Match Report
Sunday 16 June -v- Shooters Hill at Centymca
Thirteen seasons had passed since our last meeting with Shooters Hill ended in less than amicable fashion; the culmination of a number of explosive meetings throughout the eighties. Fittingly GT was at the centre of the controversial finish to this match, as he had been, batting so tediously for a draw, in that final game in 1989. This time his last ball prance down the track, not only eluded the bat, but also a bemused wicket-keeper, allowing Glen and Bill to scamper two byes, to gain an unlikely victory. For the fifth time in six, we lost the toss and found ourselves fielding. In the absence of Simon, Chuckles was entrusted a share of the new ball with Moysey and both bowled accurately on a pudding pitch. This set the trend for the remainder of the 40 overs, with Shooters Hill never able to dominate, until Chris served up some late morsels from the buffet cart. Our fielding, normally poor, was quite awful. Several chances were dropped, notably from the only player in their side to score any runs, but more importantly we seemed incapable of throwing the ball anywhere near the keeper, spurning at least three run out chances. The Crab paid a visit, with the intention passing contraband to Chris, but ended up umpiring a large chunk of SH's innings and then sub fielding for Spud, while he put the finishing touches to the tea. In Spud's absence the fielding reached a new low apparently, allowing, our visitor's to scramble to 123 for 8 from their allotted overs. The Sermon on the Mount had not finished by the time we trooped in for tea, which meant Gord and Glen's catering for the five thousand went largely to waste. Our reply got off to the worst possible start, with both Gordon and Darth using little lead from the scorer's pencil. It took only one person to lay out the tea, it appeared that it needed half the side to clear up after, which meant at the fall of a wicket the outgoing batsman had to score, while one of the umpires padded up to go in next - farcical? Then I realised it was the Crusaders. Simply swatted a quick 6 runs, before he was athletically caught at point, which brought Moysey in to join Spud at the crease. It became 'like watching paint dry' as neither batsman was capable of doing little more than block out some accurate bowling. We managed to use half our overs in reaching twenty runs and when Spud and TC were out in quick succession, had also lost half the side. Fortunately Nancy Timms made batting look like a stroll in the park, as he effortlessly stroked the ball around the ground. At this point Bill appeared and bearing in mind our tenuous position, was asked to bat - if necessary. Chuckles played a valuable supporting role to GT and while his personal contribution of 2 may not look that good, he made sure Glen got a high percentage of the strike. Silver Fox was run out trying to steal a quick single, the victim of fine fielding that was in stark contrast to our efforts earlier in the afternoon. His dismissal provoked much mumblings from our oppo, as they spotted our 'ringer' striding to the crease. 'He shouldn't be allowed to bat' - It's not fair' - they were talking about Bill! Two overs later we approached the fortieth over needing 9 to win. A wide full toss, was called a no-ball by the skip at square-leg, marginally before Neil M would have called a wide - more mumblings. Timmo failed to penetrate the field with a boundary, but he and Bill managed to scamper enough runs to leave us requiring the two from the last ball, which gave us an unlikely victory.
We put away the chairs that had been kicked over by Shooters Hill's disappointed players and shook hands with those of our opposition that had not already stomped off. Emotions were still running high, as the debate about Bill's contribution to the game raged on in the Dressing Room, and it was to no one's surprise that SH failed to join us at The Bull.
