'In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes'.
So wrote Benjamin Franklin in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy in 1789. Writing 192 years before the Railway Tavern Cricket Club was founded on the day of Charles and Diana's wedding Mr Franklin had no idea of the certainty of pub social cricket. Of losing the toss (we did, naturally, and fielded) of collapsing (we did, naturally, and lost) and of having 13 names down on Hugh's tool leading up to the game yet not quite fielding eleven. Aymon pulled out on Thursday. No problem. Will Spring sprung from 12th man into action and we still had Dominic in reserve. Yet cometh the hour we took the field with 9. AndyJ entered the arena after 2 overs to a ripple of applause but there was no sign of John Kern. Hugh left a message on his answerphone. He eventually received a message back which suggested that John was at no point available. Except he was ticked as available on Hugh's tool and must have received the various selection e-mails. Oh well. We have experience of playing with ten and hopefully Dom - a man of many clubs - was able to find a team to play for.
Back to the game. Adam Beaney - first game of the season - and Martin opened. They kept it tighter than a taverner's trousers after the tour Sunday roast. 5 came from the first 4 overs. A height no ball pulled for 6 by Saf broke the shackles slightly then Sam started to put bat to ball with meaty hits mixed with wedge shots that landed safely. Then Hugh earnt Martin a wicket as he decided to stand up. Saf promptly retreated well inside his crease and was beaten by one that cut back and stayed low. LBW. 22-1. Khan had a good look at his first 2 balls then dismissed the next 2 for 4 through extra cover. Warning! Class act alert! Adam and Martin kept them reasonably in check but once again Adam's classy spell went unrewarded. Maybe one day he won't open and come on against the middle order, mop up and get the wickets he deserves.
AndyJ and I were the next pair. Andy got some nice bounce without reward whilst my first over contained a couple of long hop pies that Khan tucked into. Things were getting away from us. We needed something to happen.
Something happened. Ken arrived.
He was promptly given Mark's spare shirt but his first action was to jog on and join in the celebrations as Khan drove at a wide one without the requisite footwork and dragged on. 2 overs later Sam played the same shot to the same ball but this time the under edge was bagged by Hugh.
Drinks were taken at 89-3, with feelings of hope abounding. Shoaib and Joe were looking classy but the former - after some wristy flicks into the leg side which we blocked by sticking Martin in front of the nets at cow corner - then backed away to go through extra cover and was bowled off a pad. 116-4.
At this point you would hope that you'd broken the back of the opposition. Especially a 9 man opposition. But no. Joe and Grav combined to take the game away from us with a huge stand. They are league cricketers. They played themselves in, stopped the rot and then accelerated. Highgate Woods is a surprisingly fast outfield and uneven with it so even the boundary fielders couldn't attack the ball with confidence and stop twos. And we wilted a little bit under an unforgiving sun. The closest we got to a wicket for a while was a lofted shot off Barrie. AndyJ ran across from long on to wide long on and looked for all the world like he had got there. Except the ball popped out of his hands. Andy threw himself in an attempt to take the rebound. The ball bounced out again and Andy landed heavily. There he stayed for 5 minutes, saying 'ow' a lot whilst we huddled round him and wondered what first aid could be given to a bloke who had potentially damaged a shoulder. Ken sprinted off to the café to summon the lady park keeper and her first aid box, but by the time she had arrived Andy had been led away by watching friends and had a beer placed in his hand. He apparently proceeded to numb the pain with 4 beers and a share of 2 jugs of Pimms. Heroic.
The returning Martin shared the last few overs with Will. They shared 3 wickets, all of which involved Hugh. 2 stumpings off Martin (Grav 63, Ali 5) and a catch off Will (Andre 10) for Will's first club wicket.
As we took tea and contemplated chasing 273 suddenly a cry went up from the oppo. 2 small boys had strolled casually across the outfield form the far side, grabbed 2 stumps and then legged it. Black Rose took a moment - possibly to give the kids a head start - then jogged after them. I recently watched an episode of The Walking Dead where one of the characters said 'either you're the hunter or the cattle'. No question whom had which role here. We didn't hear any screams but soon enough the hunters returned with the stumps.
As Black Rose took the field with 9 we offered them a fielder. Skipper Andre (I think he used to play for George Orwell by the way) politely declined. Maybe he thought 273 was enough (it was). Maybe having watched us field for 40 overs he felt there was nothing we could offer. Maybe he just trusted his bowlers (he was right to). Andre himself opened and after Hugh pulled a long hop for 4 Mark Beaney went back and lost his off stump. 5-1 became 13-2 when Hugh went after width from Rahan and edged to slip. Yes, despite having only 9 they fielded a slip. And not because they were hiding someone, it was a genuine attacking move. Almost unfair really. AndyP and I added 31 before Andy was bowled via a pad. Almost immediately I went the same way, an inside edge to an Andre chinaman hitting my left leg and dribbling back onto the stumps.
Ken and Martin joined forces. They added 21. I missed Ken's dismissal as I had launched an assault on the A1 in an attempt to find water, though I returned in time to see Martin stumped on the cusp of drinks. 89-6. At this point Eirron Reilly entered proceedings. AndyJ had nominated him to bat on Andy's behalf. I've no idea if the opposition twigged this or just didn't care. It mattered little as Eirron got a brute of a lifter that looped off his glove for a simple catch behind. Will then pulled to mid wicket and Adam was bowled. 100-9 after 24.2. Barrie and Matthias at the wicket and only pride to play for. And a certan amount of pride was achieved. By now Black Rose were down to 8 as their keeper had to go to work and they rang the bowling changes but Barrie and Matthias added 30 - the second highest stand of the innings - in 8.1 overs before one lifted off a length on Matthias and he was caught at short mid on via a very extravagant dive.
All in all a bit of a stuffing really, but the simple equation was that league cricketers beat pub cricketers, as they invariably will, and we shouldn't beat ourselves up about it. Especially as Beamers and Bohemians are on the horizon....
DT
