We were looked forward with much anticipation to seeing the “matting” which we had heard so much about, but never seen. We had to wait a little while before we saw it – but there it was. The groundsmen pulled a wagon onto the ground, with a large roll of hessian like material which they unloaded and then rolled out onto the clay wicket. It was held out tight and then secured in place by metal pegs hammered into the ground. We could see that the areas where the batsmen take their mark had previously been repaired with material taken from hessian bags.
The outfield was the most barren, parched, rough, rock hard surface any of us had ever played on. It looked and felt like we were somewhere on the Nullarbor. Kev and Johnny McKay spent 10 minutes trying to clear rocks from the far side of the ground, but could do nothing about the deep holes in the same area. During the warm up, we were a little concerned that one of us might disappear down one of the many huge cracks that were all over the place.
Hennessy captained for the day, Miller taking a rest. He one the toss and wisely decided to bat. Ford and Pack opened the batting and despite a bit of uneven bounce, looked reasonably comfortable against the young pace bowlers.
In the fifth over Pack played down the wrong line and was bowled by Anish, making it 1 for 21 in the 5th. A reasonable start. Narayana joined Ford and the score progressed steadily to 41 before Narayana miss-hit a rank full toss, the leading edge spooning to cover fro an easy catch.
This brought Rawlings to the crease, who unfortunately was dismissed in unusual fashion after only facing one ball. Rawlings was at the non strikers end when Ford gave a half chance to cover. While the fielder went after his fumbled half chance, Rawlings called Ford for a run. But Ford had his head down, muttering to himself for nearly getting out. Rawlings was thus run out by yards, made it 2 one-ball ducks in succession.
Shane Turner came to the crease and together with Ford pushed the total to 83. Both batsmen scored several boundaries. Remarkably, we observed that despite the lightning fast, rock hard, uneven outfield, we witnessed no misfields at all by the local side. And for the first time of the tour, the first bowling change by the hosts did not see the introduction of spin.
But it was not long after. After reaching the first 50 of the tour, Ford attempted a sweep shot off spinner Ajay only to be judged lbw and was out for a well made 54 off 64 balls. Brett Riley joined Turner and the score moved freely to 108 before Turner was stumped off Avvaikkarsan for 17. 5 for 108 in the 23rd over.
Miles came to the crease looking for his first run of the tour. This was achieved after a few nervous balls. But after making 4 off 16 balls, Miles was again bowled, and again took some time to walk from his crease.
Brett Riley was then judged lbw to Shashank for a well made 15, and meaning Hallyburton joined Hennessy with the score at 7 for 119 in the 28th over. Pinjarra looking like they may now struggle to bat out their overs.
But Hennessy had other ideas. He batted patiently, accumulating runs steadily, and the score progressed to 138. But in the 33rd over, Hallyburton on 6 advanced too far down the wicket and was stumped. Ben Burley continued the tail wag, and having previously not been dismissed on tour, looked a possibility of continuing that trend with some confident shots.
Hennessy was eventually dismissed in the 38th over, lbw for 17 off 45 balls. Burley and McKay then added a handy 15 for the last wicket, McKay hitting a huge six over midwicket. Burley ruined his record on the very last ball of the innings, holing out at midwicket for a well made 10 off 24 balls. McKay finishing not out 10 off 7, and the total score reaching 170.
Pinjarra looked in the match when early wickets made inroads into Loyola’s line-up. But the scoring was at a brisk pace. Ravi was lbw to Riley (who was happy to receive the new ball for the first time on tour) in the second over, and then other opener Tiwar was caught at mid off by Rawlings off McKay in the third over. 2 for 19 in the 3rd.
But left hander James and right hander Ram built a fast partnership with many boundaries, taking the score to 86 before Turner clean bowled top scorer James in his first over, the 10th of the innings. But James had done the damage scoring 45 off only 27 balls. (Miller would later criticise Hennessy for not bringing Turner on earlier).
The runs continued to flow freely. The tired Pinjarra bowlers struggling to maintain line and length. The heat and humidity taking its toll, combined with the difficult run up landscape. Most spells were limited to only 2 overs.
Ram retired for 36 to give a team mate a hit, and it wasn’t until Hari Krishna was caught off Danny Turner in the when the scores were level in the 21st over that the next wicket fell. 3 balls later Turner bowled a wide to hand the hosts what was in the end an easy victory.
McKay 3-0-24-1, Riley 4-0-33-1, Narayana 3-0-30-0, S Turner 3-0-16-1, Ford 1-0-11-0, Hennessy 2-0-20-0, Hallyburton 2-0-11-0, D Turner 1.4-0-10-1, Miles 1-0-15-0.
The touring group now looking forward to a few days off before catching the train to Bangalore for the second leg of the tour. The few days rest, combined with cooler conditions in Bangalore, will hopefully work in the tourists favour.
Loyola 4 for 171 def Pinjarra 170 all out.
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