The last Remnants game combined miserable weather with a miserable result. Thus today's melange of rain, grey skies and wind did not auger well for a good game (or even a game at all), but in the end not a single ball was lost to the weather and a most memorable match against Girton was enjoyed by everyone bar Phil Watson.
We batted first and started off well, with Nick Clarke (35) scoring at will, but then Girton brought on their "ringers", which resulted in a flurry of wickets and a paucity of runs. Daniel Mortlock (24) and Paul Henderson (15) saw off the best of the bowlers, but then fell victim to the youngest member of Girton's attack just when it looked like they'd be able to rescue the innings. Said nipper ended up with the ridiculous figures of 4/7, although this was due to a combination of the quality of the rest of the attack, some flawless outfield catching, and a freakish reflex catch at silly mid on that saw Rob Harvey (5) walking back to the pavilion in disbelief rather than celebrating a boundary. Jack Anderson (7*, resplendent in a spiffy helmet supplied by his mum) and Dave Green (3*, equally resplendent in a spiffy helmet of his own choosing) took us into three figures, but 106/8 hardly seemed enough of a total to defend.
Still, we had to try, and we started about it the right way, with Paul Henderson (0/9) offering no loose balls and Daniel Mortlock (1/8) "unplayable" according to an uncharacteristically charitable Phil Watson. Phil's gushing praise notwithstanding, Daniel was certainly unfieldable, with, in the space of three balls, two shots off his bowling inducing Remnants first-timer Mike Jones to collide with a club-mate. In the first he and Paul managed to establish an iceberg-Titanic style relationship as they obstructed each other's attempts to catch a Watson skier; in the second Mike and Geoff Hales seemed destined for a similarly intimate encounter until Geoff used his greater bulk to bodycheck Mike whilst simultaneously pouching his first catch since 2001. Thus Girton were just 20/1 after six eight-ball overs and, even more miraculously, none of us were in hospital -- in other words we were right back in the match.
The game then went from the sublime to the rid-- er, sublimer, with Rich Savage (0/21) and Rob Harvey (0/10) keeping the pressure on with the help of some brilliant fielding efforts. The two stars here were Mike Scanlon (who, although not yet fluid, let nothing through in only his second ever game behind the stumps) and Geoff again -- he completed another spectacular catch and, when one didn't stick, he immediately picked up the ball to effect a direct hit run-out, all in one smooth motion.
With five overs to go we were definitely winning -- Girton needed about fifty off forty balls -- but the match was by no means decided and we had no regular bowlers left. In the end it fell to the aforementioned debutant Mike Jones (2/25) and fill-in Jack Anderson (1/10) to bring home what finished up being a comfortable victory by a scarcely credible 18 runs.
Geoff feigned embarrassment as he was clapped off the field, but he couldn't keep a grin from breaking out -- indeed there were big smiles on all the Remnants' faces . . . with the possible exception of a certain furry Morris dancer. In the warm glow of the bar we had a great time reliving the match's more dramatic moments and personal highlights. The more astute amongst you may have noticed that every team member had done enough to be mentioned explicitly in the above report. Everyone, that is, except for our captain Dave Rowson, who was worse than usele-- only kidding: he did a superb job marshalling his troops, set clever fields to frustrate the Girton batsmen, and kept morale high during the first few overs in the field, when only he really believed we'd end the evening celebrating a fabulous win.