Both teams took a relaxed approach to time keeping, and, on average, most Spirits arrived before most of the SCC team. With two notable exceptions. Your skipper called correctly, and chose to bat; (on paper) our line-up would post a challenging total, and we had the bowling to keep the pressure on… Mike wasn’t the last to arrive, but introduced himself, noting ‘Bryan – you’re skipper today? – you must not lose this one’. So Mike opened with David (moved up from 3 in the absence of Saravana). All went well for the first ten overs, and with 60 odd on the board, the captain was very happy. Just before drinks, there was the first hint of difficulty. Mike was adjudged caught behind for 25; sweeping early the ball hit forearm (for certain) and glove (unlikely) on its way to the keeper. Saravana was immediately given lbw, and just before drinks, David was stumped for an excellent 37. Still, 76-3 still appeared to be a solid start. After drinks, a series of unfortunate shots achieved a catastrophic middle-order collapse. Bryan (5) uncharacteristically lofted the ball directly into the hands of an isolated fielder on the deep mid-wicket boundary. Graeme, who had batted aggressively for his 19, drove over a straight one. Paul was caught for a two-ball duck and Sivam (2) duplicated Bryan’s shot to the longer midwicket boundary at the other end, and we had slumped to 85-7, before the last four batsmen restored a degree of sanity and occupied the crease for most of the remaining overs. Abhishek (5), Jim (run out for 2 when his bat stuck while sliding it in), Madhu (11 not out) and Akash, last out for 4 got us up to 117 with two overs unused.
Clearly, this was a lot less than we had hoped for, and we knew we had to apply some pressure and take our chances if we were to have any hope. Abhishek and Madhu bowled well, the former picking up an early wicket, and the ground fielding was tidy. Mike instigated a fascinating discussion about which sort of balls require extra moisture to effect a shine in the local climate, and whether this is best derived from sweat from the forehead or the groin. The first bowling change and Sivam induced a sharp edge; unfortunately this flew between the keeper and Mike at (second?) slip, who just got a touch. At the other end a good length ball from Jim was carved in the air towards deep cover… Sivam’s safe hands were under it. Not quite. At drinks, their stylish opener was cruising, and victory was in sight. A couple more bowling changes and a well-judged catch by Paul off Graeme was little compensation as a number of loose balls meant there was no pressure at all as the number 3 bat retired for his 51 and the incoming batsman completed the formalities with a six.
The various contributions which led to the routine fines are all described above, and several of us spent much of the evening drinking with the SCC lads, reminding them that the scores were simply (more-or-less) a reverse of the match at the Padang… unfortunately the series closes at 2 – 2, and the brewers are definitely the winners.
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