Cavendish Cricket Club

I probably don’t need to go into the background to this match in great detail, but let’s just say it took about 73 emails, a promise to pay the opposition’s match fees and buy a round of drinks, and several prayers for fine weather to even get a start.  We finally got to Churchill with 11 players (thanks to Justin P for drafting in Joe in a corridor at the last minute) to begin the task at hand: make it 9 from 10 in the League. If we won the game, our position at the top of the table would be unassailable. Of course there were other even more pressing matters at stake: 1. our pride, 2. a satisfactory resolution of our dispute over the defaulted match, and (most importantly) 3. final proof that molecular biology is essentially a jumped-up and dubious branch of science that is ultimately subservient to the fundamental laws of Physics.

Indeed, a phone call of support immediately prior to stepping onto the ground from an anonymous caller identifying himself only as “James D. Watson” served to fortify our resolve on this last point: “Have a bat, Mattie,” he said, “they tend to be vulnerable in the first 5-6 overs due to a genetic predisposition to over-attacking”.  When the toss went our way, we put the theory to the test.  It was Brett (107*) who repeatedly penetrated their infield like a virus bursting through a cell membrane, and causing the molecular biologists to change tactics after the 6th over.  Colin played a fine hand in the partnership before departing, which began a minor outbreak of the jitters in the upper order, and it was up to Brett to steady the ship and keep the scoring rate up.  We finished with 144 from our 16 overs — an asking rate of 9 an over that would be difficult even on a slow and consistent track.

Damo began our defensive campaign in his usual style by claiming a wicket-maiden with his first over, and continued to tie them down and bundle them out during his 4 over spell.  Brett once again starred with the ball, and Colin’s neat work with the gloves ensured three very timely run-outs — the most impressive of which resulted from a flat boundary throw from Joe.  We really must recruit more Olympic standard javelin throwers from the United States. Despite some initial resistance from their skipper and a couple of others, in the end the molecular biologists were found to be susceptible to the persistant accuracy of our bowlers and tight fielding displayed by all.  We kept them to 112, even as the final few overs descended into farce and batsmen were allowed second chances by grinning umpires due to ineptitude or inexperience. In the end it was smiles all round as we honoured our promise to buy the psuedo-scientists a drink, and the Cav boys celebrated a top of the table finish to the season by retiring to the Churchill MCR. Well done lads.

Another sunny evening and a firm, dry pitch at Churchill. Our opponents seemed to be in some doubt as to whether to bat, so we obliged by winning the toss and making the obvious decision: put the runs on the board. With Brett missing, we reverted to our previous opening combo, with Matt playing sheet anchor and Colin (79, including 10 boundaries) resuming his familiar role and plundering the hapless Biochemical bowlers all over the park. While several kept a decent line and length, there was a certain lack of penetration to the attack, and some good straight bats and a lot of running brought up a hundred partnership in the 13th over. We stumbled a little at this stage, losing 5 wickets in short order and only scoring 21 runs in the last 5 overs, but the healthy start enabled us to post an asking rate of nearly 8 runs an over.

With Damo cavorting through Eastern Europe, Ed and JB opened our attack, and some tidy bowling saw the bad guys struggling for runs before Ed (2/21) cleaned up their opener in his third over. With the final ball of his spell he then took out their danger man from Durban, who complained to the umpire despite an edge to the ‘keeper that was audible from the boundary. Although they were still well in touch with the required run rate at 3/59, in the final analysis the Biochemists were not able to come back from this loss. Matt managed to hit the off stump with the first ball of his spell, but it was the leg bail that came off (arguably due to a rebound from Colin’s boot) so the batsman remained. However on the 3rd ball of the over Ed got himself into the game again with a blistering catch at cover to have them 4/65. Thomas bowled with his usual guile, and absolutely bamboozled their number 5 before having him stumped. The visitors were able to push close to 10 an over from their final 5, but found they had left their run too late and were still 26 runs short at the close. Although our bowling and fielding could have been a little tighter, we showed good experience and composure to comfortably secure our 6th win running against an opposition that was stronger than their previous form might have indicated. Well done boys.

Cavendish

Batting
C. Evans caught Ward 79
M. Riddle bowled Stewart 37
J. Palfreyman caught Stewart 2
E. Crossland bowled Rami 1
J. Benesch bowled Rami 2
K.J. Thomas not out 9

Extras 25

Total 5/155

Biochemistry

Batting
Brian bowled Crossland 12
Stewart ct behind Evans Crossland 24
James caught Crossland bowled Riddle 14
Tom not out 46
Nick run out 12
Kad stumped Evans bowled K.J. Thomas 2

Extras 18

Total 5/129

Bowling
E. Crossland 5-0-21-2
J. Benesch 5-0-31-0
K.J. Thomas 5-0-34-1
M. Riddle 3-0-16-1
A. Phillips 2-0-19-0

In every team, in every season, there is one game of a very special kind: The Comedy Debacle. We all know it well, and we’ve all been on the receiving end plenty of times. But this, dear reader, is the tale of the most cartoon-like contest in the history of cricket.

