Railway Taverners CC (135-3, 17.2 overs) beat Plastics CC (130-9, 16.5(?) overs) by 6 wickets. A second, shorter fixture of the season against the Railway Taverners should’ve been the opportunity the Plastics needed to settle old scores. It was not to be as the contest was lost by South London’s favourite pink-clad team, again in the last over, and again ending with only 10 men. The weather on this Wednesday evening was welcomingly cool, especially considering the temperatures the UK had been subjected to in the weeks prior. Arriving in a steady stream from all corners of the capital, the start time of 6pm looked dubious. 30 minutes late, the Taverners and two of the Plastics batsmen who happened to be ready took to the field. The Taverner’s overseas signing, a scary Dutchman, opened the bowling. Robert scored 8 from the first five balls – a lightning start by his standards – only to edge behind on the sixth ball of the over. The opposition were fired up, but the first over had shown that the boundaries were short and the outfield was fast. Batting MVP Alex made a start from the other end, but number three Matt, who had taken all the effort of matching his bandana with the shirt colour scheme, fell for a golden duck, edging behind. Alex and number four Joey provided some stability, taking the team to 45-2 off six overs, constituting a healthy run rate in this shorter-est form of the game. Joey’s departure on lucky number 13 through a stumping precipitated two further wickets: captain Charlie bowled for a solitary run and Jerry bowled by the same Guy for the Plastics’ second Golden Duck of the day (his name was actually Guy). After suddenly and inexplicably reeling on 52-5 off seven overs, a second period of relative stability arrived. Odiham and Greywell CC loan Pete allowed Alex to continue plundering boundaries. Alex soon reached fifty, and the team reached 100. Boundaries came frequently, but the running between the wickets was suspect, with many opportunities not taken (at one point the call of “maybe…not now…it’s too late” was heard). In a bid to rectify this, Pete responded positively – but at worse unquestioningly – to Alex’s call for a second run on a shot hit to cow corner. The short boundaries meant that the ball had soon arrived back in the middle, and too soon for Pete to be home. Run out on unlucky 13 ended a productive partnership. Last-minute first-time ringer Seb fell for the team’s third Golden Duck, bowled, making the score 106-7. He was unable to explain how he let the ball past him, despite having all confidence he’d played down the right line – some say he’s still speechless about it to this very day. Alex fell for 72 in the final throes of the innings, as did Simon for zero. His duck was, much to the chagrin of the departing batsman, brought about by a 79 year old bowler. Regular reads recall that this bowler (‘Barry’ – if that is his real name) had hit the stumps with a delivery in the previous meeting between the teams, only for the bails to stay put. Perhaps this was some sort of cosmic justice. John Papa added two around the same time, but with only ten men, the Plastics’ innings ended their innings on 130-9, with around an over not used. This early ending would come to haunt the team in the second half. A required run rate of 6.55 was not insurmountable, but tight bowling and good fielding could prevent a successful chase. The Taverners made a very good start. Despite Matt’s energetic sprinting in his new wicketkeeping role and Robert’s overthrow-busting dive in the second over, 43 runs were scored off the first four. A wicket was taken by captain Charlie in the second over – Alex taking a good catch at his now regular cover point position – but this did not slow the run rate. Enter John, a ringer who’d proven his worth versus Crossbats in the week prior. The run up wasn’t long and the bowling wasn’t fast, but the line and length were so precise such that the Taverners were only able to add 16 in the next 5 overs. This included not one, but two maidens, the second of which included a wicket. Unfortunately for the Plastics, this brought in one of the Taveners' best batsmen. A partnership of 73 with the remaining opener at over 9 runs per over stamped their authority on the game. Captain Charlie tried in desperation to limit the run-scoring, but with only 10 men there was always one extra gap to fill, and one extra opportunity for the batting team (“put the rubbish in the bin” again being the cry from one of the batsmen). A valiant effort was made in the field, with several solid cricket shapes being displayed – the Taverners had to work to get their runs (but they did, so they got them).
Secret weapon Jerry was brought on to bowl the possibly lucky 13th over to stem the flow and make a breakthrough. However, it was too late, even with Pete from the other end. 18 off 24 turned into 14 off 18 turned into 4 off 12, with wickets continuing to elude the fielding team. The scores were tied as Pete limbered up to bowl the 18th and final over. “I need a maiden” ordered captain Charlie, with an absolutely straight face. What would the Plastics be defending if they had batted the full number of overs? This was suddenly irrelevant as a wicket was taken caught behind by Matt off the first ball. Could it be? No. A four was scored by the incoming batsman off the very next ball. It also transpired that, due to a scoring error, the Taverners had reached the requisite 131 runs for victory in the 17th over. This did not matter. The contest was close and a nice time was had.
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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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