THORNBURY II

One of the few balls I faced in this weeks game.

"A man's errors are his portals of discovery."
~ James Joyce (1882-1941) Irish novelist.

This week we played Thornbury as the second part of our split round. Again it was at our Como Park home and there seemed to be a sense of déjà vu as I arrived for the game to see many of the same people from both sides going through their pre game routines.

After last weeks heart breaking loss that replicated the dramatic loss against the top team National CC the week before, I was hell bent (as I am sure were the rest of my team mates were) to finish the first half of the season off with a win. We really should have won last week.

What would we do differently this week? Firstly, our plans in dealing with Thornbury batsman Hagan who compiled a match winning fifty five in last week’s game were certainly going to be different. Last week we failed to restrict Hagan’s pet shot of planting his left foot down the pitch and smacking the ball back over the bowlers head. This week we resolved to plant two good fieldsmen at mid on and mid off and set them back a little to virtually dare Hagan into committing Hari Kiri. Would Hagan fall for such an obvious trap? I certainly thought he wouldn’t be able to resist.

As per usual, we were batting first and instead of being slated to go in at number three as is my custom, I was penciled in at number four to allow the brilliant Ben Higgins to come in at number three. “Hurricane” Higgins is a young lad in his late twenties who stars for our South Yarra CC First Eleven. To this point Hurricane was averaging 116.33 and we thoroughly expected that he would tear Thornbury to shreds. Hurricane ever the self effacing chap that he is certainly did not make any lofty proclamations.

Also new to the team this week were Santosh a young medium fast bowler joining his room mate and country man Vishnu in bolstering our bowling battery. Alun “Tinker” Hume the Yarras resident Irishman who had been missing so far this season due to spending time up in the Northern parts of the country. Conrad De Souza was also back after an extended absence with a broken finger. So in terms of batting and bowling, our team was considerably strengthened, so I was feeling rather confident of reversing last weeks result.

Mr Natural and Strachany got us off to a solid start scoring at about three runs an over. It was good sensible batting that was only marred by Nat not grounding his bat when running a two off a lusty Strachany stroke thus having it reduced to a single. All that effort expended for just one run. Not exactly a hanging offence, but it was the prelude for what was to happen next.

The lads were just starting to get themselves in a position to launch an assault on the Thornbury bowlers when the first wicket fell in the most unusual circumstances. Strachany walloped a delivery over mid on and an easy three runs beckoned. As the lads ran, Strachany started to almost lap the less svelte Mr Natural. As they crossed each other mid pitch for the second run, Strachany in frustration bellowed “come on Nat” in obvious frustration at a certain three being reduced to two runs due to Nat’s inability to keep up the pace. Somehow, Nat misunderstood and interpreted the “come on” to imply “let’s run a third”, even though the ball was already nearly in the bowlers hand as he stood perched over the stumps. Nat comfortably made his ground as the bowler took the ball over the stumps when Nat inexplicably turned and started running a few paces in the opposite direction – all this while the shocked bowler was standing by the stumps with the ball safely in his hand wondering what the hell Nat was doing. It was with unexpected glee that he whipped off the bails with Nat standing all of two meters out of his ground bewildered at what had just transpired.

Surely he must have seen that the ball was already in flight to the bowler’s hands as he was just about to complete the second run? Nobody could possibly have that little awareness…surely? My mind immediately cast back to round one when Nat accidently ran me out when a comfortable single was there to be had when he watched the ball rather than respond to the call or at the very least negate the call. So keeping that in mind, it was perhaps not such a surprise that Nat had met his demise in such bizarre circumstances. Nat made sixteen and looked set to tee off until his brain explosion.

Hurricane Higgins entered the fray with the score sitting on 1 for 42, a wonderful platform for this prodigy to launch an assault on the Thornbury bowlers and put us in an unassailable position. Hurricane and Strachany advanced the score to sixty five when Strachany departed for a well made twenty five. In their partnership of twenty three, Hurricane had contributed a subdued two runs. Apparently, this is par for the course for Ben Higgins who by all accounts starts off each innings in a very careful, watchful manner until he sizes up the bowlers and conditions and then proceeds to annihilate all comers.

I walked out to bat in the unfamiliar number four slot – I am fairly certain the first time in my cricketing life that I have batted in this position. The score was 2 for 65 and Benny Higgins was at the crease – I was already thinking to myself, “I just have to rotate the strike over to Hurricane and he will make it happen – and then when I have got my eye in, I will be able to join in the carnage”. At least that was the plan.

Ben "Hurricane" Higgins readies himself to give this ball the full treatment.

As I reached the centre, Hurricane offered “it is coming through straight up and down with the occasional one keeping a little low – you will be fine. It is the end of the over, so you don’t have to face first up”. Reassuring words from a master batsman, so I felt quite confident that I was not only going to get to bat with someone I respect enormously, but that we would knock up a big partnership to boot.

I looked down at the pitch and it was dry and cracked with a one inch by a one and half inch hole in the middle of the pitch just short of a length at one end. I tried not to worry too much as sometimes some pitches look worse than what they end up playing.

Coinciding with my arrival at the wicket was a Thornbury bowling change. Thornbury bowler Evan Kane paced out his run up and I had to almost do a double take at this bloke who could not have even been five foot tall. Throw in the fact that Kane is also completely devoid of any hair and I was somewhat flummoxed as to how this little guy was going to make any impact on the mighty Hurricane Higgins.

Kane ambled in and flighted a top spinner that Hurricane stroked along the ground to mid on where there was no run. The next delivery by Kane pitched just outside leg stump, spun off the pitch and crashed into Hurricanes outstretched pad with his bat missing the ball as it unexpectedly kept a little low. “Hurricane is sizing him up here before he goes wham” I thought to myself. The next delivery was pitched in pretty much the same spot and again it crashed into Hurricanes outstretched pad. “This is looking a lot more difficult than I expected…this little bloke can bowl!”

