Scorecard
After a (relatively) successful Intraplastics, where no one was hurt and everyone got a bat despite the gale force winds, our intrepid XI showed up again at the newly monikered Battersea Dome to play the brilliantly named Flying Ducksmen. Although last season's match was a bit of a stroll for the Plastics (those are words I never thought any of us would type), this season they were an entirely different prospect, chiefly because they had the batsman who scored 137 against us for the Battersea Badgers playing, in addition to two players we had lent them. Continuing on from Charlie's firmly established tradition, new captain Matt in his first official act, lost the toss and The Ducksmen decided to have a bat. After a beautifully tight opening spell from Jerry and Jamie, where they got combined figures of 1-21 off 6, Tom Scott-Coombes came on for a very tidy opening spell in his brand-spanking new Plastics shirt and ended with excellent debut figures of 5-0-18-2, with one of the wickets being Plastics-provided ringer Phil (for an confident 25) while Webb was unusually parsimonious in his opening spell of 4-0- 14-1. With Charlie bowling at an economy of 1.5 and Jerry taking exceptional figures of 4-24 (including the dangerous Mackrell, vanquisher of the Plastics in the Badgers fixture last year, pinned in front for a relief-inducing 12), the spinners Joey and JEVS failed to get much out of the early May surface and despite bowling well didn't make a breakthrough. Early contender for the Lambrini Moment of the Season™ as a swirling catch looped into the generally safe hands of the skipper, only for him to put it down. A dropped catch at this level is pretty much just an occupational hazard, but vice-captain Jerry swooped in, scooped up the ball absolutely wanged the ball at the stumps, missed by miles with the batsmen out of his ground. Usually it's only one piece of egregious incompetence at a time, but the leadership group really went the extra mile for that award. Despite that, the Ducksmen were kept to a decent total of 160 after the tail had a bit of a wag. Tea was a bit odd, as most Plastics seemed to have failed to distinguish between sweet and savoury and there was a heated debate about which category blueberries fall into. Charlie and Robert strode out to open the batting and immediately set about taking the shine off the new ball. It was 5 runs and 25 balls later that Robert fell LBW to loanee Phil, bringing James Heis to the crease for a rapid 17 off 17 balls. In the meantime Charlie had fallen for a typically stoic 15 and seen off the opening bowlers, allowing Dom to come out and smack the first change bowlers around the park for a serene, unbeaten 46 ball 56. It wasn't all smooth sailing, however, as regular wickets falling at the other end (Joey hitting his now predictable 6 and out, JEVS getting bowled by the traitorous Simon, and Matt emulating Mark by middling the ball straight into the hands of cover, Tom SC getting run out) made a relatively simple chase a bit more of a bum-squeaker than it really needed to be, but in the end the Plastics made it over the line with just under 9 overs to spare.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
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
Categories |