Won by 6 wkts
On a sultry evening we gathered at Gonville & Caius ground to face the might of St Giles. Our skipper Mr G Pearson last to arrive from the far side of the ground duly lost the toss and we were in the field. After an accurate and relatively quick first over from Josh Holmes the ball was handed to ever reliable Hugo. His first ball was hard to describe and indeed the umpire struggled to decide whether it should be a wide or no ball for height. Hugo chuntering about the severe slope up to the stumps!! Settling down to a better line Hugo was then dispatched into the neighbouring tennis court. Second Josh over and a steepler hit into the leg side from where Mihir, at square leg,shirked any sense of responsibility and loudly declared “Paul Leary’s”. The catch was taken. Josh was immediately withdrawn from the attack to be replaced by Charlie P who after a couple of full tosses despatched to the far reaches of the ground finally located the pitch and removed the dangerous “Hammer”, bowled off stump. This spared the blushes of the skipper who, the ball before off Hugo, had dropped the said Hammer, what can only be described as a dolly, a soft lob to mid off!! This obviously inspired the team to new heights of fielding ineptitude with catches dropped by Gerald off his own bowling (we won’t mention the ensuing run out chance!), Hugo at long on and Paul L parrying one round the post. Mention later was made of a Mihir drop that was more a fantastic 4 stop off his own bowling, it would have been a wonder catch. Mention must go to Mihir, not only for his usual tight bowling, although not sure about the deliveries from 24 yds!!, but also his fielding, the ball had an unerring knack of finding the middle of his hands!! Hugo did find his bearings and bowled one of the opposition, Mr P was his usual mobile self behind the stumps (once he finished moaning about the Fuhrer’s purchase of kids inners!) with one stumping and as for Stomper Harris, well what can I say about his slow motion dive/kneel down but it did get the job done! A job well done restricting St Giles to 120 from their 20 overs.
Into bat, opening with Rob G and Stuart who after a few lusty blows both fell caught in the infield off consecutive balls, 27-2. I joined Paul L in the middle and steadied the ship with some straight blows until yours truly had a rush of blood to the spinner and was stumped, 73-3. Skipper didn’t last long, claiming not to have seen the ball, a looping off spinner which only just had enough pace to remove the bails. Paul passed a very serene 50*, the opposition ignoring his hint that he couldn’t play cross bat shots and feeding his favourite drive, and alongside Mihir ensured that victory was safely secured with an over to spare. Job well done, no Fuhrer in sight, and adjourned to the Red Bull for some well-earned refreshments.
Ed Dodson