The very next delivery Kane pitched the ball a fair bit shorter. It seemed like a stock leg spinner but pitched in line with the stumps. Hurricane seeing how short it was instinctively moved back and across and took an almighty swipe attempting a big pull shot. The ball barely spun, but it kept wickedly low and it cannoned into Hurricanes right thigh as he was in full follow through from this attempted big stroke. It was smack bang in line with the stumps and my heart was in my mouth as the Thornbury players went up in unison. The umpire had no hesitation in raising his finger in the affirmative.

Hurricane was out for two and I think I needed smelling salts to revive me as I had gone into shock. Next batsman in was Alun “Tinker” Hume the genial Irishman. “We’ve got to rebuild the innings here Tinker” I said and Tinker nodded his head in agreement. The next two balls from Kane gave Tinker a bit of difficulty.

The next over was the last over before drinks and I was finally going to be facing up. The Thornbury bowler John Viner bowls at speeds that could be considered medium to fast medium. His first delivery to me slid down the leg side and I was unable to get any bat on it. The second delivery was pitched up into my pads and I peeled off a nicely timed on drive for an easy single. It was a relief to get off the mark early and I proceeded to watch the remainder of the over as Tinker nearly got himself out by thumping an off drive straight to short mid off where the force of the shot broke through the hands of the fieldsman breaking his finger and running away for us to run two. The rest of the over was uneventful with Tinker taking a single off the last ball and we trudged off to drinks with my mind racing as to how we were going to kick start our innings. I knew nothing of Tinkers abilities as a barn storming batsman.

Alun "Tinker" Hume playing with a copy book straight bat in his heroic innings.

Tinker faced the first over after drinks from Kane and was immediately like Hurricane in some bother dealing with the leggy. Tinker then breathed a massive sigh of relief when he chopped a delivery from Kane just millimeters past his leg stump and we ran a single. As I stood up to take strike against Kane for the first time, all that went through my mind was “play the first few defensively to get a feel of what he is doing”.

Kane’s first delivery floated towards me and I took a stride down the wicket with my bat next to my pad to smother the spin. The ball drifted down the leg side and pitched about six or so inches beside my right foot hitting the bowlers foot marks on the crease. By the time I turned around I heard ball hitting wood and the whoops of joy from the Thornbury wicket keeper and surrounding fieldsmen. The ball had clipped my leg stump. I had been bowled around my legs – a freak delivery.

I trudged off with a couple of the Thornbury players yelling out “Warney” in appreciation of what their leg spinner had just done. I was angry at myself thinking of ways that I should have combated this delivery. I could have stepped to leg and let it hit my pad – it would never be given LBW…I could have…

As I took off my padding and I started to calm down, I began to realize that there was precious little I could have done to have dealt with such a great ball that was the first I had faced from this bowler. It was a magnificent delivery that Kane himself never replicated for the rest of the innings which led me to believe that it was simply a freak delivery that he did not intend.

That is cricket sometimes.

Nashi "False" Alam turns one to leg.

Nashi came in next and inspite of some lucky escapes batted sensibly and hung in there with a rampant Tinker going on the attack. With each smacked boundary from Tinker, I could almost hear the chorus of “You can’t beat the Irish”. Tinker was playing a blinder. Nashi was eventually out for a stubborn ten and in tandem with Tinker had advanced our score by forty seven to 5 for 115. Conrad in his comeback innings strode in at number seven and with Tinker put on a partnership of forty eight when Tinker was eventually controversially deemed run out when he looked to be marginally in for a sparkling sixty one.

There was still time in the innings for Vishnu to smash a towering six as he and Conrad and then Willo took the score up to 7 for 181 off our forty five overs. A competitive total and I felt with a bit of luck – enough to win this game. Nothing can be taken for granted however, as we have already painfully found out the previous two weeks where we lost both times at the death after looking in control.

Vishi took the new ball along with Willo, but unlike last week, neither bowler was able to make any inroads into Thornbury’s top order. Both bowlers were economical, but unable to make any impression on this deck that seemed to be getting slower. Santosh was brought on at first change for his first spell for the Yarras and with immediate success. Bowling a beautiful line Toshy got the much needed break through bowling Patrick Barry for a laborious twelve. The score was 1 for 46 and we breathed a sigh of relief as the Thornbury openers looked rather untroubled.

Next in was last weeks match winner for Thornbury, the attacking Amesbury Hagan. As earlier mentioned, all week I had been thinking of how to counter Hagan who had top scored last week with a buccaneering fifty five largely scored through planting his left foot down the pitch and heaving the ball back over the bowlers head with apparent disregard for the mid on and mid off fielders. Strachany set the mid on and mid off a little deeper than normal and we dared Hagan to take on the bowler and the field.

Hagan played some risky strokes as he did the week before, but this time he clearly looked restricted in his options and the pressure of the tight bowling was slowly suffocating him. Eventually, Hagan was dismissed by Toshy when he could not resist sparring at a delivery just outside his off stump – the much talked about “corridor of uncertainty” - and outside edged a catch to the keeper the irrepressible Tinker Hume who held onto a splendid catch. At 2 for 62 and having seen the back of Hagan, I felt that barring any unforeseen heroics from Thornbury’s middle order, we were well on the way to victory.

I hadn’t counted on the stubborn resistance of Johnny Viner who was batting beautifully. It should have come as no surprise, because last week Viner played the supporting role to Hagan’s match winning fifty five with a gutsy forty five himself sharing in a game turning partnership of eighty for the third wicket which brought Thornbury in sight of victory. Here he was again attempting to rally the Thornbury cause by batting with intelligence and skill.

Hazelman and McMath fell soon afterwards within one run of each other to bring the total to 4 for 72. Viner was playing a lone hand and it was apparent that as soon as we secured his wicket – the citadel would fall. And so it proved. Benny Higgins in a wonderful spell removed Viner when the latter attempted a risky shot and was caught.

By now I was so certain that we would win the game that my interest turned to the game being played on the oval alongside ours. Our First Eleven were playing against Monash University Gryphons and were marching toward victory in the most emphatic manner. As the afternoon wore on, we (Ben Higgins and I) noticed that South Yarra opening batsman Kim Price was still there.

