Spirits v SCC Saturday XI

It was a struggle to get players this week even with Amar sending out 3 separate emails to entice members to put their name up. We ended up with 9 players so we got a couple of fill ins from SRC, part time Spirit Vivek and part time Bojangle (it has been that long since he last played with us!) Pankaj. On arrival Ralston gave up the captaincy as he is “too much of a nice guy” and gave it to John for the game. Singapore Saturday XI don’t have any league players so John thought it was the right thing to do to let them bat first. The IPAD was loaded but we started the game with only 9 players, Sandeep was still eating his McDonald’s lunch when the first ball was bowled and Varun not sighted. It was decided to give everyone 3 overs except John (WK) and Ralston (can’t captain, can’t bowl only bat!) so the extra 3 overs would go to a few of the better bowlers for the day. SCC Saturday XI has also warned Logu before the game that he would be taken off in a stretcher if he continued to bowl bouncers and head high full tosses like last time, they think Logu knows where the ball is going when he bowls - LOL.

Some basic rules in setting the field was dictated by the captain. At the end of each over stay where you are, except the keeper and slip, and let the bowler set the field, they do anyway! The orange balls were bouncy and Gaurav was punished early 0/23, Logu at the other end pitched it up and got 0/10 off 3. As Varun still hadn’t turned up, our lone supporter in the ground, Percy donned the whites. Sandeep, with his stomach full of McDonalds, bowled the next spell with John Whitcher. Both bowled very tight, John a little slow for a big man but was very accurate, they finished their 3 overs with 0/13 and 0/12 respectfully and SCC were 0/58 off 12 overs. Sandeep could have had a wicket when David Wright walked out of his crease and John stumped him but the batsman thought he was bowled and that is why he left the crease, or so he said, so John called him back. The spinners came on and instantly wickets fell, Pankaj 1 for 16 and Sivan 1 or 11, SCC were 2/86 off 16. More spinners came on with Vivek and Captain Ashok rolling their arm over. Vivek, with Div 1 scalps to his name, was treated with contempt and Ashok was the star bowler of the pair with 1/14 off 3, Vivek 0/32 off 3 needs to go back to bowling school. Percy put his hand up to bowl but when the first ball bowled nearly hit the square leg umpire, John was a bit worried but Percy got them on the stumps later and finished with 0/24 off 2. Percy should have had a wicket when the ball hit the face of Narayanan’s bat and he refused to walk, so much for John calling back two of their players for incorrect decisions! Sandeep 0/21 off 4 and Pankaj 0/22 (adjusting the 5 byes to wides due to being well down leg side) off 5 overs, were chosen for the last few overs but Logu complained that he was the best bowler so was given the last over and finished with 0/15 off 4. SCC compiled a competitive 175/5 off 30 overs.

Vivek opened the batting with a four over cover and even better straight drive beaten long off who was on the boundary, Salty had 0/12 off his first four balls. Sandeep was at the other end facing that great Aussie bowler named Bruce. They were on a flyer to be 0/44 off six overs when Sandeep called a single to the most agile fielder at SCC, Byfield, and was duly run out by yards for 19 off 19 balls. Pankaj was next in and was facing and old foe Mahtani but Mahtani got the last laugh when he bowled Pankaj with a dipping Yorker, 2/58 off 9 overs. Ralston came in next and brought back some test cricket to Spirits, but this didn’t stop Vivek and he finally retired for 50 off 34 balls. Kiwi John was in next and rotated the strike with Ralston have a rush of blood after hitting a straight drive over the top for 4 then holed out the next ball for 14 off 26 balls, 3/96 off 15 overs. Gaurav was on a mission and a quick fire 44 not out off 37 balls out the match firmly in Spirits grasp. Gaurav retired with 15 runs to go at the fall of John Whitcher’s wicket (23 off 27). Gaurav let John and Logu have a bat, maybe he didn’t want to go out? It got to the 27^th over when only a few runs to win Gaurav screamed to Logu “hit a six”, of course Logu tried and was caught on the boundary for 3. Gaurav came back in and John scored the winning run (8 off 11). A good runs chase and plenty of beers for the few people who stayed back, a number had other commitments, watching rugby games and BBQ’s!