Strachany cutting during his innings of 21. “You are the only person on earth who can use your ability.”
~ Zig Ziglar - (1926- ) American author, salesman and motivational speaker.
This weeks game was against Burnley CYMS at our East Como Park home ground. It was to be a rematch of our epic Round One encounter where Burnley's second last pair got them over the line in a cliff hanger. The temperature was hovering on about twenty degrees with occasional light showers scheduled and even more occasional bursts of sunshine through the clouds.
Nice comfortable cricket conditions.
The pitch was an absolute belter. Having a look at it pre game, I could see a lot of runs being scored on it and I was pretty comfortable that I would be able to get amongst it. The outfield was a lot better than last week as the grass had been cut again and the majority of the clippings had been cleared and the most important factor for me was the opponent – Burnley – whom I excelled against in Round One before Nat ran me out when he did not respond for a call for an easy single.
All things considered, I was confident of getting amongst the runs today. As the batting list was being drawn up, I noticed that Chris Connelly was slated to come in at Number Three, which is fair enough as he is a higher grade player “guesting” for us. His last innings for the Fifths was a swash buckling 67, so coming in at Three to move things along was a sensible tactic in my view. Next in line was Julian Lane – a guy who made 51 last time he played for us and then there was Richie the Dragon Halpagoda who had not scored higher than 10 in any innings at any level this season. So, I was somewhat miffed to find myself all the way down at number six in the batting order.
After improving incrementally each week at Number Three until my unfortunate dismissal for eight against Thornbury off a bump ball – I have been moved to number four where I have flopped completely and now instead of being moved back to the more familiar Number Three – I am at Number Six, a position I have never batted in my life. My confidence is taking a battering here with all this instability and changing of roles.
I tried to be philosophical…most weeks our number six batsman comes in around the thirty over mark…sometimes sooner, other times later. I might get ten to fifteen overs of batting if I am lucky. However, something inside told me that I was not going to get a bat at all as the pitch was an absolute pudding with plenty of runs in it.
And so it proved.
Strachany and Nat got the team off to a patient start putting on forty seven off about twenty overs. Chris Connelly then joined Strachany and they continued on cautiously until Strachany was dismissed for twenty one and the score on seventy two. Penny Lane fell soon after for seven and the score had advanced to 3 for 90.
Finally, the one hundred was reached in the thirty third over – way too slow for such a cracking wicket, but I was seemingly alone in my sentiment. Chris “Digger” Connelly and Richie “The Dragon” Halpagoda then set about thrashing the bowling to all parts of the oval before Digger Connelly was dismissed for a fantastic seventy seven and the score was now 4 for 174. Digger was dropped twice in his innings, the first time very early on in the piece – so Digger made Burnley pay and they very nearly rued their lost opportunities.
Chris Connelly playing a push to cover during his hard hitting innings of 77.
The order was now reshuffled and the wicket keeper Sohail Khatwani was sent out in my place with less than two overs to go due to his willingness to smash the ball around. He did just that by hitting a six to the skinny side of the ground with a thick outside edge over point that carried over the short square boundary.
Richie Halpagoda was run out next for a hard hitting and entertaining thirty two – vindicating Strachany’s faith in him. The score was now 5 for 189 and there were only a couple balls left. I was due in now, but there was no way known I was going to allow myself to be shafted in such a way. Going in to bat in such a scenario, you are expected to try and smash a boundary or at least run a suicidal single. Either way, it is more likely than not that you will get out as you have no time to get your eye in and you have to try something suicidal.
Assuming I went in and smacked a four or a six – big deal. A four or six not out is hardly worth the risk of being dismissed for a duck. I am not being selfish here – because despite what the hierarchy at South Yarra (and other clubs) might say about it being honourable to give your wicket away in a suicidal manner for teh benefit of the team – in the final wash up, they count it as a failure against your name.
Nobody remembers that I copped a bum decision against Thornbury when I had made eight in three overs of polished batting. They just look at the eight and say to themselves “VB failed there”…same goes for when I was run out in Round One when my partner was watching the ball and not responding to my call (and it was MY call). Nope. They just see that I was out for eighteen and wasted a great start.
So I sent Conrad out in my place and he made two not out and we finished up with 5 for 193 – our highest score of the season, but still short of what I considered to be a winning score on that feather bed pitch.
My feeling wasn’t wrong. Burnley passed our total for the loss of only three wickets and a comfortable amount of overs in hand. They batted on only out of interest to see if their wicket keeper Dave Wraith could finally score his first fifty in his life, which he duly did and they promptly declared with two overs left. They lost a wicket after passing our total when their Captain John Eaton (a former Yarra) was dismissed for a well made fifty eight. Wraith who made a match winning forty two against us in Round One made a courageous fifty not out this time. Considering he cannot make runs against anyone else – he must love playing against us.
So today’s game ended on the disappointing taste of defeat and doubly disappointing for me was the fact that I played no role what so ever in proceedings. I did not bat nor bowl. I just spent forty five overs in the field making up the numbers. I have to think back to my very first year back in Under Twelves to recall the last time that happened to me and I did not get a bat in a game. Back those days I was a ten year old outsider in a predominantly white Anglo-Celtic club that thought lowly of “dagoes” like me. This time I was just seen as being of lesser ability than six other batsmen – which is very chastening and sobering.
I can never get today back again and the opportunity to have a great hit on an absolute road is lost. I now have to wait three weeks before I get the chance to have a bat again – how I can maintain confidence and form while having (by then) not batted for a month and only having batted once in seven weeks, is a mystery even to me.
That’s life sometimes.
There will be no match day blog for the next two weeks as it is a two week game and unfortunately for the first week of it, I will be in Hayman Island relaxing with my wife celebrating our fourth wedding anniversary on Australia Day. So I will have to sit out the two day game against yet another opponent that I have done well against in the recent past.
I am sure our boys will do well.
See you all in a few weeks time!
Vic Nicholas
Melbourne
AUSTRALIA
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