Now Kimba has been in sensational form all season and would quite possibly be the most in form batsman in the MCA competition along with the one and only Ben “Hurricane” Higgins. Unfortunately for Kimba, he had made a sequence of excellent scores in the seventies and sixties without cracking the ton. His highest score had been ninety six compiled on the last day of the 2008/2009 season. Here he was surely about to break this barrier and post his first ton.

“He must be getting close by now?” I asked Hurricane and he agreed. Eventually we heard whoops of joy emanating from the Como pavilion and Kimba raising his bat in triumph…then a strange thing happened, first myself and then Ben Higgins broke out into spontaneous applause soon followed by practically every member of our team. We had stopped our game momentarily and we were all facing the other pitch giving Kimba an ovation and Kim didn’t let us down, after saluting his team mates in the pavilion, he turned and raised his bat in salute at us - his fellow club mates – on the adjacent oval.

Kim "Kimba" Price takes guard.

It was a magic moment that is very hard to put into words – but I am certain that Kim would have been delighted that he scored his maiden Yarras century at home where he was saluted from all directions. Kim is a lovely bloke and everybody was delighted for him. May this be the first of many!

Back to our game, the denouement was being played out and with each wicket we marched on closer to victory until Chips Pringle captured the last wicket and we could celebrate a good win. Toshy took 4 for 19 off nine overs of controlled medium fast bowling. Hurricane Higgins took 3 for 18 with his medium pacers and a fine catch to boot. It was a wonderful feeling to prosper in the last game before the Christmas break. Afterwards in the pavilion Strachany awarded joint Man of the Match awards – to Tinker Hume for his gutsy sixty one which rescued our innings and to Toshy whose four wickets included crucial top order incisions which were vital to our chances.

All up it was happy day and a nice way to go into the Christmas hiatus. I hope that we can finally start winning the crunch moments more often in games and win more games – we have deserved a lot more than our paltry two wins so far this season.

Anyways, I hope everybody out there has a happy Christmas and Happy 2010!

See you all soon!

Vic Nicholas
Melbourne
AUSTRALIA

THORNBURY - CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE WORST KIND

“When angry, count to four. When very angry, swear.”
~Mark Twain (1835-1910) American humourist, writer and lecturer.

Many days later and I am still trying to contain my anger. It was that sort of day.

Before the start of play, I noticed that my camera wasn’t working for some reason. Afterwards, I discovered that the battery was nearly flat, but other than the shutter not working, everything else was fine. So no photos this week.

We lost the toss and were put in to bat. Nothing new there. Strachany decided to open the batting with Mr Natural to try and get the innings off to a faster start. I had suggested this at the start of the season, but Strachany ever the modest self effacing soul declined. However, today was the day he was going to give it a go and see if he could personally get things moving a bit faster.

The lads too strike and it was obvious that Nat was not himself. I must explain that we had our club karaoke the night before and aside for some very heavy drinking, Nat did not get home until 6:30am…come to think of it, neither did Strachany. So we had two very hung over batsmen out there. Strachany seemed to bat better hung over, whereas Nat looked pale as a ghost. Strachany from the first started to play some dare devil shots, but Mr Natural was looking like he wanted to find a hole to crawl into to die. So it was no surprise when Nat was out soon after caught at short leg to what looked like a bump ball to us on the side line, but was assuredly a catch according to both batsmen out in the middle.

I entered the fray very early, but I felt a strange calm come over me. I felt good – not least because unlike my teammates, I had a full nights sleep, but also because the conditions seemed to be just about perfect. The temperature was a comfortable twenty two degrees with a nice breeze and the pitch had some green in it, but over all seemed to be playing true.

As I was about to take strike I noticed that Thornbury had a short leg in place wearing a helmet, and I thought to myself, “if the opportunity arises, I am going to sweep or pull one straight into him as hard as I can and take him out”. With that sadistic thought I took block. The first ball delivered to me by Thornbury fast medium bowler Gary Newman was a slightly over pitched Yorker that I met with the full face of the bat and caressed it past mid on for two.

That felt nice. It just pinged off the middle of the bat and I could not help thinking that it was nice to get off the mark so quickly compared to last week which took about five overs of struggle. For some reason, I simply knew that the next ball would be short pitched and as it came out of Newman’s hand I was already waiting on my back foot and I swiveled and played a neat pull shot straight to the deep fielder for a single. Three runs off my first two balls…it really did feel to be a good day.

In the coming couple of overs, I only played one false stroke and that was off Newman who saw me coming down the pitch to him (for some reason I premeditated a charge) and he dropped it short in front of me as I advanced to drive. So I quickly checked my stroke rather swinging through the line and the ball popped up and floated over the bowler and just out of Mid On’s reach. A stroke of luck as I should have gone through with the stroke as it would have sailed half way to the unguarded boundary if I did.

I did have another awkward moment off the same bowler when a ball struck my pad at the same time as I swiped the top of my pad with the bat creating a noise that sounded similar to an edge because of the timing and the ball ricocheting to the right of short leg who took a spectacular diving catch as the Thornbury players celebrated what they were certain was a bat pad catch. I stood my ground nervously wondering if the umpire saw my bat hit pad and not the ball. Luckily, he did and gave me not out.

Coming on from the other end was the left arm bowler Adrian Blackburn who not only bowled accurately, but swung the ball away at a reasonable speed. I played and missed a number of times, but also played some reasonable shots that unfortunately went straight to fielders.

I still had time to play a nice cut shot off Newman, but unfortunately only got a single for my efforts. I was playing an over from Blackburn and starting to feel more and more comfortable when Blackburn finally dished up a widish full delivery that was ripe to be smashed through the covers. I play a big cover drive, but the ball snuck under the toe of my bat, onto the ground and then commenced its upward trajectory to the keeper. A bump ball. So I was unconcerned when the Thornbury players appealed enthusiastically for caught behind. Surely the umpire would be intelligent to realize that any ball passing under and catching the toe of the bat can only go down first before going up?

