It was with great trepidation that the Plastics Xi turned up in scenic Barnes for their second outing at Roehampton's T20 tournament, remembering their thrashing at the talented yet lovely Grace's CC in the inaugural edition 2 years ago. The faces for The Plastics aren't all the same, yet the scars remain.
After losing yet another toss, Matt decided he probably would have bowled first anyway, considering the windy and overcast conditions and this absolutely wasn't putting a positive spin on things. The next bit of the report will be relatively brief as the match happened a couple of weeks ago and your author can only remember the things that he did because frankly he had quite a bit to worry about on the day and his attention was mostly elsewhere. He sincerely apologises to every one who did something brilliant that he inevitably missed. John Papa opened the bowling against the Graces openers, who were resplendent in their green, orange and white uniforms, and with his nagging accuracy managed to snare a wicket, before The Evil Bishop pegged Grace's back a couple of times with his inswing. Jerry's 4 overs went for only 9 runs but somehow didn't get a mark in the "W" column, and Webb bowled with his customary scattergun approach and somehow snaffled Grace's skipper with the only ball that went anywhere near the stumps from his 2 overs. Phil bowled with hostility and pace and was unfortunate not to get anything for his efforts, and Joey, when he managed to pitch the ball, looked threatening but was also unable to make any inroads. An excellent 48 from the Grace's three anchored their innings and they eventually finished on what appeared to be a slightly below par score of 121 (aided and abetted by 25 Plastics extras in 20 overs, maybe a new record?) After lunch, Robert and Dom opened the batting, hoping to get the team off to the same kind of flying start as Bairstow and Roy may have done. The did manage to emulate a pair of England openers but unfortunately it was more like Cook and Compton in Tests than England's greatest ever opening ODI partnership. Dom didn't last very long, scoring a relatively slow 10 off 9, and Anthony was eventually dismissed for 14 off 32, having faced up to some quick, accurate bowling, leaving Robert to kick on in the Root role for an unfairly maligned (by the captain and no one else, how's that for judgement) but truly outstanding 33 off 41 balls while the innings collapsed around him (brought about by a truly exceptional spell of fast bowling by a Grace's player who had been out for an entire season previously, with injury), he mustered more than the next 6 batsmen combined, despite a small late order flourish from the captain and Jerry, the Plastics failed to chase the target by 18 runs despite having wickets in hand, and the Plastics could only play for the pride of not finishing last in the next match.
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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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