It was a lovely day for cricket! I was invigilating in the Central Hall till 17:30 so I arrived late and Gavin Hammond was acting captain in my absence.
Whilst chatting to the opposition I found that we lost the toss and were fielding - and doing a rather good job of it too. Pete Gent was given the first over and with his first ball removed the Alcohology skipper! Things got worse for Alcohology when after surviving Andrew PrattÕs over they lost another wicket in the first ball of PeteÕs second over! 13-2 was the score. A spirited fightback brought them to 33-3 after losing their No.3 to Andrew who bowled him out on 26. At this point our 12th man Nara Singh swapped over to allow me onto the field. Natalie Barratt (our top wicket taker!) and Jonny Waugh came into the attack and with a great spell of tight bowling got another wicket - brilliantly taken one-handed by Jonny off Natalie's delivery - definitely one for the champagne moments of the season! Gavin and I had a over in which I managed to trap their No.6 LBW. Jon Aitken from Electronics had a good penultimate over and I finshed off the bowling. Alcohology finished 117-5 with Cross unbeaten on 49.
Our innings got off to a rocky start with Mike Taylor being run-out for 5. Andy was joined by Pete Gent who went for 1 after a spell of accurate bowling from their opening bowlers who also removed Andy for 10. Pat then went to a vicious in-swinging seamer on his first ball. Jon Aitken survived a ball before he too went for a duck. This should have brought me into bat but the wickets fell so quickly I was stranded with 2 of the 6 2p left that I was using to count the balls as umpire! Gavo came to the rescue and saw through the final 4p! I came in after Jonny went for 1 and managed an unlucky 13 when I swung across the line to a fast straight delivery. Gavo made 10 before losing his wicket, bringing Jamie to bat. Togs did a great jobs of keeping the tail wagging and finished unbeaten on 17 - our top score! Jamie lost his wicket for 1 bringing Natalie to bat.
The final ball of the match is a contender for comedy moment of the season: Natalie played square and Togs was almost 3/4 down the wicket (I think he was going for a run no matter what the delivery!) and so they ran a quick single... then another run came from an over-exuberant throw from Alcohology skipper to the bowler stumps (to give him credit - it was a direct hit!) which rebounded off towards mid-wicket. A third run was then pinched as yet another fielder had his radar switched off and threw the ball way-off target. I thought a 4th run was taken without loss but the scorecard seems to show Natalie finished on 3. In any event we only totalled 78 and Alcohology took the points.
Alcohology were in impressed with our spirit and down the pub we suggested a friendly game which was readily accepted. We just need to sort out a date! (Job for Gavo and me!).
Next match we play Alcuin XI so lets get some batting practice in beforehand!
Photographs (thanks to our official match photographer, Clare "34F" Beer)
Match Report
Physical Wrecks Website