Apparently not, because after a pause of a few seconds the umpire gave me out. At this point I yelled down the pitch “you have to be kidding…it has come off the toe of the bat into the ground and then to the keeper!” A player can be cited for showing dissent, but I kept enough control so as not to go overboard. Strachany then cautioned down the pitch “No VB” as a reminder that if I carried on any longer, I would surely get into trouble. However, I had made my point and I started my walk off muttering curses under my breath.

Ben McLean passed me as the next man in and set about with Strachany to building a decent foundation to our innings. Ben is a guy who has worked diligently on his game and has improved with each year at the Yarras. A padlock defense and the ability to find gaps are the hallmarks of Ben’s game and this day he did not let us down. With Strachany in season best form, the two of them put on a valuable partnership of fifty five with Strachany the aggressor and Benny McLean dropping the sheet anchor.

Strachany was eventually out for a highly entertaining forty eight. Thornbury appealed for caught behind and the umpire demurred only for Strachany to walk when in all likelihood he would have been given not out. No one could ever doubt Strachany’s sportsmanship, however, later events would cast a different light on this selfless and honest act.

Strachany’s forty eight was a far from chanceless innings, but having said that, after all the bad luck Strachany has had so far this season, it seemed only fitting that he would finally get a slice of luck go his way. One incident summed up Strachany’s innings to a tee. Strachany played an awful shot that ballooned straight to the fielder. While the ball was in its arc, Strachany started running just in case the catch went down. As luck would have it, the Thornbury fieldsman dropped a sitter, but if that wasn’t enough, Benny McLean had been watching the ball and had not responded to Strachany’s call and both batsmen were virtually at one end. While Strachany was lucky to be dropped, surely the fieldsman would make amends by running him out by virtually the length of the pitch?

Don’t bet on it!

The fieldsman in his enthusiasm, threw his return wildly and no one from the fielding team could get a hand on it – so not only had Strachany avoided being caught or run out, the ball flew away for four over throws handing Strachany five runs for his horrible shot!

When it is your day – it is your day!

Benny McLean continued on with his carefully crafted innings, but unfortunately the unlucky Nashi Alam was run out for a “diamond duck” (where the batsman does not get to face a ball). Craig Nott strode to the crease looking very confident as he joined Benny to push our score further along. Soon after, disaster struck when “Black” Nott pulled his quad muscle badly thus necessitating that he had to bat on with a runner. Strachany went back out to do the honours. Craig Nott then smashed a glorious six to show that while he could not run, he was still deadly with a bat in his hands. Things were going well when yet another umpiring blunder swung the momentum of the game. Craig played a shot away for a comfortable single. The fieldsmen threw the ball to the bowlers end and the bowler whipped off the bails with the Thornbury players erupting in an ecstatic appeal.

The umpire looked up and saw that Craig Nott was still standing at the strikers end and that Ben McLean had joined him at that end…so in perverse relief at how simple this decision seemed to be, he gave Craig run out by the length of the pitch. What the umpire had forgotten and seemingly the Thornbury players as well, was that Craig had employed Strachany as a runner and Strachany was NOT out of his ground when the bowler broke the stumps, but was past the stumps and in by nearly two meters. It was clearly a massive gaffe and the umpire realized he had made a mistake within seconds of making the decision– but the umpire did not reverse his decision and even more disappointing, the Thornbury captain Blenkiron made no attempt to recall Craig Nott as he trudged disconsolately off the ground after making an impressive and comfortable fifteen.

Remarkably, that was two weeks in a row that Craig had been given out incorrectly after being given out caught from a chest high full toss against nationals the week before. Talk about rough luck. Notty and Benny had put on twenty nine runs together before their innings was terminated in this unfortunate manner.

Timmy Miller came in and immediately started turning over the strike and playing smart cricket as he is capable of doing. Then as the partnership with Benny reached nineteen, Tim edged one through to the keeper in much the same manner as Strachany, and like Strachany, was given not out. Just like Strachany again, he honourably walked. Ian “Chips” Pringle came and went quickly and then Vishnu entered the fray and made an immediate impact smacking a two and then a boundary. Vishi then smashed one in the direction of square leg that was absolutely flying. A foot either side of the square leg fieldsman and it was four runs all the way. However, the ball unerringly slammed into the hands of the Thornbury fieldsman who held onto a super catch.

Benny McLean was eventually bowled out in the last over trying to smash quick runs for a stoic thirty one and our innings ultimately closed on 9/159 after our compulsory closure of innings at the forty five over mark.

I felt that we needed about fifteen runs more, but also reasoned that if this season was any form guide, Thornbury had struggled to get to one hundred most weeks and had a top score of 146. So I was quietly confident that we should be able to route them.

In his first game for the Yarras, Vishnu took the new ball and almost immediately had the Thornbury captain Blenkiron caught behind with a big nick that flew almost to first slip where keeper Timmy Miller took a splendid catch. Amazingly, the same umpire that had given me out incorrectly, Notty out incorrectly and had blundered on both Strachany and Timmy’s decisions where both saved his blushes by walking again was in tehs potlight when he gave the decision not out much to our chagrin. Timmy Miller is very non demonstrative sort of bloke as you would expect from someone who is a university lecturer by profession, but he was so incensed by the umpires huge mistake that he turned to Blenkiron and in a loud voice that was just a few decibels below shouting said “why don’t you walk?”

The batsman has a right to hold his ground of course – but after two of our batsmen had walked and two others had been given out incorrectly, a bit of honour would have been appreciated. In any case, in his next over Vishnu trapped Thornbury opener Pat Barry LBW for three for his first Yarras wicket. Thornbury batsmen Hagan and Viner both dug in for a critical match defining partnership.

Viner batted doggedly for the most part as opposed to Hagan who played a more aggressive game with some risky stroke play. I lost count of the amount of times Hagan planted his foot straight down the pitch and lofted the ball back over the bowlers head each time somehow avoiding the mid on or mid off fieldsmens clutches by centimeters. The one time Hagan did loft the ball directly to a fielder, the normally reliable Strachany dropped what he would normally catch with his eyes closed on any other day.

