Fives won the toss and chose to bat against an opening attack of
Shanker & Scally.
David struck first, having Ranesh well held at cover by a back-pedalling
Glenn. The other opener Suri was beginning to look very dangerous,
smashing a couple of fours through mid-off (although the bowler
thought mid-off might have made a bit more of a fucking effort,
frankly). But Scally did for him too, swinging one through the gate
to take leg and middle and leave the visitors 34-2. And thus was
the match effectively won.
Subsequently Chris bowled four overs, Jimmy delivered a promising
spell and Glenn bowled lucklessly from the Pavilion End. These three
though were merely setting the stage for Rob McCleod (there can
be only one!) to do some twirling. Topi (41) obligingly pulled a
full toss straight to Barry. Brijesh (23) was adjudged LBW. Dipak
(11) was smartly stumped by Simon Bowett and Fives were 149-8 when
Sujan made his entrance at number ten. He proceeded to smack it
all round the park, smashing a brutal 52 in about six overs to hoist
Fives’ total to 220 before holing out to Ian at extra cover.
This last wicket completed excellent figures for Rob of 4-36 from
7.1 overs.
After tea, Burgess and Shanker strode out to open the batting. Richard
capped a memorable weekend by obligingly steering the first ball
of the innings straight into the hands of a disbelieving gully,
thereby ending his involvement in the game by 5pm. The visitors’
joy was shortlived as Richard’s demise served only to usher
Ian Porton to the crease. Batting in tandem, Ian & Amit are
possibly our finest ever partnership and they gave a bravura display
of batsmanship here. Striking boundaries all round the wicket, the
pair put the bowling to the sword, scoring at a rate of eight an
over to make what had seemed a daunting target look like a formality.
Ian had reached 80 (1*6, 15*40) when he holed out to long-off, bringing
to an end a stand of 142 from 18.3 overs. Mike came in at four and
played watchfully in a partnership of 54 whilst Amit continued to
make merry at the other end before holing out to long-on for 93
(4*6, 11*4). With the score 196-3 and the job nearly done, Simon
Bowett came and went, leaving it to skipper Willcock (11n.o.) to
hit the winning runs with Mike 21 n.o. at the close.
The Horizontals had won by six wickets with seven overs to spare
but the day was to get even better as the players congregated in
the bar to watch the noble and mighty German team eviscerate the
cowardly, weeping Australian XI in the World Cup. Fantastisch!
Several candidates for Man of the Match: Rob 4-36, Ian 80, Amit
93 and 2-38, however if you don’t understand that the key
contribution was the dismissal of both the visitors’ opening
batsmen then you know nowt about cricket.
(This exchange took place after Suri was bowled:
Amit; : Great delivery; slower ball?"
David: "Not intentionally…")
