The game was preceded by a seasonal thunderstorm, and was probably the wettest cricket match I have ever played in that went the full distance. Nevertheless, Arriving at the ground at 12.45pm, the storm had cleared sufficiently for the previous match to resume and continue to completion. At this point there were three Spirits present. By the time Richard had won the toss (one of his two success stories of the day), we were up to six, and eventually the full twelve arrived. Our innings began dry, and Sara clubbed 14 off the first over and a half but then holed out. Bryan (27) kept the score moving with John who reached 26; both falling to simple catches. Patrick was bowled just before the break for a brisk 13, but Spirits were still well placed on 108-4, and the skipper unwisely talked of a total of 250.
In spite of the opposition coming out with a second new ball after drinks, while Rajesh and Sandeep were together, at least 200 was possible, but Rajesh (16) was caught, Prakash was stumped for 5, and Richard, going well on 18, was run out when Sandeep smashed the ball through the bowlers hand and into the non-striker’s stumps. 152 -7 with six overs remaining, and our ambition was somewhat lower. Sandeep batted sensibly (and ran quickly as ever) but was eventually caught for 29 and Jim (2) was run out (short of the second run) by a direct hit. Sivam failed to trouble the scorers, and Vishal managed 10 not out with Yiqi (0 no) also surviving to the end. A total of 173 – a competitive score, but fewer than we had earlier hoped for… eight of our batsmen reached double figures but failed to take advantage of the absence of the retirement rule (none reached 30!), while the opposition took almost all of the catches offered.
By now everyone was seriously damp and small puddles were beginning to appear in places, but we set off to restrict the opposition, hoping to keep the ball dry for as long as possible. John (1-38) picked up an early wicket, and when Jim (3 - 26) started the sixth over his out-swing looked like getting wickets regularly; 2-11 off his first three overs could have been four but for the skipper uncharacteristically dropping two straightforward catches. Khemcho’s no. 5 had been at the crease only a few minutes when he called for a runner, which reduced his personal risk of slipping while running. Sandeep (1 - 23) bowled with miserly accuracy in three spells, while nothing along the ground was reaching the boundary, and by drinks, several arial shots had either missed the fielders or been dropped, crucially, the no. 5, by Sara. Nevertheless, at drinks Khemcho had reached 70 - 3, and we had ‘won’ the third session (as well as the first), and if a couple more catches had been taken…
At the fall of the fourth wicket (95 in the twentieth over), there was a lengthy discussion about the conditions and whether the match should be abandoned (the batsmen feeling theirs was a lost cause). Sivam (1 - 30) also bowled well to begin with, Rajesh (0 - 22) was a little more expensive and Yiqi (0 - 33) had put in a spell of three overs for 17 runs, and we were still on top, though wickets were in hand; a couple of overs later the batsmen got hold of three overs which changed the game. They plundered 43, hitting the wet ball extremely hard and including four sixes; unfortunately several shots went to hand in the air, (including two of the sixes via Jim at long off), and all of which we failed to hold on to in very difficult conditions. The ‘injured’ batsman was finally out for 101, most made with the runner, and by then the match was almost over; we picked up a sixth wicket in the penultimate over, but lost by four wickets with five balls to spare.
If, if, if, if… all in all we lost a match we were mostly in control of; with no retirement, we could have made more runs, but in the end three catches dropped in the first half of the Khemcho innings left them with a batsman set and capable of turning the game in soggy conditions where bowling and fielding was never easy.
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