Judd St v RTCC at Winchmore Hill
Sunday 4th September 2016
(40 overs)
Judd St 267-2
RTCC 102-7
Lost by 165 runs
It was more Tavare than Taverners as we succumbed to a hefty 165 run defeat to one of our strongest opponents.
We fielded first and Tom and Martin had first dips at trying to dislodge openers Mike O. and Mike H.. The latter nudged and nurdled into the gaps that a ten man team will inevitably provide, while his namesake played the more adventurous shots, with predictable outcome: Dropped catches. Thankfully though, they didn't cost us much as we restricted the going-rate to about four-an-over. Then, at around the same time as Beelzebub was starting to feel a little chilly and a startled pig was spotted traversing the skies over Palmers Green, I took a catch at mid-on, Tom claiming the scalp of Mike (the hitter, not the nurdler). And things started to look genuinely quite promising when two overs later number three Rich was sold down the river by a wonderfully confident “YES!... ... NO!” shout, Paul swooping on the ball and smartly returning to Chris to demolish the stumps.
Enter Chris Boden at 4. He really didn't seem too bothered about getting his eye in on a pitch that had some very tennis-ball-y bounce, swatting at everything with a horizontal bat. He was then dropped. A few times. While our earlier efforts to reinvent the art of assisting a cricket ball on its descent to the grass didn't hurt us much, Boden wasn't feeling quite so generous. And yet, with the score on 150-2 after 30 it didn't feel like we were out of the game altogether. Sure, they'd try to kick on, but with the hope of a “he misses, you hit” scenario around the corner, a target of 200-220 didn't seem implausible. Not so. Boden now really lashed out, even depositing one ball up and over the roof of the pavilion. A storming display of batting prowess later and we faced a much more daunting proposition of 267 off 40.
Simon and I went out to bat after tea and Simon guided Webster's first ball of the innings through gully for a single. That was to be our last run for about 7 overs, as tight line and length bowling by Webster and skipper Naylor, aided by the aforementioned bounce, made things difficult. Simon eventually managed to pick up runs here and there to propel our run rate to a giddy two-an-over as the colts came on to bowl. My long and painful vigil was finally over in the 18th, run out off a no ball (at least you can't accuse us of not being innovative!). Dom stuck around for a further ten overs before falling leg before for 12.
65-2 and the job was now about saving face and batting out our overs. A double-wicket maiden in the 33rd that saw Andy bowled for 20 and Martin edging behind threatened to derail even this humble plan. Paul and Chris came in and got us past 100, Chris contributing 3 and Paul striking a cracking shot to the mid-wicket boundary before being bowled. In the end Barrie and Tom saw to it that there were to be no further losses.
The customary pints were consumed in the pleasant company of our victorious hosts as we were left to rue yet another game that coulda, woulda and damn well shoulda been a lot closer than the scorecard suggests.
Matthias
