M R's Cont 5
Game 14 23rd Sept v Morden
Our final game of the season and it was memorable for many reasons. We'd all washed and ironed the whites and put the bags in the loft as we thought the season had ended as the conference couldn't come up with a fixture even though Max Hollywood was in town...don't they know who he is?! Then the phone rang...before the season started Morden had enquired as to whether we'd like to merge with them, as a trial we arranged this fixture and promptly forgot all about it!.. after a hasty round of texts and emails we turned up and didn't play too badly... we still lost... but not so badly!
Following on from last week, timekeeping was clearly not a priority and as Gamini had won the toss and there were only four present at the alloted start time...he opted to bat with the batting order self sorting on a "first come first served" basis!! Thus Griffiths and Jerricho opened...Jerricho facing 15 balls for his 1 run before being caught by a man called "Trickey", 11 for 1... Joe (16) next to go to a well dodgy LBW decision, 24 for 2. Captain Gam (31) saw 2 k's (1) come and go to be joined by a certain man on a mission to pass a milestone.. yes Max "1996" Howard. You could cut the tension with a knife as the crowd (me) sat in expectant silence...first ball..."No Ball!" came the call from the tall and somewhat strange umpire ( he insisted on signalling everything, even when at square leg! and would loudly announce "two to come batsman" after the 4th ball of every over - what's that all about!?!)
Second delivery...a magnificent swipe through gulley to the boundary for FOUR!! YEEESSSS! with the ball ending up in the river that surrounds the boundary and the fishing net called for... this allowed time for the crowd (me!) to invade the pitch and congratulate the triumphant batsman!! 2000 runs!!
Max and Gamini continued to bat well and put on a 4th wkt stand of 41 before Gamini wandered down the crease only to swing and miss, stumped for 31. This bought Trevor Perera to the crease to give a masterclass in batting, (though not at backing up! come on Trev get those little legs going love!) as he held up one end for a magnificent 64... a maiden 50 in his first full season as a member! A 5th wkt stand of 26 saw us creep over 3 firgures as Max got a nasty one that popped up and he dollied to square leg, really unlucky, gone for 27 but on to the next target Max!! Nick Fordham added 5 in a stand of 25 as Trevor dealt in boundaries! 126 for 6 and guess who was next up? none other than Larry "Scamper" Dann!! out of retirement, out in the middle with my bat, out for 2... Lawrence Hill stayed with Trevor long enough to get him past his 50 but with Trevor out the last 3 wickets fell for no runs and we were all out for 176 on the last ball of the 35th over. Nice tea in Nice Clubhouse!
Well "Trickey" opened and stayed there as we let chances go, Talpe finally bowling him after his 3 "lives" had expired. Gamini getting a second wkt with the aid of a stonking catch at 1st slip by Larry Dann... making amends for dropping one a couple of overs earlier! Joe Griffith as always a demon with the ball 8 overs for no luck! most "lives" off poor Joe! They continued to score quickly with lots of boundaries, (we lost 2 balls permanantly in the river!), Guest Andrew Obesekera troubled their scorer, mainly on the spelling of his name, but also by bagging two wickets! Guest and soon to be member Lawrence Hill also bagging a brace but, too little, too late as they passed the target in the 34th over with only 6 down. A loss but a decent one for a change!
This was my second week of observing us and the game from the middle as an umpire. Last week I apparently upset the Match Manager for my somewhat damning report as "not being very encouraging for new members" well tough. I simply reported what I saw. Even in this match we were dreadful at "backing up" missing out on many runs, we were very sluggish in the field.. especially on turnaround, it was nearly dark when we finished, plus a large chunk of "too many Captains" as always, constantly critiscising his field placings and use of guests (what's wrong in giving them a game?) led Gamini to say to me "I've had enough" as we left the field of play...
I for one hope he'll be back next season but I doubt it. (GF)