We were rather flat for most of the afternoon, but we seemed to grow flatter and flatter as the Viner and Hagan partnership grew. At 2 for 118 with both batsmen in control, the game looked to have slipped beyond our grasp. Thornbury only needed a further forty two runs and with plenty of wickets and overs in hand – a Thornbury win started to look like a formality.

Suddenly, “Chips” Pringle lured Viner down the pitch and floated they ball past the Thornbury batsmans despairing swipe to have him cleverly stumped by the alert Timmy Miller. 3 for 118 and we suddenly awoke from our torpor. Within minutes, Sandosh brilliantly fielded the ball and rifled his return to Corky Miller who whipped off the bails with the batsman out of his ground. 4 for 121 and we could sense panic starting to creep into the Thornbury camp.

I kept thinking that we had to somehow get rid of Hagan who had brought up his fifty and was still there. We needed to slightly drop back the mid on and mid off and put two excellent catchers there as I knew Hagan could not resist going for his pet shot. Ben McLean seemed to read my mind as he called out to Nashi at Mid Off to switch with him at cover. Within two balls of the switch being made, Hagan again lofted Chips Pringle and this time Ben McLean got underneath the skier and made no mistake taking an excellent catch. Nice one Benny!

5 for 127 with twenty three runs to get for a win and Thornbury were starting to wobble. With some near suicidal running between wickets and some close the eyes and swing stroke play, Thornbury added a further sixteen priceless runs to get the score up to 5 for 143 and again looked safe. But the Mighty Yarra Fifth Eleven were not dead yet and as so often has happened this year, we conjured another wicket to keep the game alive when Thornbury batsman Taylor was caught and bowled by Benny McLean.

6 for 143.soon became 7 for 144 when Cummings was caught by Vishnu at mid wicket from the bowling of Strachany. Sixteen runs to win for Thornbury and three wickets left for an unlikely win for us. We had really ramped up the pressure and were suddenly buzzing in the field when half an hour earlier it was more like a morgue. The very next ball Strachany trapped Thornbury batsman Collier LBW for a golden duck and it was 8 for 144.

Still sixteen needed and we now only had to get two wickets to win. It was last weeks game repeating itself. Surely this week we could pull off the win? Blackburn joined Newman out in the middle and neither of them looked capable of surviving for very long. Surely, one mistake and we would then have a crack at the number eleven. They swung and missed. They swung and connected scoring some unlikely runs. A mistake had to come? They edged closer and closer when all they needed was four runs to win with nine balls to bowl. Strachany then bowled his only bad ball – a full toss that had “slog me” written all over it and Newman threw his bat at it and connected sweetly much like the Nationals number eleven batsman had the week before. I knew it was four the moment it left the bat.

Sunk by tail enders yet again!

The forth nail biter this year we had lost and the third by tail enders getting the winning runs. Devastation again, but unlike last week where I felt we could not have done much more, this week we did not really play well and the umpiring absolutely gutted what chance we had of winning the game.

The Thornbury lads showed themselves to be a lot more forth coming than the Nationals lads from the week before by coming to our bar and sharing post game drinks with us.

We play them all over again at our home ground this week in a quirk in the fixturing.. I really hope we can turn the tables on them and hopefully get a better rub of the green with the men in white.

More next week!

Vic Nicholas
Melbourne
AUSTRALIA

So Close – Yet So Far Away… NATIONAL CC

End of the over and a mid pitch discussion.

“The never-ending task of self improvement.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson (25 May , 1803 – 27 April, 1882) American essayist, philosopher and poet.

After last weeks wash out against National CC at their Fawkner Park home, we were really looking forward to the return bout at our Como Park East oval. National are the competition pace setters having not lost a single game, but we were ready for an ambush. Why were we so confident? For a start, we had our most balanced team in for the year and secondly, we felt that we had been improving incrementally each week and were now a much better team than the one that started the season.

Strachany’s plan was that if we won the toss, we would bat so we could set a score without worrying about chasing targets and run rates etc. Just play our natural game. One thing we have been concerned with all year is that at some point in all our innings, we suffered a flat spot where the scoring rate has been painfully slow which always costs us in the final wash up – especially against the better teams. For this reason, Ricky Derons (a tail ender with a good eye) was promoted to open along side Nat “Mr Natural” Williams in order to get us off to a galloping start.

In theory it was a sound idea, as Rick is an aggressive batsman with a reasonable technique for tail ender who would happily throw the bat around without concern or fear of losing his wicket. So the potential pay off if it worked would be huge to our overall chances.

That was the theory.

The reality after Strachany won the toss and elected to bat was that Nat and Rick had to face up to some rather accurate bowling with side ways movement off the pitch which made scoring rather difficult. The two Indian lads who opened the bowling bowled a tight line with the only “loose” deliveries being very loose and being called wides. So the opportunity to free the arms up and swipe a few boundaries was not presenting itself to our openers.

The barn storming Nat "Mr Natural" Williams in full cry.

Rick and Nat put on twenty five in about ten overs when Rick fell trying to play a big shot and was bowled by Nationals pace man Ganapatineedi. I entered the fray with many negative thoughts on my mind for some odd reason. As soon as I met up with Mr Natural he informed me that there was side ways movement and it was extremely difficult to get the ball away.

I took strike and cautiously played out the over and it was jagging about awkwardly as Nat had said it was. For the next four or five overs, I found it extremely difficult to get anything more than the edge or the toe of the bat onto anything and sometimes the ball just cannoned off my pads for leg byes. I struggled to middle anything at all.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I got off the mark with a stylish leg glance off the front foot off Nationals medium pacer and skipper Jason Ivanecky for a single down to fine leg. After ten overs of this struggle, Nat succumbed while trying to play a push to leg and the ball skying straight up in the air off his leading edge. The Nationals keeper took a fine running catch at about where silly mid on would be standing.

