Whalers lose by 3 wickets
27th
June 2010 is a date that will long be remembered with some disappointment among
hardcore sports fans the length and breadth of
In truth it was an excellent effort from all the Whalers and Strollers present
that a game was contested at all. Arriving at the Civil Service Ground for a
match has provided a taste of abandoned, unloved facilities, reminiscent of a
centrally planned regime in terminal decline all season. Add to that the fact
that all the other games scheduled for the day had been cancelled, bowing
before the all powerful, carefully branded and over hyped monolith that is
modern kickball and the parched, brown landscape was not welcoming.
After
winning the toss once again captain Giles decided to bat despite the great
success we had enjoyed the previous week after electing to field first against
West XI. The main reason behind the decision self preservation as the
temperature topped 30 degrees. Al and Dario opened our innings and made it as
far as 15 before both falling without further adding to the score. Hanmer and
Bayne were now in partnership and the Whaling ship was righted. Ads hung around
for a long time before eventually being bowled by Kay for 15 playing an
injudicious shot across the line. He had been frustrated by a lack of scoring
opportunities but with Bayne at the other end was part of an important
partnership. Ollie has been in form this year and showed this again with some
fluent driving and uncompromising pulling. Unfortunately he followed Hanmer
back to the dressing room as a second collapse set in just when the Whalers
needed to accelerate (has this ever happened before?) also bowled by Kay for
63. Nelson and Milanovic didn’t last long and Toby only waited long enough to
score 5 and show off his dancing skills after over balancing and trying not to
leave his crease (about 5 times). As so often happens in these situations it
was left to the bowlers to provide some sensible batting and ensure we got
close to seeing out the overs. Khalil and Dan did this admirably scoring 26 and
20 respectively. Matt was then last man out in the final over having scored 5
trying to up the rate. 167 all out
We
took an extra long tea to allow time for watching the second half of the
football, the kickballers helped us get on with things though as no one fancied
watching anymore once the Germans 4th goal went in. 167 should have
been defendable and indeed the Whalers started bowling well with wickets falling
fairly regularly, Few Strollers were able to put up much resistance and only 2
of the top 6 made it into double figures. However their number 7 Kay played
well. He was watchful outside off stump and quick to punish anything short,
gaps started to appear in the Whalers field and in partnership with Strollers
captain Illia he started to get them frustratingly
close to the required rate. 6 overs of spin from Giles and 3 of slow bowling
from Dickenson! were expensive and Milanovic may well have been under bowled
after only conceding 9 from his 4 overs. Just when it was needed there was a
moment of excellence in the field and Andy Nelson at point fired in a throw to
run out Kay for 74. Strollers number 9 Paul came in under immense pressure and
Osgood had the penultimate over to bowl. Paul was made of stern stuff though
and made a rapid 8 to condemn Whalers to defeat in a game they really should
have one. Not the first close game this season that they were unable to finish
off either.
Although we lost on the day against a team I think we would hope to beat most
weeks, neither side were really losers as surely participating in a close game
of cricket beats watching other people play football thousands of miles away
which is what most of the population were apparently absorbed in.
Whalers: 167 a.o.
(34 overs) Ollie 63, Khalil 26
Strollers: 168 for 7(33.5overs) Matt
3/30, Dan 2/41
Man of the match: Ollie Bayne: Top score of 63
Champagne moment: Andy Nelson: Great run out with one stump to aim at
Muppet moment: Toby Emmerson: Dance of about 12 steps after missing a big
heave