After successive successful Sunday run chases Cross Keys fed us a large spoonful of our own medicine as we were both chased and chastened.
Naturally we lost the toss and were invited to bat. Andy P and Simon opened on a typical Ferme Park pitch that looked far worse than it played. Nevertheless A Pearman and Slingsby commanded early respect with only 7 coming from the first 5 overs. Andy was then dropped at mid on and celebrated with a quartet of fours before being pinned lbw.
Mr Jagan joined Simon and they found the going somewhat easier against the change bowlers, aided considerably by a large number of wides (extras finished with a half century featuring 33 wides). AJ was soon into his stride with 2 fours and a five. Meanwhile over the fence at Highgate there was some sort of family day taking place. There was a BBQ and a bloke with a sound system playing annoying, irrelevant musical stings so beloved of T20 organisers and which bring out my inner Victor Meldrew. AJ didn't seem to mind. As the cast of Annie informed us that it's a hard knock life he launched a 6 over mid-wicket. I guess he's found his song. Rapid progress was made and Simon soon passed 50. Thoughts on the boundary turned towards the possibility of a maiden hundred. But not for long. Simon was bowled trying to force the pace for 58. Three balls later Raj was back in the hutch. Reaching too far forward in defence the ball popped up and the close leg side fielder dived and snaffled a one-hander.
Enter Hugh. He was in no mood to hang around. He had one life as a caught and bowled chance was put down. It's possible the bowler was unsighted by a plume of BBQ smoke that had blown in from the west. Hugh made 22 before bulleting a sweep straight to deep square leg.
I joined AJ who by now had passed 50 himself. He advanced to 70 before falling lbw. Aymon arrived with Hugh as a runner and happily crashed a rapid 29 before holing out to the last ball of the innings.
After tea came T, opening the bowling to a pair of Pearmen, brothers A and J (with third brother T umpiring). I opened at the other end, up the hill as opposed to over it for a change. 40 came off the first 10 as we kept it reasonably tight, though Cross Keys were helped by a number of fielding errors. Unfortunately it's an inescapable truth that we are by and large an ageing team. There are very few of us without some sort of dodgy shoulder / back / knee / finger problems (I have the last 2 crossed off on my injury bingo card). Some days there's just no hiding place. On a small pitch against hard hitting batsmen with a lot of front line bowlers missing today was one of those days. The Pearmen had noticed our lack of agility and were pretty much playing tip and run at one stage. However, such youthful exuberance proved their downfall. A misfield in the ring saw the ball head out to Andy, sweeping up on the cover boundary. The batsman attempted a second but it all went Pearman shaped as brother A failed to beat the throw with brother T administering the finger. Ledger soon followed, lbw to one that kept low.
Langridge joined Pearman J and they dominated the next 17 or so overs, finding the boundary at will. Aymon was hit out of the attack and the wiles of Barrie and Matthias couldn't stem the flow of fierce drives. Drinks were taken with about 140 need from the final 20. The rate was soon down to 6.5 as both batsmen sailed past 50.
Then suddenly the boundaries dried up. Suddenly Barrie and Matthias rattled through a handful of tidy overs. Maybe the batsmen had been fooled by the funereal silence of the fielding side into thinking we were beaten, but suddenly the requirement was 88 from 12. 9 from Barrie's last over left 74 from 10. AndyP and Raj on now and the latter struck in his first over. The ball hit Langridge on the leg. Raj did his beseeching appeal routine and was rewarded with a thigh before wicket decision to Langridge's disgust and our general amusement. Raj struck again next over as Hugh raced out from behind the stumps to catch a leading edge with a full length dive. Cor. About the only piece of athletic fielding we managed all afternoon.
Pearman J was still there though and he had soon advanced to a hundred. The equation came down to 19 off 18 balls before our next success, with the number 6 chopping an Andy delivery onto his stumps. Just. Unfortunately the number 7 hit 2 fours and a six in the rest of the over. 5 needed. All over, surely? We needed a hero over. Raj provided it. The first ball rattled J Pearman's leg stump. He departed for 118. The next ball was smashed for 4 to tie the scores. then a dot ball. Then a swing and a miss which saw middle stump removed. Next ball the number 9 chipped to Aymon at mid on to depart for a golden duck. As Cross Keys only had 10 we were suddenly only 1 wicket away from a tie. A panicked Langridge was heard begging the girlfriend of one of his team mates to pad up.
The number 10 survived the hat trick ball. Raj finished with an amazing 5-16.
Andy to bowl the last over. The first ball was smashed in the air towards mid off. Guy jumped, almost got his hands there, but tipped it over the bar for 4. To be fair I don't think many of us would've fancied it. Actually I'm not sure many of us would've even seen it.
So Cross Keys had their revenge for the defeat earlier in the season at North London. Slightly disappointing not to defend 256, but a lack of bowling fire power combined with short boundaries and limitations in the fielding department did for us. Still a nice day though.
DT
Batting:
S Clarke 58
A Pacey 18
A Jagan 70
R Lal 0
H Evans 22
D Terry 10no
A Spee 29
T Alveranga dnb
M Winter dnb
G Gibbs dnb
B Whatley dnb
Bowling:
Alveranga 5-0-13-0
Terry 8-1-36-1
Spee 5-0-42-0
Whatley 7-0-46-0
Winter 6-0-61-0
Pacey 4.1-0-40-1
Lal 4-0-16-5
Catches - Evans, Spee
