Report by Geoff Hales:
There was an autumnal, second eleven, feeling about this match, as the Remnants season ended in the dark and 44 runs behind The Beehive's total of 141/5.
The omens were there almost from the start when, off the second ball of the match, Richard Rex's throw not only narrowly missed the stumps at the bowler's end with the batsman well out of his ground, but went for overthrows as well. It got no better: catches went down ("We name the guilty men" in the podcast); ten wides were bowled; and Olly Rex (0/18), Naveen Chouksey (0/11), Faruk Kara (0/16) and Ferdi Rex (0/22) all suffered as The Beehive's openers put on 78 for the first wicket. But both batsmen were then stumped by Ev Fox, bravely standing up to the sustained hostility of Paul Jordan (2/25). Paul also took a smart catch, the only one taken by Remnants today, and Ev added a third stumpting off Quentin Harmer (our most successful bowler, having taken 2/7 off his only over). Ev had a strong shout for a fourth stumping (which would have equalled his own Remnants record), but you know how unreliable umpires are! Andy Owen (1/16) and Matt Hughes (0/23) completed the bowling as catches contined to fall clear of - and occasionally through - the fielders' hands.
The Remnants reply started brightly, with Ev Fox (16 off 26 balls) hitting a four full of Caribbean exuberance off the first ball, but thereafter it was a struggle, and we scored only 16 off our first 4 (eight-ball) overs. At this point John Young (2 off 14 balls) was run out, the first of four batsmen to perish going for desperate runs. Ev himself followed at 28, stumped as he let a ball go through to the 'keeper and then unexplicably (except to conspiracy theorists) stepped outside the crease. (Spectator Russell Woolf denied any spot-betting on such an outrageous outcome; see page 99.) Rob Harvey (17 off 22 balls, thus top-scoring for what he thinks might be the first time ever) then put on 25 with Quentin Harmer (9 off 28 balls) until both were run out in what was now a hopeless chase. After Olly Rex (4 off 5 balls) was bowled in the dark, only desperate resistence from Andy Owen (10* off 13 balls) and Naveen Chouksey (8 off 10 balls) prevented us being bowled out. But it was rather grim that our season ended with one more run out (Faruk Kara, 2 off 5 balls) as our innings finished on a dismal 97/7.
A disappointing end to a good season, in which we played some 33 matches (17 wins; 12 losses; 3 internal games; and an abaondment). We also celebrated our 800th game with a Remnants first: an innings victory. The club seems to be flourishing under its new management.
Entertaining these happy thoughts. six members repaired to The Tandoori Palace to mark the end of the season - and the scorer's birthday. Presidential aides report that your President ate too much and got home late - speaking of which, watch this space for information about the annual dinner . . .