In the absence of an official Match Report we are indebted to the observations of an informed passer by for the following summary of this encounter and which for the first time included an all OP Philanderers side.
Winning the toss young Captain Gill chose to bat and The Philanderers’ innings got off to a slow start and which only increased to steady by the half way point. Fortunately Charlie Pearson displayed a degree of fluency as well as calm while all around him slowly disintegrated. The calmness even included being stranded in mid wicket and initially doing nothing except watch whilst the fielding side played miss the stumps to not achieve the simplest of run outs. Eventually Charlie sauntered back safely into his crease to continue with his valuable knock. This eventually came to a close at 53 and aided by debutant Nick McLellan’s 20 The Philanderers’ achieved a modest 135 for 8 wickets at the end of twenty overs.
It is reported that the Fuhrer was distinctly unimpressed with this total and the team took to the field slightly crestfallen. This feeling of impending doom was gradually becoming a reality as the Staff slowly but surely kept their run rate in excess of that required to achieve victory. Then strangely as the innings drew toward its close wickets began to fall and the scoring slowed. Charlie Pearson and inexplicably Ben Cassels, whose being brought on to bowl was met with a howl of disapproval from the Fuhrer, each took a couple of wickets to help bring this change about. Arriving at the 20th and final over the Staff needed 9 runs for a win from Nick McLellan’s six balls. However, cometh the hour, cometh the new boy as Nick took 2 wickets and only conceded 4 runs. Thus the club achieved a 4 run victory, with the Staff at 131 for 7 wickets, in a game they seemed destined to lose until the very end. The Fuhrer was seen to nod sagely as the jubilant players left the field.
A very observant passer by
