Action Cricket Chronicles fit the 9th

What a rollercoaster of a game sports fans! Pity the cart fell off at the end of the trip …

Captain Tosser (not a derogatory term by any means) won the flipping coin toss for the umpteenth time in a row, and chose to put the runs up on the board. Out walked (or in Darren’s case limped) our intrepid opening pair, with Ross partnering the young Dazzler. When the first delivery fizzled past his (Dazzle’s) outside edge, almost everyone on the bench just dropped their heads down; and when the fourth ball popped straight into the bowlers hands in his follow through and erased the three runs made prior to it, we just let the heads stay down. The first upward turn came from Ross’s bat; and a sweetly struck straight drive burst through the fielder’s despairing dive and pinged the back net. The partnership ended on a marginal 29.

Colin and Attila were sent in to try and bolster the innings, and when Colin found the boundary with the fourth ball of the stand, the spirits were soaring again. They deflated quickly with a sharp catch one over later. Nevertheless, not even Attila being bowled through the gate could quite destroy our indomitable spirit, and the partnership ended on 17.

Kevin “wheelie king” Horne and myself trooped up, and Kevin immediately showed his aggression with a sweetly timed four in the first over. I plodded through – pushing singles, and Kevin rotated the strike powerfully, so that not even a double run out in the penultimate over could dampen the pace of our counterstrike; and the partnership added 32 to put us on course for our second score over 100.

JC and Ruaan stroked the ball powerfully pinging all the nets and duly moved us past the century mark to end the innings on 109.

So 110 runs to defend, and the mood was upbeat. Ruaan started the attack, and despite being shunted around for numerous small nets, he did set up a sitter which JC took easily to contain the opposition to just 8 from the first over. JC then took up the ball, and two balls later set up a catch of his own to take the air out of the opponents attack. Unfortunately, the next downward spiral was on its way – and it was a big one … I came on to bowl my medium pace and was treated with extreme disdain, smashed for a straight four and punted to every net in the entire arena. When Attila’s first ball went above head height over the batsman, on course to decapitate the umpire sitting above us, the nerves started to flutter. His next ball went miles down leg, his third overcorrected to end up several yards outside the off, and his fourth an overstep, just hitting the pitch with his fifth took the batsman by surprise and he only managed one. The tortured over finished two balls later – fittingly with a no-ball, and the partnership left satisfied with 41.

The second pair walked in cock-a-hoop, and had the stuffing knocked out of them by Colin’s first delivery flattening middle stump. However, Attila’s radar in the second over of his spell worked as badly as it did in his first. So much so that the final ball was delivered underhand, and smashed straight back past him for four. But then the coaster track moved upwards again, with big Kevin walking in. A run out off his first ball, a remarkable catch next ball up, a runout on the penultimate; and suddenly the opponents were losing steam. Darren bowled a reasonable over and managed two wickets – including a brilliant ball which clipped off stump by a coat of varnish. The partnership over, and just 20 to show for it.

This was about the time we really picked up steam. With a direct hit running out the striker off the first ball of Ross’s over, and again on the last ball. Kevin bowling another pearl to take his fourth wicket of the match. Ross striking twice once more in his final over (and throwing himself horizontally to try and take another one superman style with scant regard for his skin, and the hard concrete floor covered with industrial-strength-grass-burn-inducing matting), and a brilliant catch at short leg (well to be honest I stuck out my hand and it somehow stuck) off the first ball of Colin’s last over. Partnership done, just 16 from it, and at a comparative stage we were 1 run ahead.

All down to the final pairing then. Unfortunately, It was demon Hicks to bowl his luckless military medium, and the second ball was duly smashed for four. The over ended tightly, but the damage had been done to moral, and the fielding became slightly sloppier. Darren’s final over was smashed for four and six, and numerous nets; leaving the sense of inevitability looming. Not even the macho display by the captain after effecting a remarkable run out in his final over, or JC’s last ball uprooting middle stump could save the match, and we lost by the scant margin of 8 runs.

Man of the Match had to be Kevin for his belligerent top score of 19, and bowling analysis of 2 overs no maidens, 4 for -1.