Getting off the mark with a leg glance off the front foot. A picture of classical text book perfection (if I must say so myself!)

So after about ten overs Nat Williams and I had advanced the score by fourteen to thirty nine. My contribution off the bat was all of two. So as Richie Hounslow strode to the wicket, we had it all ahead of us. Richie was looking very determined and was intending to get stuck into the bowlers from the get go.

Richie straight away started playing some solid scoring strokes and I noticed straight away that in Richies approach there was a level of awareness displayed by a batsman that I was unfamiliar with. He was constantly asking the umpire “how many balls left in the over umpire?” and shooting the answer down the pitch to me “two balls left in the over VB…concentrate”.

Nationals brought on a leg spinner by the name of Stewart Irwin who gave the ball a lot of air and got some reasonable turn off the pitch, but his direction and length was all over the shop. He bowled a rank long hop outside leg stump that I pulled off the front foot and the ball raced away. As I turned for the second run, I saw that ball had gone some distance and was certainly four runs – but the umpire didn’t seem to know where the boundary was and apparently, neither did the National fielders and I had to be content with two even though I yelled out half way down the pitch – “come on, that’s four umpire!”.

In the next over from the leg spinner (the last before drinks), he yet again bowled a long hop outside my leg stump, and this time I clobbered the ball even harder than the first time and the ball raced away unequivocally for four runs. With one ball left before drinks, Richie Hounslow called out down the pitch “last ball VB, don’t get out now mate”. As it transpires, the leg spinner Irwin delivered yet another juicy long hop but slightly closer to my leg stump and it took all the restraint in the world to stop myself having a swish at it. It was literally asking to be thumped for a boundary, but my brain kept reminding me “don’t get out now…start again after drinks” and I gently patted the ball to short mid wicket and there was no run.

As we took drinks, I was well aware that I was fatigued and extremely thirsty as I had been batting for about thirteen overs by that stage and it was hot. I took off my helmet and called for my new S.Y.C.C. baggy blue cap. As we walked back to the centre, Richie reminded me that we had to up the ante and take on the field.

A drive through the covers.

We continued where we left off by playing some strong strokes and running sharp singles. Because of my flagging state, I missed a couple opportunities for sharp singles which I was conscious could be costly in the final wash up of the game. So I kept reminding myself, “turn over the strike to Richie and he will do the rest”.

As Richie and I started to get on top of the bowling, I suddenly noticed that the National fielders had gone really quiet and you could hear a pin drop. I thought to myself “these bastards aren’t used to being dominated – they are used to having it all their own way”. In the mean time, Richie Hounslow played a marvelous pull shot for six over square leg and other delightful strokes. I was simply turning over the strike to Richie where possible and was just as much a spectator as our lads on the sidelines to the display of class batsmanship that Richie was putting on.

I started trying to get in on the act as well, by first playing a couple of lofted drives that cleared the infield but not the boundary riders and I ran a single each time. I tried to play a cut to a shortish ball from Irwin the leg spinner, but the ball didn’t so much keep low, as run along the ground. “If he bowls one of those on the same line as the stumps and it keeps low again and I try and cut or pull it, I will be in deep trouble. I will be a candidate for bowled or LBW at this rate” I thought to myself.

Richie reminded me in between overs of my responsibility to the team to stick around with him “don’t get out now, because if you do, it will slow down the scoring rate” Richie warned. I nodded my head fully comprehending, but at the same time determined to play my part in pushing the scoring rate further along and keeping our foot on Nationals throat.

There was enough time for me to have a real scare of being run out. I played an on drive straight to mid on. I thought there was an easy single in it as I set off for the run, but half way down the pitch I realized that I had hit it too well and the ball was already in the hands of the fielder and he was about to wind up and throw at the stumps. I stepped up my pace a bit, but as the throw passed wide of the stumps I breathed a sigh of relief as if the throw was accurate, I would have been short of my ground by about a meter and a half.

Pull shot off the front foot for four runs.

By now it was the start of the thirty second over and I had been batting for nearly twenty two overs. I simply had to smash a few boundaries I felt. My eye was in, my partner was killing them, we had the measure of the bowling…the time was NOW. The leg spinner Irwin bowled a juicy full toss outside off stump – normally something to guide past gully for a single, but I tried to hoick it to square leg which was vacant – so if I connected, it would fly away for four runs. Instead I took a massive swipe and missed. I was angry at myself at having missed this golden scoring chance. The next ball was yet again a short long hop, but this time in line with my stumps. I got onto the back foot and shaped to play a pull shot through square leg when the ball did not spin, it simply did not bounce at all. It skidded through ankle height and rattled my stumps as I swished over the top of the ball.

A drive over the infield. I only got a single for this shot.

As I looked back I noticed that the keepers gloves were pushing through the stumps and that the bails had fallen forwards, not backwards. I looked to the square leg umpire wondering if perhaps he had in his exuberance knocked the bails off with his gloves before the ball bowled me. The umpire signaled to me that the ball had bowled me – which I was already aware of, but he didn’t seem to understand the nature of my query. ie: “did the keepers gloves knock down the bails first?”

It mattered not – I walked off the ground to a standing ovation from team mates with the customary “well batteds” sprinkled amongst the applause. I didn’t raise my bat in acknowledgement as I believe that a batsman needs to at least pass fifty before raising his bat. At the very least hit the winning runs in a tight contest or do something else remarkable in the quest for victory. Maybe I am old school in that regard.

I had made a painstaking twenty one which had spanned twenty one overs. My partnership with Richie Hounslow had yielded fifty one runs in just a tick over ten overs with my share of that being nineteen. We had silenced the previously chirpy Nationals fieldsmen with some attacking stroke play and some sharp running in between wickets. But the partnership could have been so much bigger – but for some horrible bounce, I could have batted on longer. That is turf cricket.

