The All-Ordinaries arrived at the Indoor Cricket Centre after a 10 day break with the Captain, Dean "Hurricane" Hanlon returning from a relaxing holiday with his mother-in-law, and Sean "Pinman" Pinder making a remarkable recovery from his running nose. Serry Senior and Serry Junior looked tired after practicing for 5 minutes and Doc Watson, after seeing this, bowled a few balls and then refused to bowl further, wisely saving himself for the actual encounter. Smithy won the toss and decided to bat first.
Our most reliable and prolific batting pair, Doc and Smithy strolled in looking confident. The opposition soon had us looking a bit hesitant, taking two quick wickets in the first over and we were sitting on only 3 runs. The second over was even worse with another wicket gone to a second runout and only one run scored. The bowlers were fast and accurate and the fielding early was lighting quick and had our best pair under pressure at 4 after 2 overs. But this pair is nothing if not fighters. In a magnificent comeback, they scored fourteen runs off the next over without losing a wicket and then 8 off their last over, again without losing a wicket, thus turning what was a nervous start into a fine four overs for 26 runs (Doc 18, Smithy 8).
The second pair, Serry Senior and Serry Junior then arrived and proceeded to build the confidence and momentum of the opposition bowlers and fielders. The first over produced 3 for -6 with two run outs. The second over a further 2 for -4 with another two run outs - the run outs a combination of some apparent magnetic property in the fieldsman's hands that attracted the ball directly each time, and some kind of homing device that ensured the throws never missed the stumps (so Serry Senior claimed - luckily there is no radar gun for measuring player speed between the wickets). The third over stopped the rot with 7 runs and the last another 3 without loss of wicket, but the damage had been done and the pair trudged off with four overs for 0 (Serry Senior 4, Serry Junior -4) leaving the team a dismal 26 after 8 overs.
Hurricane Hanlon and the Pinman strode in hoping to put some respectability into the scoreboard. The bowling was still swinging and at a good pace, making scoring not easy. The pair made a steady four singles off their first over and then, thanks to a stupendous six from Hurricane, a superb 15 off their second over. Things were looking up but the next over saw the loss of 5 wickets for -14 runs thanks to some fine opposition bowling and fielding and the need for the All-Ords' batsmen to push the score along. Hurricane was worried that this reporter would mention the 5 wickets in 6 balls but I will not do so! The last over again showed the fighting spirit of the team and this pair, who could have dropped their heads but instead took 13 runs off the last over and were really putting the opposition fielding off with their good batting. Our pair completed their four overs for a respectable 18 runs (Hurricane 9, Pinman 9) and a final score ended at a lowly looking 44. The bowling had been very consistent and the fielding, especially early, had been very good from the opposition (including 8 run-outs). The challenge was on but this reporter was trying to get a bet on the opposition (not that we condone gambling of course!)
Captain Hurricane decided that we should go for the skin and hope to put them under pressure (for the unitiated, if your first pair beats their first pair in terms of runs made, you get a point for winning the skin - thus three points or skins are available for the three pair comparisons). Doc Watson opened the bowling with a nice tight over taking 1/6 including a superb one handed catch in the deep by Dean "Captain Hurricane Sticky Hand" Hanlon. Serry Senior came in next and faced some taunting from the opposition batsmen, who didnt like his high loopers and pretended to bat left handed whilst claiming his balls were all wides. Serry Senior took this calmly (and if you believe that you will believe anything) and proceeded to take 2 wickets for -1 runs, with two very nice stumpings from the Pinman (the one that fell out of his gloves and hit the top of the stumps was deliberate!). Captain H then came in and bowled fast with little luck, conceding 9 off the over and then the Captain decided, in a move designed to taunt either Serry Senior or the opposition, to send Serry Senior in for his second over. The opposition still wanted to charge down the pitch but ending up losing two wickets for 1 run. Serry Senior managed to forget his affront at the mankad's of the previous game the All-Ords had played and took great pleasure in mankading the opposition off the second last ball. Apparently a bit of opposition taunting can make anyone forget about sportsmanship (although there is some doubt about whether you can forget something you know nothing about!). The first pair went off having made just 15 and losing the first skin!
The second pair would have been confident of winning the second skin, given the All-Ords had made 0 off their 4 overs. The opposition batsmen were clearly looking to be aggressive and put the game beyond doubt. Serry Junior opened the bowling and was hit for a couple of big sixes, though fought back with a wicket (1/18), again to another great one-handed catch to Dean "Captain Hurricane Sticky Hand Magician" Hanlon, who managed to get applause out of the opposition for catching a ball it appeared was impossible to reach. Smithy came in and steadied the ship with some very good tight bowling taking 1/3 and Pinman bowled well restricting the opposition to just seven runs for one wicket. Smithy bowled the final over to the second pair and conceded 11 runs without a wicket, with the second pair finishing with 39 runs and the opposition sitting on 54 and a 10 run lead.
The last pair strode on and the All-Ords would need to restrict the last pair to 17 runs in order to win another skin (and hopefully a win if a miracle occured). Smithy, the tactician of the team (perhaps because he appears to be the only one in the team who seems to remember anything about the opposition!), suggested that we field in close to the younger batsman because he liked to push outside off stump. Serry Junior came in to bowl and the first two shots from the younger batsmen went exactly where Smithy had said they would. Unfortunately Serry Senior's reflexes didn't match Smithy tactical nous and no wickets ensued, with the opposition making twelve runs off their first over. Doc bowled next and was keeping it very tight with just seven runs off the over with no wckets gone. Serry Junior was throwing himself around in the field and one particular effort where he dived to a horizontal position and kept the ball off the fence with a one-handed stop was deserving of much admiration (and some question of whether he was really Serry Senior's son as it certainly wasn't hereditary). With the last pair on 73, the game was out of reach but the skin could be fought for, if the All-Ords could keep them negative in the last two overs. The Captain came on and bowled very fast, taking a superb 2 wickets for -4 runs to put the cat amongst the pigeons. One wicket was to a spectacular catch from Doc in the deep and the pressure was on. The opposition needed just three runs off the last over to win the skin and Pinman, oblivious to the pressure strode in and first ball cleaned bowled the opposition to stamp his authority and give the All-Ords a real chance for the last skin. The rest of the over was unbelievably tight with the Pinman taking 2 wickets for -3 runs and giving the All-Ords a second skin. It was a magnificent last over under pressure and included a superb reflex caught and bowled off the roof by Pinman. The All-Ords had lost the game 67 to 44 but had won two skins and fought hard all the way.
Bowling figures: Doc 1/13, Serry Senior 4/0, Captain H 2/5, Serry Junior 1/30, Smithy 1/14, Pinman 3/-5
All-Ords man of the match was Doc Watson, the only batsman in the team to make double figures!
PS the team now has sympathy for all football team that lose a game straight after the mid-season break - at least thats the only excuse we could think of this time!