The genius author actually began penning the back-story to the game back in May, carefully constructing emails to several parties. So deceptive were his scheduling plans that he succeeded in keeping the information from himself as well. That’s right, our club Secretary, Dr Damian Gardiner, had planned not one… not two… but THREE different teams to play against on a single evening. Yes, dear friends, it can now be revealed that while we were busily negotiating with the two opposition teams at Churchill, a third calmly waited for us while the birds twittered in the gleaming sunlight at Fitzwilliam Playing Field.

Back at Churchill, when we finally decided our opposition was to be Chemistry (on the basis of Microbiology only having 6 players and no captain present) we lost the toss and were sent to the field. L’Autheur (3/11) opened the attack with JB (2/11) as usual, and as usual the pair had them pinned down immediately. Unfortunately JB’s feet weren’t pinned down quite as well, and after taking a wicket and falling over at the same time, he exited the field to undertake some engineering work on his boots. This brought Crossland (0/20) into the attack, who bowled well and was very unlucky not to have a catch go to hand in the slips. We brought in two slips and a gully for most of the rest of the innings, and finished by terrorising the bad guys with Thomas and Brett (3/20) to have them all out for only 73 after 19.1 overs.

When Brett and Colin strode out the giggle factor increased dramatically as they apparently decided that all 73 runs should really be scored in boundaries, and preferably without any dot balls in between. Brett’s 55 not out was scored from around 20 balls, and in the 5th over alone the pair took 25 runs (4,3,4,4,4,6). Chemistry was duly humbled by 10 wickets in 5.5 overs, and we moved on to 7 wins from 8 games in the League.

B. Miller NO 55
C. Evans NO 15

D. Gardiner 5 1 11 3
J. Benesch 3 0 11 2
E. Crossland 5 0 20 0
B. Miller 5 0 20 3

Finally an evening that could be accurately classified as “summery”. The captain from the Goose-poop Institute called wrongly and we took the chance to bat on a bone dry pitch. Only Damo’s faulty petrol gauge and a late meeting at Brett’s new place of employ threatened to prevent us from racking up a decent total. Colin (42) got things off to a good start and anchored the innings while a series of deceptively straight, slow balls caused a procession until new man Sohail Ejaz strode to the crease. The only incident to marr his debut occurred when Colin confidently called him through for a single, advanced down the track and then realised that he was still leaning casually against his bat recovering from the previous run. Colin reared (for an instant resembling the startled Cavendish crocodile) before retreating to his nest only a split second too late. Sohail made amends by caressing a sweetly timed six back over the bowler’s head and into the tennis courts, and finished on 31 not out. Despite the scoreboard reading otherwise, the book shows our total was 129 for 7. (Mental note: must get Dadhichi to check his arithmetic in future).

After receiving adequate aid from the AA on the A14, Damo decided to give us an A grade performance with the ball. Despite his first ball being the most obvious caught behind in the history of the universe, the opposition decided otherwise, but Damo soon picked up a well deserved 3 wickets with accuracy and swing. JB ably supported with a wicket of his own, and then took a good catch off Thomas’ tight bowling. I managed to benefit from the cricketing equivalent of an own goal when the somewhat inexperienced batsman decided to watch the a deflection roll onto his off stump without impeding its path. Brett finished off the show with 3/8 (very nearly completing a hat-trick from his first over) to have the fat lady singing Sanger’s tune, all out for 73. That’s 6 out of 7, and 4 wins on the trot.

Batting

C. Evans RO 43
M. Riddle B 4
B. Miller C&B 9
J. Palfreyman B 11
J. Benesch C 7
K.J. Thomas B 3
S. Ejaz NO 31
C. Filayson B 0
D. Paretkar NO 12
D. Gardiner DNB
C. Harpur DNB

Extras 9

Total 7/129

Another home game and another lost toss. I really must do something about my coin flipping technique. In the end it didn’t matter because the opposing captain decided it would be a good day to bowl, even with the fairly gloomy conditions and what turned out to be quite a friendly attack. Brett and Colin got off to a solid start against the openers, running a lot of 2s and 3s and generally making them work very hard without taking any risks. Brett’s recent good form didn’t take long to show itself again as he began to sweetly time the ball through the on-side. Colin switched in to the unfamiliar role of sheet anchor while Brett (111) blasted his way to a truly scintillating 50-ball century. After Brett departed, Justin P was unlucky to be caught without scoring when attempting to continue in a similar vain, bringing Matt (24*) and Colin (52) together for the final few overs. Colin was run out with a direct hit from the boundary on the final ball of the innings going for a fairly safe second run, but the hard work had been done and we took to the field having made a hefty 2/210 from our 20 overs. They were never really in the hunt, which was lucky for us considering we were missing Damo, Ed, Thomas, Dan, Dadhichi, Alan and a host of other recognised bowlers. It was down to the skipper (2/24) to open the attack with JB. After a few runs went in the first couple, we managed to get a stranglehold on the game through some excellent fielding and good line and length bowling. Brett’s evening continued in excellent style with a run out and then and a wicket from the first ball of his spell, and Charles’ improved considerably — starting with a pre-game slips fielding incident involving a nasty blow to the nose and finishing with an excellent double wicket spell. We ended up bowling them out for 88 in around 16 overs to secure our most emphatic win of the season so far.

