Hopes were high when on 9 June 2019 the Plastics returned to the cricket pitch to face the unusually named ‘Gentlemen of West London’; fresh off the back of four consecutive defeats, the Plastics were keen to bounce back from a tough start to the season. A sleepless night had been spent studying the opposition’s (beautifully maintained) statistics page for any tactical insights, upon which it was discovered that the Gentlemen’s captain had not only scored more runs personally (6,258) than the Plastics as a team have ever, but had repeated this trick for bowling (406 wickets), and catches (106) too. Undeterred, when the Plastics (and Peter, a while later) arrived at the ground there was an unmistakable air of optimism.
The match started well, with Saril and Jamie bowling some tight, deceptive lines and enjoying the rewards of doing so, with Jamie picking up the wicket of Dubey (8) (caught by Jerry at point), and Saril (never to be outdone) repeating the trick with the other opener H. Patel (3) (caught by Robert at mid on). Things were going worryingly well for the Plastics at this stage with the Gentlemen seemingly struggling at 18-2. Reassuringly, normal service was soon resumed thanks to a fine innings by both Kota (88*) and Gulati (48) who put on a partnership of 107; after a few overs of Tom M-G and Jerry to get their eye in, they soon found their rhythm. Tom TESCO enjoyed a productive spell, the quality of which was not reflected in his figures, before JEVS reminded everybody of his rightful place at the top of the bowling hierarchy: bowling with furious intent (either derived from his demotion to second change, or the as-yet lack of socials footage), he prised Gulati out moments before his half century, before delivering what can only be described as the ‘fifth ball of the over’ to bowl an incredulous Caveney for 14. The good times kept coming for the Plastics, with Jamie soon picking up his second as Namilikonda (1) attempted a reversey-sweep switch-hitty thing. The Plastics have seen a fair few strange things on cricket pitches (usually from one of their own), but Namilikonda’s incredulous fury as to how and why he got out did raise a few bemused (and very empathetic) eyebrows. Not much happened for the rest of the innings. Nothing at all. Certainly not a 20 ball maiden 50 from Sudireddy (52), half of it coming via smacking the author over his head for 6, repeatedly. It really was a very uneventful (and most importantly, forgettable) 10 overs, at the end of which the Gentlemen found themselves with a very healthy score of 242 from 35 overs. Tea was tasty – perhaps too tasty, as the Plastics were lulled into a slumber that was abruptly broken in the second over of the Plastics’s innings as the ball careered into the top of Robert’s (2) middle stump. Pete B strode out, and quickly strode back in that same over (diplomatically achieving the same score as his brother) - suddenly the plastics appeared to be in treacherous water. If the water was treacherous when Pete B got out, it quickly transformed into a tsunami-like state after Peter O (0), Alex (0), Matt (0), and Tom TESCO (0) fell in the next three overs leaving the Plastics 7/6 (yes, really) - the two Gentlemen new ball bowlers of Namilikonda and Chatharaju running rampant. The Plastics’s lowest ever score of 52 seemed an impossibly high objective when JEVS and Tom M-G came to the crease, and although JEVS fell for a Plastics record-equalling 5th duck, he had played an important anchoring role in a 16 run partnership which brought the plastics to a heady 23/7. Jerry was next up the crease - and with 219 runs still to chase and 35 overs still to do it, was eyeing up the glory of being the first Plastic to reach a double tonne. He was so confident in his batting ability that it took an umpire (after one ball had been bowled) to point out that he had arrived at the middle without any leg pads on. After failing to sell the notion that these were just mind games he returned to the crease somewhat sheepishly with the correct attire, before proceeding to shell out to longish squareish midwicket for 8, in a thoroughly undignified fashion. Nevertheless, the Plastics had by this stage reached 49/8, with 53 just one boundary away. Saril was pulled away from his raindance and came in at number 9, hitting the ball with confidence that belied having held a cricket bat just once in the last 6 months, on his way to striking an imperious 13*, helping to take the plastics far and beyond a number of previous low scores - with Jamie acting as a worthy partner before he fell for 2 at the end of the innings as the plastics finished 90 all out. You may have wondered where all the runs had been coming from for the Plastics. Under the pretence that readers only remember the start and finish of anything over two paragraphs long, I have chosen to save any mention Tom M-G’s batting performance until the end so as to truly reflect the heroism that his innings represented. In the middle for 75 of the Plastics’s 90 run total, Tom’s 46 runs represented a flagrant disregard the bowling which was carving through his fellow teammates; sixes and fours were struck with abandon - epitomised when Tom (presumably having come to the conclusion that this was getting unfair on the bowlers) felt that he should bat left handed to even things out somewhat. Top marks, and a new personal plastics high score is a just reward. The Gentlemen of West London were a lovely opposition who played with exactly the right spirit. Whilst we regret not being able to give them more of a game, we hope to have an opportunity to right those wrongs in a rematch next summer. e to edit.
1 Comment
T20 Extraordinaire
8/8/2019 11:49:49
Go number 4!
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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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