Captain, correspondent and international man of mystery Paul Jordan filed this report from the wilds of Girton College:
If this was to be the last game of the season (possible if Thursday's game is rained off, as predicted), the casual observer may conclude what a great game and finish; a tie - that doesn't happen very often. No, it bloody well doesn't and I for one was really disappointed and frankly it felt as if we had lost.
Explanation needed!
We arrived at Girton to find the ground in much better shape than the equivalent fixture last season and as skipper was prepared for the raft of batting and bowling restrictions, being 30 max as batsmen, no more than 3 overs per bowler and no re-bowling of wides and no balls, except in the last over. Having won the toss I elected to bat and aimed to put on a big score and give the bowlers a good run out. It is worth pointing out that The Technology Partnership only had seven or eight players and we lent them Olly Rex, Julius Rix and the ever-enthusiastic Ollie Hastings, who was magnificent in his efforts for the opposition and later for us.
Openers Phil Hastings (30* off 22 balls) and Ferdi Rex (30* off 39 balls) gave us a great platform, with Phil in imperious form, combining great cuts wide of the wicket and some classy drives. Ferdi played his part too, rotating the strike, taking quick and one occasion an almost suicidal single. The upshot was that we were building a steady score and once Phil had retired, the run fest continued when Tom Jordan joined Fredi. The two combined well and Tom at one point rivalled Phil's batting with a majestic cover drive. He eventually perished to a tricky delivery that popped up and was out for 19 (off 15 balls).
Enter Olly Rex. If there was good cause for a father to proud of his sons' efforts then Richard had just cause to beam from ear to ear. Olly quickly smashed the ball to all points with some superb straight hits and drives. Had he stayed instead of retiring at 30* (off 19 balls), a century would have been well within his grasp, it was that good. Julius Rix (4* off 4 balls) came in and continued with building the score and with a brief but effective cameo from Keith Turner (11* off 10 balls) we had scored 130 - a decent total, but I would have liked 150.
Our bowling and fielding was in the main solid; apart from a terrible opening 2.5 (eight-ball) overs, we put in a pretty decent effort. We still have to master backing up and this led to us leaking a few too may runs. Uncharacteristically, Olly (0/15) opened and just couldn't find his usual line and length and together with a couple of loosish overs to follow The Technology Parnership had gone past 40 in the blink of an eye. Fortunately Faruk Kara (1/25) regained his mojo and with Julius (0/30) bowling a mean line and length we got back on track. The wickets came and with us seeing the back of the beshorted left hander who cut swathes through our bowling and fielders, it was time to put the pressure on. This came in the shape of Ferdi Rex (1/15) at one end and Tom Jordan (3/21) at the other. The runs dried up and the wickets fell. Tom bowled some lovely leg breaks to Ferdi's beautifully controlled seam bowling; another reason for dad Richard to beam. As it was getting increasingly gloomy it was difficult to keep track of the runs, wickets and overs, but it was clear that, short of a disaster, we were going to defend our total comfortably. With a couple of overs to go we had, as far as I could see, got everyone out; therefore game over.
This is where I have to take the responsibility for the ensuing events. Their skipper mumbled rather hurriedly to me that as they had only ten men, could they do last men standing and send in a previously dismissed batsmen. This of course brought back their best two batsmen and TTP victory suddenly became a faint possibility. Remarkably with quick thinking from Ferdie we ran out their opening batsmen, only to bring back our beshorted nemesis with Phil Hastings to bowl the final over. It could go either way, but suddenly the matter of removing this bat would not advance our case as someone else would come in. I should have refused, possibly risking making myself unpopular, but I had foolishly agreed to something that should have been discussed and agreed at the beginning; never again. Two balls to go two to win one to tie. This was a nail biter and Phil's penultimate ball produced a quick single - scores tied. One ball to go and all they had to do was run and it would have been a famous win for The Technology Partnership. Phil bowled to the nemesis and the batsman at the non striker's end ran. Steve Attmore gathered the ball on the leg side scrambled along the ground and ran him out. Well done Phil and well done Steve.
Face saved - the team's, but possibly mine too. I showed a bit of inexperience in that situation, but in the end hope whilst the result was unusually arrived at, we did have a good game o' cricket and The Technology Partnership lads enjoyed it as much as we did. It was a great team effort. Thank you for that and I hope to repeat the experience again, but not necessarily this one!