With the stench of our Cup defeat at the hands of the Engineers still lingering, we were eager to redeem ourselves and began well with a win of the toss. The Fitz pitch looked good as usual, and the boundaries a great deal closer than Churchill’s, so we decided to bat. Brett got us off to a good start to the innings, and was backed up by solid performances from both of the Justins to see us through to a defendable total of around 130. Our bowling line up was very good, and we fielded courageously, with Glenton’s mid-off shin stop bringing the crowd to its knees. Unfortunately it also brought Glenton to his knees and Uli was soon called into action as 12th man. Overall we couldn’t quite break through in the early stages, failing to hold onto a couple of half-chances, and this allowed their classy openers to cruise past us without loss and a few overs still to spare.

With Damo standing in as skipper, we fielded first and restricted the Zoologists to 96. Among others, Alan Phillips bowled very well on debut. We then made a long-winded attempt at knocking the runs off but Richard Kahle and Damo saw us through with 3 balls to spare. Ed and Thomas batted well but we lost wickets consistently - however overall another really good team effort saw us through to another victory!

For the second time I lost the toss, but we still got what we wanted as the Business School sent us in to bat on a dry looking wicket in gloomy conditions. With Colin MIA, our most recent Antipodean import Brett Miller stepped up to the plate and proceeded to build a chanceless innings that included an outstanding partnership with Ed Crossland, batting at number 4. A solid start took us to 4/80 after 15 overs. When debutant Richard Ordish strode to the crease we were 5 down and looking for quick runs in the final 4 overs, despite a slowing outfield and some very tight bowling from the Judge. Brett (68*) and Richard (15*) did very well to put on another 35 runs and see us through to 115.

Despite having only 10 fielders, we began to sniff a victory in the air as Damo’s opening spell drew an early scalp with one of the openers playing on. A tight line and length ensured Damo went for very few runs and set the standard for the bowlers. JB toiled without much luck, save for a nut-grinder that returned a stumping before we thought we’d show what kind and caring individuals we are at the Cavendish and allowed the wandering batsman to retire hurt instead. Unfortunately he returned later, apparently invigorated by having his future Father’s Days flash before his eyes, and plundered the ball all over the place.

Ed was rewarded for keeping the ball up and straight with a wicket on the first ball of a tidy 4 over spell, and our fielding was characterised by grace under pressure, particularly the flat bounce-throw from Brett that ran out their skipper to have them behind on the run-a-ball equation. In the final overs we again employed the not-so-secret weapon personified by Thomas (2 wickets) at one end, who had a fairly clear caught behind decision turned down before turning calmly around, striding back to his mark, and clean bowling the slightly sheepish Businessman. A second wicket from Thomas in the second last over had the Judge in trouble.

It all came down to the final over, with Brett to bowl his fast offbreaks and the bad guys needing only 5 runs to win and holding 3 wickets. They had one recognised batsman at the non-strikers end. The first ball got jammed under the bat and was close to being played on. The second caught him on the pad at the crease, and they scampered through for an attempted leg bye before we completed a run-out of their recognised bat before the central umpire overruled with a seemingly late LBW decision. The third ball to the new batsman reared and whizzed right through for a valuable dot, and the forth got them a stolen leg bye to have them still requiring 4 to win from two balls. We moved the field out to protect the boundary and again they went for a quick single, but we secured a tidy run out, so they had only 1 wicket remaining and 3 runs to tie. On the final ball we got our second run out (and third wicket) in the over, securing a win from our first League game, and proving the old addage that you must always use pressure to your best advantage. Well done guys.

We lost the toss and were sent into the field last night with a spring in our step and a shiny cherry. JB and Damo started us off well, and were unlucky not that a few early chances just didn’t go their way. We then turned to Ed and Brett, who toiled hard but couldn’t break through, and the bad guys started to put their foot on the accelerator. To our considerable credit, our ground fielding standard remained high during this time, and Engineering would have been disappointed not to capitalise in the final three overs, when Dadhichi and Thomas bowled a tight line and length to dismiss both openers in quick succession. They ended on 4/188 after their allotted 20 overs — a high total with a relatively soft outfield, but we still fancied our chances.

We had some good starts in our upper order (yours truly excluded) and Colin (33) and Justin P. were looking particularly solid to have us 1/50-odd in short order. Brett and JB each contributed with short, swashbuckling cameos but were backed up only by shorter, slightly less swashbuckling appearances as the wickets fell. After having been 4/90-odd (I think) we were all out for 115 in the 17th over.

One of positives we draw from this game is that we showed that we have the ability to come back from a difficult situation when fielding just by bowling up and on the spot and taking our catches. We need more time in the nets until all of our bowlers can pretty much bowl 6 out of 6 balls in the right areas. Our batting was pretty good for a season opener against strong opposition, but we do need to improve on partnership building, and our calling and running between wickets. As the Engineering openers showed us, it really only takes one solid extended partnership in this form of the game to completely turn a match, and we lacked that last night.