Epic tussle leaves us six short
Highgate Wood, 8/13/2022
Gaieties won by 6 runs
Gaieties: 188
Strongroom: 182
View the Scorecard
An official drought had just been declared across the south of England as we gathered on the barren desert of the Highgate Woods outfield. The sun pounded 36 degree heat down upon us. The park was empty of spectators; simply too hot for a picnic. Drinks breaks every 10 overs were agreed to cope with the extreme conditions. And we lost the toss. It was going to be a long 40 overs in the field.
Our bowling and fielding started well and we had them 93-6. The pitch was playing a few tricks and the bowling of Nick, Nilesh and Ron was excellent. Guy was again an example to us all in the field. James Schneider, fresh from an international chess tournament in Chennai, grew into his innings and threatened a big score but his wicket was duly plucked by a yorker from Josh.
Ultimately, our bowling came undone under the hammer swing of the Gaieties’ number six. He latched on to some tired bowling to strike seven massive sixes. Around him, we bowled the other batters out – Ankit with a superb 4-31- but it felt like his 89 not out had taken Gaities’ score beyond par.
We contemplated 189 to win at tea. Jon provided a massive watermelon.
After Ben gloved a snorter from Gaieties’ left-arm ganglatron opening bowler (think Marco Jansen), Fenil and Ron forged a wonderful 90-run partnership of watchful leaves and emphatic drives. At 93-1 of 15 overs we were well placed. But again the game turned at that crucial 93-run mark. We lost four wickets without scoring after Fenil was bowled agonisingly short of a farewell fifty. Ron’s wicket was especially cruel – the ball simply rolling after it pitched leaving him no choice but to let it strike his boot right in front of the stumps.
So with 25 overs and five wickets left we set about finding the remaining 90 or so required. All the way down the card, contributions were made. Jon’s 10, Ankit’s 23, Josh’s 13 and Nick’s calm 14* from number ten inched us closer and closer to our target. But wickets fell with regularity and the partnership to break the game never arrived.
As the chase entered its death throes, half of the Strongroom side had been called to other engagements; a consequence of the frequent drinks breaks and sun-dried over rate that dragged the game deep into the evening.
At the end, Nick and Nilesh stood at the crease, barely visible to me through the setting sun and the thickening fog of dehydration and heat exhaustion. The target ticked down. 10, 9, 8, 7, runs required to win. One heave from Nilesh… could have tied the scores, but fell short, into the hands of mid-off. We were all out; six runs short of the Gaieties’ score.
In the image below we see two sitting ducks (Guy and Vinay).
Written By: B.Hartridge
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