Nashi Alam passed me on the way out as he walked out to bat. Before I had even taken my pads off, Nashi was also dismissed by a ball that did not bounce by Irwin. I was starting to feel bad as I remembered Richies words “don’t get out now, because if you do, it will slow down the scoring rate”. How prophetic was he? Strachany strode out to take up the attack to the bowlers and almost immediately came to notice with an exquisite cover drive for four. It wasn’t to last, soon after Strachany was also bowled by Irwin with yet another one that did not bounce much.

Strachany smacking a boundary in style.

By this stage I was kicking myself for getting out – my dismissal had triggered a mini collapse and had indeed slowed down our scoring momentum as Richie Hounslow predicted it would. Craig Nott entered the fray to join Richie and our hopes now rested on the sixth wicket partnership. The journeyman Notty has played for clubs as diverse as Richmond, Tyabb and the Southerners – so he is a well travelled cricketer. When talking about his game, Notty always talks himself down. So beyond a padlock defense and some deft dabs, we had no idea what he could really do. He once described himself to me earlier in the season as a “nurdler”. After watching Notty and Richie set about dismantling the Nationals bowling attack, I realized nothing could be further from the truth.

Craig Nott smashing a boundary over mid wicket in typically belligerant fashion.

Richard Hounslow and Craig Nott put on seventy three for the sixth wicket in double quick time with some of the most audacious stroke play that I could have imagined. Craig Nott ripped into the Nationals bowlers with a zeal that I was sure he did not have. He smashed deliveries over the infield for boundaries and was in the end dismissed rather unluckily to a delivery that should have been called a no ball as he swatted a chest high full toss from a medium pacer down the throat of a nationals fielder who took the catch only one meter in from the fence.

As the catch was taken from the sidelines we were all jumping and waving yelling to the umpires “no ball…it was a NO BALL!!” Craig Nott had crossed to the other end and quietly asked the umpire why that chest high delivery was not called a no ball?” Nothing controversial or heated about it – but the National captain shot out “I am going to cite you for that!” Seriously, get a grip man.

Richie Hounslow pushing one to mid wicket in his majestic innings of 65 not out.

Craig Nott made an inspired twenty seven and the innings wound down soon after with Richie Hounslow finishing undefeated on sixty five out of a total of 6/185. A good total, but perhaps ten to fifteen runs short of what it should have been. A number of times in our innings the umpires and the National fielders were seemingly confused about what was and wasn’t a boundary, with the result that a number of certain four runs were not called and were thus reduced to twos or ones. We train on the ground and we knew by the distance of where the balls had finished up that they were indeed fours, but the umpires and nationals fielders were less clear about it. I do not for one second think that either party were being dishonest, but it certainly cost us at least ten to fifteen runs. It cost me two further boundaries.

The new ball was taken by Rick Derons and Alex Harris – two more different people you could ever see. Rick is in his thirties and is a quality fast bowler who gets movement off the pitch and Alex is still in high school and has no need for shaving razors. Alex bowls left arm fast medium and has a big future ahead of him.

In the first over of the innings, Rick got us off to a flying start bowling the National opener Marchant for a duck. Not long later, Alex “Bomber” Harris got in on the act and removed Singh for six by yorking the Nationals opener. Two for eight and all of a sudden we dared to dream of pulling off an upset. Very soon afterward, Bomber Harris had Nationals batsman Irwin as plumb LBW as you could ever imagine. The ball would have missed off stump and leg stump, but would have ripped out middle stump about half way up. It ended up being a huge let off for Nationals as Irwin started swinging his bat and collecting boundaries along with his partner Veeramreddy as they blazed away with a partnership of sixty one in double quick time to swing the momentum back in Nationals favour.

It was Rick Derons who got the much needed break through when he trapped Irwin LBW for thirty two and the Nationals score resting on sixty nine. Soon afterwards Richie Hounslow – a veritable one man team – trapped Veeramreddy LBW for twenty five and the score on seventy eight. Just before drinks, Richie Hounslow did it again by capturing the wicket of Ganapatineedi for fourteen and the Nationals score on ninety eight.

At drinks in comparison to our score which was two for forty two before we smashed a further one hundred and forty three in our last twenty two overs, the Nationals were ninety eight…but crucially, for the loss of five wickets. So while they were scoring quickly, they had been losing wickets too. Curiously, none of the Nationals players shared drinks with us as is the customary practice. It looked to me that they were feeling the pressure and they were keeping to themselves. Earlier all but three of their players had snubbed our mid game tea and cakes which was also curious. That is their prerogative, but it is not particularly sporting and I for one, will not be forgetting their stand offish behaviour in a hurry. At the end of the day – a team is a reflection of their captain. I don’t know what my team mates thought about this, but it certainly struck me as disrespectful to snub our hospitality.

I felt that we were one wicket away from exposing their tail. National had been winning their games all season rather easily and their tail enders had not really been exposed to a pressure run chase. So one more wicket would see them capitulate – at least that is what my perception of the state of play was.

Soon after the resumption of play National batsman Apender Gupta looked to be clearly LBW to the bowling of Richie Hounslow but the umpire was unmoved and gave it not out much to our collective disbelief. With this stroke of good luck, Gupta and Sumant Yerra proceeded to throw the bat at will and in the process had numerous lucky escapes with aerial strokes dropping either between or just over fielders. It was uncanny luck, but throughout the day, we had not dropped any catches until the charmed Gupta smashed a delivery as high as it went long. The ball seemed to sit in the air for an eternity and I actually had time to look who was under the ball. I saw Strachany and I thought to myself “good, he is one of a handful of guys in our team who is confident under a high ball and is great catch”. No sooner had I had this thought that Strachany dropped what was ultimately a very difficult catch with the ball striking him near the shoulder.

At that point, the game seemed all but over as Gupta and Yerra had ridden their luck and had brought National within sight of victory. The score was now 5/171 with only fifteen required for victory. We were dead in the water as there were still five overs left to bowl. Craig “Black” Nott who had bowled beautifully without luck then got the big wicket of Gupta…initially we appealed for LBW and the umpire raised his finger only for the ball to roll onto Gupta’s leg stump to bowl him anyway.

