Michael Ross wasn’t afraid to sweep either. He swept two boundaries before he too picked out short fine-leg; his misfortune creaming one straight at Ariyan Hassan.

With Bays four down, Grafton brought Marsh back on before drinks. Seedall hit two boundaries; first, a controlled pull to square leg and then a top-edged pull over the keeper. He drove the next delivery firmly in the air to mid-off. Sachin Variath wrestled it to the ground and Seedall departed for a patient 68.

122/5 after 34. 200 was still on the cards, but Bays had two new batsmen and needed a partnership. It never came. Grafton took the pace off the ball and the sting out of the innings. Bhana rarely offered width and finished with excellent figures of 2-31 off ten overs. Marsh was the main man for Grafton though bowling with excellent pace. He mopped up the tail to claim an impressive 4-32. Carl de Beer also deserves a mention here. There wasn't much turn for the leggie, but he maintained disciplined lines to complete masterful figures of 1-26 off his set of ten.

Bays scraped through to 169 all out in the 48th over. It didn’t loom as an overly daunting score when the players walked off for lunch, but it would take some chasing. Bays’ fielding warm-up didn’t ooze confidence, but Langridge was firm in his pre-innings address. We are here to bowl them out. The skipper put in his slips and backed his bowlers.

Patel flayed outside off to get Grafton underway. It was an aggressive stroke and, the very next ball, he tried to repeat the dose. The ball went safely through to the keeper and he put the shots away for a while. Michael Ruffell pulled violently for four, but neither opener could really get going.

Blair Smith built the pressure and dismissed Ruffell, in somewhat controversial circumstances. He drove at a full and wide delivery and the catch was taken. It all happened rather quickly and it was difficult to tell if the ball pitched before or after the bat. The ball went through to the keeper and it was one a TV umpire would have rock and rolled for minutes. After a brief conference between the umpires, the original decision was upheld. Ruffell wasn’t impressed.

To the regular ring of Come on, Bays, the home side kept fighting. Ryan Schierhout had Patel leg-before and Grafton were 47/2 in the 16th over. The game was in the balance with Olly Westbury and Jack Parsons at the wicket. Both players took their time before showing real initiative. The pair would add 82, hitting three boundaries apiece. Parsons was typically strong on the cut while Westbury preferred the drive.

The running had been exemplary until Parsons called Westbury through for one quick single too many. Westbury (40) was well short and the call will have been for Parsons to finish the job off. Six overs later, Aidan Morrison had other ideas. Cole Briggs pouched edges from both Parsons (47) and Robertson to leave room for a late miracle.

Much of the work had been done for the visitors. Bays had left their run too late. Grafton would lose one more wicket before eventually getting over the line with four wickets and 7.4 overs to spare.