Fresh from a close match with the Railway Taverners the previous week, Sunday saw the Plastics venture down south (west) – heading to SW19 to commemorate the symbolic 22-day point until the start of Wimbledon (and also play a game of cricket too). Our opponents were the Battersea Badgers, with the build-up mostly consisting of rumours that this team – similar to most sides we encounter – would be much better than us. After arriving at Haydons Road Recreation Ground and following a very brief clearing of the outfield that sorely missed Mr. Robert’s leadership, a toss probably happened. Or was there a toss? That is information that this particular match reporter is not privy to. Assuming there was no conspiracy surrounding the toss, somebody won it and the Badgers were batting first. There were many questions to be answered by this game; would Matt curb his relentless enthusiasm in the field after picking up a painful-looking injury in the last outing? Would Jamie manage to avoid heatstroke, or finally be taken by the sun? Why does the owner of a house adjacent to the pitch hate cricket so much that they felt the need to install highly reflective solar panels on their roof which blind anybody that dares to play the sport? To be fair, you can probably answer that first question without reading on. And so the cricket began in what were glorious conditions for being outside. As non-existent rumours circled that part-time Badger and Plastics captain Charlie may have attempted to fix the game, those worries soon subsided as fierce sledging went back and forth between the skipper and the Badgers players. The game started in promising fashion for the Plastics, as Jamie struck with the final ball of his first over to remove opener Rhori. The wickets continued to fall as Jerry, Joey and Matt all got in on the action to reduce the Badgers to 71-4. Predictably, Matt’s enthusiastic fielding meant he had aggravated his knee injury and required first aid during the drinks break. Needing to settle the ship with many overs still to come, the Badgers found a crucial partnership in the form of Bam Bam and Charlie’s mortal enemy J.Lee. It was a case of wham, Bam Bam, thank you ma’am as the excellent number three batsman amassed a mammoth 137 in a fine knock. After Charlie brought himself on to bowl to trigger a grudge match with J.Lee, the batsman rode out the challenge posed by Charlie’s darting deliveries and went on to play an excellent supporting role, scoring 58. Despite Matt finally prising Bam Bam from the crease at 203-5, the Plastics were still up against it as the strong batting kept coming – Charlie's inside knowledge informed us in advance that the next batsman coming in was actually their properly good batsman. A mini-collapse ensued as the Badgers lost their last four wickets for 32 runs, but unfortunately for us, they had already posted a huge 314 on the board. Facing a challenging total, the Plastics went into the run chase buoyed by the knowledge that we had achieved a moral victory in bowling out the Badgers. Leo and Maithri opened for the Plastics, and things were looking promising as they settled in and got us to 28-0 after seven overs. After some typically sublime shots from Leo, he gracefully walked after nicking one behind for 16. Maithri dug in, proving why he will be central to achieving our goal for the season of actually lasting a full 40-over innings. He hit a determined 18 off 55, with Mike's dismissal generating controversy in the meantime when he was given out – and reinstated – after getting bat on a ball that was originally given LBW, before being clean-bowled. With an already tough chase now looking difficult at 51-3, the Plastics struggled to stem the flow of wickets as Jevs and Pete came and went. Now at 63-5, it was Saril’s turn to grace the crease after he had cleared his pockets of “foreign objects”.
After a vehicle pulled up in the car park and began blasting out music to bring a T20 vibe to proceedings, Charlie was next to fall, much to the delight of the Badgers. Saril put in an entertaining cameo, hitting some nice shots in a breezy 15 off 13. Joey decided to follow suit and hit a similarly urgent 17 off 12. Up above 100 with two wickets left in hand, Jerry and Matt offered some resistance, before the dismissals of Jerry and final man Jamie left Matt stood up the other end 92 runs short of what could have been his maiden century. While the scoreboard showed a 192-run defeat, there were positives to be taken from the game. The fielding was of a high standard and, despite the bowling figures, it was a strong effort with the ball too that was simply met with fantastic batting. The games are coming thick and fast now, meaning that the Plastics will not have to wait long for their shot at redemption when they take on the Holtwhites Trinibis at the weekend. Be there or be square!
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THE TEAMFormed from a collection of players who met on the internet via social cricket at Archbishop's Park, Plastics XI represents the foolhardy members of that group who decided they wanted a bash at proper cricket instead of playing with plastic balls. The team's ability is best described as "weak-weak". Luckily, our social media game is much stronger. Find us on: Archives
October 2021
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