Taverners - Top of the League
Thursday's rain had dispersed and the Tavs and LMS converged on a cool and cloudy North Middlesex for the first round of Friendly Four matches. On arrival we found that last season's winners VCC had failed to raise a team and cancelled their game against Soho, leaving ours as the only game in town.
The weird and wonderful competition points system was perused as the clock ticked round towards six and the last stragglers arrived. LMS won the toss and decided to bat. RTCC took the field two Andys short, Messrs James and Rose donning whites in haste to join us a few minutes later.
The opening overs could not have gone much better for us. Greg, lacking spikes, reduced his run up and pace and bowled a tight line and length from one end, while Andy P also showcased the virtues of bowling full and straight, hitting Warwick's stumps with his first ball, and ending the over by doing the same to the other opener Boone. Greg immediately chipped in with a caught and bowled, and LMS were in trouble at 9 for 3 after 4 overs.
Yates and Goodman began to repair the damage, running and backing-up aggressively and taking full advantage of anything loose as Andy J and Aymon took up the attack. At 65-3 after 11, this partnership was starting to turn the game LMS's way until Andy James intervened. Taking aim from short third man as the batsmen scampered what looked a relatively safe single, Andy threw down the stumps to break the partnership and earn RTCC's first bonus point into the bargain.
With a maximum of three overs per bowler, skipper Chris continued to ring the changes, with first Ed Bartam and Matthias, then Andy R and Martin taking up the bowling. Aymon picked up a wicket when Andy J stretched up to casually pluck a one handed catch above his head, then Andy Rose won an lbw verdict against the number three Yates.
Then came a strange incident. Aymon took a catch off Martin's high full toss that was called a no ball. That should have been that, but the batsman had wandered out of his crease, Aymon hurled the ball in, and the bails were swiftly removed. "Howzat?" "Out", said the umpire. After much delay and discussion the batsman was rightly reprieved and the game continued. Martin ran in to bowl the next ball, and trapped the same batsman right in front. The lbw appeal was upheld. No reprieve this time!
The total passed 100 in the 17th over but in keeping with a good and keen Taverners effort in the field, only 11 more came off the last three overs. So LMS finished on 115-7 from their 20 overs, leaving us a chase of just under a run a ball.
I went out with Andy Pacey to open the innings and was soon on my way back, a 'one-day' hoick to leg failing to clear a backtracking mid on. But Dominic, in his first Tavs match and Andy P soon got the scoreboard moving. Andy announced himself with the game's first and only six, just clearing the long-on boundary in front of his cheering teammates. Dom pushed the ball efficiently into gaps, and after 8 overs the score was a healthy 50-1 and the chase seemed to be well on course.
The partnership was worth 75 by the time Andy was bowled for a fine 36. Dom followed run out for 26 soon after, and Andy Rose, after an initial boundary, perished trying to flick a straight ball to leg and missing. Though wickets were now falling regularly, the scoring rate didn't drop even though it was getting darker and colder by the minute. 87-2 off 12 had become 99-5 off 14 when Martin was bowled off stump by a terrific ball from Holt. 17 to win off 6 and Aymon joined Chris at the crease, with Martin staying as a runner. Crisis? What crisis? LMS had bowled out their first four bowlers, and Chris and Aymon now calmly knocked off the remaining runs as the darkness gathered, getting home with 3.2 overs to spare for a 5 wicket win.
And so to the bonus points. The rules allow points for all sorts of achievements, such as direct hit run outs, sixes etc, but also point deductions for a range of 'ungentlemanly' acts ranging from Mild (isolated swearing, not clapping) to the ominous-sounding, "Deep Unpleasantness", which earns a full three point deduction. After a brief haggling session in the bar, it was agreed each team would be docked one point. RTCC for Aymon bowling in a cap (a mild sartorial crime, apparently), and LMS for their skipper grunting in an "unnecessary" (and presumably ungentlemanly) manner whilst batting.
And so the final score RTCC 13 points, LMS 6, and with the other game cancelled, the Taverners, for now at least, are top of the league!
SC
Final Points:
RTCC: 13 points
10 for Win
2 for A Pacey 30 runs
1 for A Pacey six
1 for A James direct hit run out
-1 for Mildly Ungentlemanly Behaviour (A Spee bowling in cap)
LMS: 6 points
3 for 100 runs in defeat
2 for T Yates 30 runs
2 for D Goodman 30 runs
-1 for Mildly Ungentlemanly Behaviour (D Blyth grunting)
Batting:
S Clarke 2
A Pacey 34
D Ewer 26
A Rose 6
C Brooks 10 not out
M Pirongs 2
A Spee 10 not out
A James dnb
G Powles dnb
M Winter dnb
E Bartram dnb
Bowling
G Powles 2-0-3-1
A Pacey 3-0-15-2
A James 3-0-18-0
A Spee 3-0-12-1
E Bartram 2-0-22-0
M Winter 2-0-19-0
M Pirongs 3-0-16-1
A Rose 2-0-6-1
Catches: G Powles, A James
Captain's Tankard: Andy Pacey
