Action Cricket Chronicles - fit the 2nd

This was the second game (first of the league), and originally written on Friday, 7 March 2008:

Welcome sports’ fans! The season for Action Cricket started off last night, and like the tortoise, it was a very, very, slow start …

Ruaan won the toss for the second time in a row, and perhaps feeling that the decision last time had been poor, reversed it and decided to bat. In walked the intrepid openers, Darren (who had been granted a runner on prior agreement) and Ross. The start was steady, with the first 3 overs yielding 27 runs without loss. The final over of the partnership produced 2 wickets with almost no runs meaning the partnership ended on 25. Darren was the hero, striking 2 fours and numerous singles to end with a personal score of 21 without loss. Ross fared less well, not finding the boundary at all, and ending with two wickets down for a net score of 4.

Without too much fanfare, the second paring of Colin and Jeff walked in to face the (it must be said) medium skill of the opposition bowlers. These two steadily stole runs, and struck one boundary to go with 2 wickets and end on an extremely respectable 27. Honours even, with Colin producing composed 17, and Jeff an slightly more sedate 10.

Then the weak link. The Bun and the Biker. Pleading ignorance of the rules (which I must admit I knew nothing of either) the third ball produced a wicket. Apparently you have to run of the third miss. The Bun promptly missed 3 in a row and was stumped. Kevin and Attila tried to repair the damage, but lost wickets at regular intervals (5 in total) and so only managed 5 for the partnership, all from the bat of the Biker. Bun did better than Dano last time, and managed to offset his wickets with runs to end on a symmetrical zero.

The final paring went in, hoping to repeat the heroics of last time. Not quite as successful (the last time they produced a huge 34 run partnership) but still relatively good with runs coming regularly and only 2 wickets going down, one of which was that pesky third ball stumping. 23 runs the result, very evenly split (12 to JC and 11 to Ruaan) and the final score read a respectable 80.

The opposition openers came in to face the quick fire wrath of Colin, who repaired the minor damage of almost 2 runs every ball with a catch off the last ball of the over and had them 1 for 4. Jeff, the new ball partner, struggled with his line, and conceded 9 runs from his first. JC took up the hunt, and immediately did a Steve Harmison, spraying it around for the first 3, and being clobbered for 6 on the second last ball of the over. Ross was the final bowler, and managed to stem the flood of runs by taking two wickets and conceding very few to end with -2 and with it, their first partnership for 23.

The next partnership was where the game fell apart. Kevin, after overstepping twice was truck for a four, and managed to end with 0/10. Darren took up the assault, and immediately got nailed for two boundaries, ending with 0/15. The Bun was laid into with 3 boundaries including a massive six of the second last ball, and added two leg side wides, just to show he could. And Darren ended a miserable day with the ball by being hammered for 4 boundaries in a row, the first of which was a six – just for good measure. Second partnership over, and no wickets down for 67! At this point, it is likely a lesser team would have collapsed on the floor sobbing like babies. But not us. Oh no – it was more like a heart wrenching sob of anguish dredged up from the bowels of the earth. But they soldiered on. Shoulders were squared, chins jutted forward prominently, and brows knit in concentration.

The third partnership started off with Ruaan bowling a fiery spell and the batters managed just 7 before the Biker burst forth and immediately put his last over to shame by taking 2 wickets for -4. The reeling partnership had the knife dug in deeper by the Bun, who bowled a tight line conceding just 5 runs, before the standout bowler for us, Ross finished off a great bowling performance with a very credible 1 for 5.

However, despite the heroics, the final pair walked in, in the comfortable position of being 27 runs ahead. Colin started them off with a sweet boundary on the second ball, and so managed to concede 13 runs in the first over. JC took some stick with his first ball being struck for 4, before coming back to take a wicket and end with 1 for 7. Jeff managed to get a catch, and it should have been followed by more if Darren didn’t have as bad a time behind the stumps as he had bowling at them, but still Jeff managed to finish with 1 for none. Before Ruaan finished it off tiredly by being struck for a four and a six to end with none for 18.

The match was theirs, by a staggering margin of 64 runs. The team retired, exhausted, and trying to rebuild after a poor start.