11 players were named and the mandatory last minute pull out by Ashok Sharma meant that Guarav had to find another player. Tucky was asked Friday night during drinks and he was keen but we all know about Tucky’s Friday night commitments, he doesn’t follow thru! John was put on standby but had to play a Div 2 game on Saturday morning so could only turn up after 2pm. Guarav had tried a few others but John was the only one silly enough to accept.
British club won the toss and sent Spirits in so the batting captain put in the two P’s, Percy and Kalpesh Patel. The instructions from the captain may have been misunderstood as they played out maidens in the first two overs. That was not too bad as we lost 3 wickets in three overs (The Aussies followed suit Saturday night as well) to be 3/8 off 5 overs with the English James Healy (4) and Kalpesh (0) out and Percy only managing 4. Guarav joined another Englishman Dave Lee (where we playing with the British club or against them?) and fought back before Guarav retired for 39 off 34 balls when the score was 80. Laksh came in and went for 10 off 13 and the score was 4/94 off 17.3 overs. Dave Lee was still holding up the other end when Kiwi John Whitcher came to bat. Dave finally retired for 35 off 51 balls, better than normal strike rate, with the score at 120 in the 24th over. That’s when another Englishman, Simon Ibbotson, came in to bat. Last week Simon struggled to get it off the square but this week he opened with a four and proceeded to smash 45 off 24 balls and John W made 27 off 31 balls. Logu came and went for 1 and another Englishman Mike Patterson was 0 not out. Sist was padded up number 11 but didn’t get to bat. Spirits finished with 184 runs off 30 overs with all the English bowlers getting hit for 7 runs per over whilst the colonies fared better at 4 runs per over with the best being Shavez getting 2/21 off 6 overs.
There was only one captain for the game, Batting captain Guarav, Field placement captain John Sist and bowling captain Guarav. So the bowling captain decided to go with English openers and ala Harminson, Mike Patterson started with 4 wides in his first over. Kalpesh bowled closer to the stumps and was hit for 10 in his first over and the British were 0/18 after 2 overs. The British fought back, Spirits British that is, with Simon catching Angus McLeod for 4 off Mikes bowling. After 4 overs the British club were 1/30. Guarav continued the British theme with James Healy and colonist Logu next. British Club were 2/52 after 8 overs with Logu getting a wicket and three boundaries. Captain Guarav decided to come on and bowl tightly and the next 3 overs went for 9 with James Healy finishing with 0/9 off 3. As Simon Ibbotson hit a few sixes with the bat Guarav thought he would give him a try with the ball and he did the job, got hit for two sixes, and British club were on track at 3/90 after 15 overs. Laksh went for 22 off his two overs but he did retire David Bennett, an Aussie playing for the British club, for 35 off 29 balls including 4 sixes. Once David retired with the score at 3/109 off 17 overs, Guarav brought himself on with Dave Lee. The next 6 overs produced 4/21 with Guarav finishing with 6 overs 3/15 and Dave Lee 4 overs 1/18 and the score was 7/130 off 23 with the British club needing 54 off 7 overs. Rule 33 was applied, do not get the batsmen out as we didn’t want big hitting David back in Simon and Mike flowed Rule 33 perfectly by dropping two catches, or so they say. John Whitcher was of the opinion just to get them out so he bowled the last few wickets, including big hitting David Bennett for a golden and British Club were all out for 147 off 26 overs.
Man of the match was a battle of the all rounder’s, Guarav 3/15 & 39 closely followed by Simon’s 0/23 & 45, John W 2/13 & 27 and Dave Lee 1/18 and 35 retired.
Packing the Kit award was Kalpesh with a duck and 0/13 off 2.
Plenty of drinks afterwards but not too many fines as a good overall performance.
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