Six wickets down and fifteen runs still required…there was still hope that we could pull off an upset. Strachany then threw the ball almost in desperation to Alex “Bomber” Harris who had bowled well in his first spell to take a wicket, but had also been manhandled by the National batsmen as well, so it was a gutsy call by Strachany – but the correct one I thought to myself at the time. Two runs were added to the total when Bomber Harris produced a hum dinger of a Yorker to shatter the stumps of the obdurate Yerra who had made a courageous thirty five.

Through all this, our First Eleven who had won their game in heart stopping circumstances on the next oval wandered over to stand on the boundary and cheer us on. It was really heartening stuff to be supported in such a way and I will never forget the cheers and shouts of encouragement and the invincible feeling it gave me.

The score was now 7 for 173 and fourteen runs were still required for victory by Nationals. We could sense panic coursing through the National camp as what had seemed like a regulation victory a few moments ago, was now becoming a far more difficult prospect. With our collective belief up, Bomber did it again…he bowled another surgical precision yorker that uprooted Burford’s off stump.

Alex "Bomber" Harris, a wonderful opening bowler and high school student with a big future.

Euphoria! 8 for 173 and the Nationals camp was a flurry of activity with pads and protective equipment being adorned, much swearing and general disbelief at what was happening before their eyes. Strachany then replaced the exhausted Nott and bowled the next pressure packed over which the National batsmen scored five priceless runs. It was very tightly bowled over until just one loose ball was delivered and the batsman pounced by smashing it for four runs. Damn.

It was now the forty fourth and penultimate over and Alex Harris was entrusted with the ball for his last over of his second spell. Almost immediately, Bomber Harris produced yet another peach to clean bowl Raj for five and the score was now 9 for 180! Ten balls left and six runs required for victory. It was at this point that I felt like calling out to Strachany to bring everyone in to make running a single suicidal and to also throw down the gauntlet to the National tailenders to attempt a dangerous hit over the top which would probably produce a catch.

I would have only left a deep mid wicket and a deep mid on for the attempted cross batted swipe over the top. Everyone else would be brought close enough in to shut down any quick single and I also would have placed one bloke at short cover and another at short mid wicket. On top of that, without a fine leg in place, I would have instructed the keeper to stand back an extra two meters to ensure that there would be no mishap.

Instead, the field was deep attempting to cut off boundaries, but allowing the possibility to run fairly easy singles as long as they got bat onto ball. With all this tension coupled with our club mates cheering support from the sideline, I didn’t go over to Strachany as I normally would. Bomber Harris then bowled two deliveries in a row that strayed down the leg side and they were both called wides. The second one was finally called a wide after much deliberation by the umpire. Now I didn’t have any objection to these deliveries being called wide per se, but what I did find objectionable was how similar deliveries served up to me which flew untouchable down the leg side were not also called wide. The umpire was clearly feeling the pressure and went trigger happy so to speak.

The target was now four runs to win and there was still eight balls left in the innings. It was a huge moment in the game and I kept thinking, “hit the ball to me in the air and I am going to catch you. Hit it along the ground to me and I am going to run you out”. I was psyching myself up to do something big…now was the moment.

The next delivery by Bomber Harris was a thigh high full toss and the National number eleven batsman, Jason Ivanecky swung hard across the line and “thwack”! The moment it hit the middle of the bat, I had no doubt where that ball was headed. I watched the balls inevitable trajectory high, high, high over head as I had a great view from backward square leg in watching the balls trajectory clear Richie Hounslow who was stationed on the mid wicket boundary. The ball went at least ten meters over his head and nearly ended up in Williams Road.

Six runs. The wild whoops of joy from the National batsmen and team mates on the sidelines told us everything we needed to know. We had yet again managed to lose a game we were in a position to win. The very next ball National were dismissed. So, we had dismissed the top team in forty four overs and had only lost six wickets ourselves, yet we were the losing team…but not losers. We had fought it out to the end and Alex Bomber Harris had been heroic with his three quick wickets at the death to leave him with the figures of 4 for 51 and the deserved man of the match award just over the unlucky Richie Hounslow who made a glorious sixty five not out and took a miserly 2 for 16 off his nine overs.

I was nearly in tears at the end of the game at having gotten so close to pulling off a miraculous victory, but to be denied by a once in a career shot for six by the National number eleven batsman. That is cricket sometimes. We were so close to knocking off the top of the ladder team who were (and still are) unbeaten.

Next time…always next time.

Vic Nicholas
Melbourne
AUSTRALIA

...AND MORE RAIN!

“The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.”
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) American educator and poet.

I arrived for this weeks game at Fawkner Park to the worrying scene of our players examining the pitch with the umpires in tow - never a positive sign.

As I got closer, one of the lads - Craig Nott I believe - said "you may as well turn around and go straight back home". As I got closer to teh pitch I could see that while one end weas fine and ready for play, the other end...basically a whole third of the pitch was under water from a leaking cover or simply w3ater seeping in from underneath the covers.

With a water logged pitch, there was only one place to go - and that was back home. As I drove off the rain started pelting down anyway, so our match was pretty much doomed come what may.

It was all massivley disappointing as I was so much looking forward to playing a game at Fawkner Park this season as it one of my favourite grounds with all the lovely trees that surround it - but that is looking hopeless now.

Later that afternoon, I popped around to our hjome ground to find a number of our lads drinking beer on the balcony in quite respectable sunshine - but their game had been washed out too because of the earlier heavy rains and the questionable state of the pitch.

So it was yet another weekend without play and one more weekend without a bat. My last innings seems like a distant memory now it seems that long ago.

I can appreciate that rain is good for a drought stricken land like Victoria, but I am staggered that two weekends in a row have been lost to rain. How often has that happened in drought addled Melbourne in the last decade?

Next Sunday we take on National yet again - but this time at our Como East ground. It is a pity that this week was rained out as we had our strongest line up in all season. Anyway, I hope we can pull out some surprises for National on our home turf this weekend.

As long as it isn't rained out yet again...

Vic Nicholas
Melbourne
AUSTRALIA