On a humid day, under a sky that at times resembled a diseased blancmange, the Horizontals entertained the Old Grumblers, who were undefeated so far this season, in what was to be a closely contested game. Richard, skippering the Horizontals, won the toss and, noticing some moisture in the pitch, elected to bowl. The sun immediately came out and began baking the ground to the hardness of concrete. Nevertheless, the Grumblers’ innings started slowly. Some good fielding and tight bowling from the home side helped restrict the score. The Horizontals had been short of a full eleven for this fixture, but a few calls from the well-connected Arif had provided them with a number of guest players. Shazeb shared wicket-keeping duties with Stivin, while Bakir and Zulfi bowled. Also playing a first game for the Horizontals was Rohit Shanker, younger brother of top Horizontals player Amit. These men played a significant part in what was to follow.
With two wickets down, one to Bakir – an excellent catch by Rohit, who ran back chasing a skied ball and calmly watched it descend swirling from on high, and safely into his hands – the other a successful LBW appeal from Glenn, the Grumblers began to hit back. With James, their number 4 bat, at the crease runs soon began to flow. This superb batsman played a range of strokes not often seen at this level of the game, including one memorable drive through the V, all along the ground to the long-off boundary. Although more wickets fell eventually – a second LBW to Glenn, another wicket for Bakir, this a sharp chance that interrupted Rob’s conversation with the square leg umpire but didn’t stop him taking a fine catch to dismiss James for 87, and a well-deserved wicket for Rohit, clean bowling Cuthbert, the number 5 – the Horizontals never came close to exposing anything that resembled a tail. In fact, the batsmen only seemed to get better. Shots were placed unerringly through the field, and the running between the wickets was impressive throughout. By the end of their 40 overs, the Old Grumblers had made a daunting 225 for 5. Bakir was the pick of the Horizontals’ bowling attack, with figures of 8 overs, 1 maiden, 2 wickets for just 15 runs.

After a tea that featured the late but welcome arrival of the customary plates of fruit, (the 40 overs had been bowled rather more quickly than usual) as well as some very good bread pudding, the Horizontals began their reply. In an extraordinary reversal of the pattern set by the Grumblers, Richard made a stunningly aggressive start, hitting 14 off the first over (a 2 and three 4s). The bowlers soon settled, however, and the scoring slowed. Consecutive maidens completely stifled the batting in the fifth and sixth overs. Richard’s frustrated growls were audible from the boundary. But at the other end, Mike was looking relaxed, waiting for the bad ball and playing his favourite late cut with all the appearance of ease. Richard was out in the 9th over for 23, having established a good scoring rate for his side. This brought Amit to the crease, and so began a partnership with Mike that was to glean over 100 runs. Both batsmen played magnificently, reaching half-centuries within a few overs of each other. Amit was out in the 31st over, caught off Siddall for 61. Stivin came to the crease and had to forego the luxury of playing himself in. The Horizontals couldn’t afford to let their scoring rate dip even for a moment. Some brilliant ground fielding from the Grumblers made it hard to get anything through to the boundary. Despite having been batting from the start of the innings, Mike now found new reserves of strength and began to up the pace. Stivin was bowled by Siddal for a quick 21. This brought Shazheb, who’d been pacing the boundary like the proverbial caged tiger as he waited for a chance to bat, out to the middle. With just 3 overs to go the Horizontals still needed 25 runs to win. Mike finally succumbed for 87 and the Grumblers scented the real possibility of victory. Glenn came in and scrambled a single that gave Shazhed the strike. This was in over number 39, and 12 runs were still required. Shazhed rose to the challenge with aplomb, hitting three consecutive boundaries to win the match with an over to spare. So ended a close game played in good spirit, which could easily have ended in deserved victory for either team.