Spirits v SGS

The omens were not good, gathering clouds, players pulling out & after all these years…) confusion over where the ground is, even the opposition skipper called me!!!! Anyhow, inevitably the toss was lost & equally inevitably SGS chose to bat with the rain clouds closing in. So 30 overs to go, no retirement (smelling something strange there…) & NO that is NO fielding restrictions.

Yours truly opened the bowling along with Logu & made good progress with two wickets apiece & a dropped C & B each to our names, another couple from Paul  meant by drinks (as the rain just started to fall….) we had them on 65 for 5, a tidy start indeed BUT………………………….. Rumour has it that as the rain cleared the call went out amongst the SGS fraternity that they needed a batsmen sharpish, enter Mr. Kawal Deep who relished in smacking us into his namesake with a performance that's best described as carnage akin only to the “Great Brackenfell Massacre” of 2013 (see Dan’s SA Trip report…) & I’m afraid to report that once again one of the main victims was Akash. I’m pretty certain he’s now considering officially retiring from bowling duties, 4 sixes in an over hurts….! Just look at the score sheet attached, 98 (he was actually run out not retired) off 35 balls!!!!!!!! Hardly a chance free innings though, especially having been caught off a waist/chest high slow full toss which amazingly got no balled,  but he rode his luck & applied more than a few lusty blows. Run rate had taken a turn & their tails were up, so despite a wicket apiece from Richard (Flecher??), Mahesh & Andy they finished on 251 for 10, not a bad recovery. Still the Bukit Timah ground has a short legside boundary (as we were bowling from one end as is the norm there) & we had been shown the way in which to clear it. Game On!!!

After his SA heroics Paul had received promotion to pole position but unfortunately it was that man Mr. Deep again that got him caught behind without troubling the scorer (which is just as we’ll as Sandeep was still confused with the iPad!!J), so the fecker could bowl as well!!!!! Shalabh was next to go for one but this brought to the crease the much aggrieved, battered & bruised Akash, he had an axe to grind…… Unfortunately we lost Ali for 5 (read Flecher again which was obviously the iPad ‘go to’ name of the day….) which meant thankfully Sandeep could give up scoring to go & do what he does best. Akash took a little while to get into his stride but then set about their line up with a vengeance!!! Together they put on 121 before Akash succumbed to cramp, Sandeep upped the pace but was soon to depart for a well made 42. So it was down to our terrific trio of renowned last ten over pinch hitters to go in there & win the day in the last 10 overs, well that was how the script read, but it was not to be Mahesh a golden egg, Richard a ‘streaky’ 7 & Logu an unremarkable 3. So 5 overs to go, a ton required with only me, Andy & a crippled Akash left to face the music as our loaned player had disappeared apparently with “work to do”, we knew the feeling….. I set my sights on ‘small targets’ which was to get at least two hundred, which we managed but not before I ashamedly ran out Andy & then forced Akash to get his pads on again, being ably assisted in running duties by Logu. End of the day 201 for 9 off our 30 & in the words of that shite R&B song of the 1970’s “so close, so close & yet so far”!!!! Akash not out for a valiant 88 & me not out 30.

No fines followed as we had leftover booze from the sparsely attended party of Friday night, but in classic case of hero & zero, Man of The Match & Wooden spooner has to be Akash!!!!