Report by Grant Kennedy:
As we stepped out of the White Swan there was a flash of lightning that helpfully guided the remaining Remnants to their cars. I can only assume Josh Nall safely, but wetly, made it home by bike, and the rest of us took a slightly more careful approach to our drive back from Quy. Being away from Fitzwilliam I was a bit disoriented, but only did one and three-quarter circuits of the roundabout near Quy on my way home. Perhaps it was appropriate to have such unusual weather following a game that Ev Fox was scheduled to play, but didn't. Perhaps he thought the storm would arrive earlier than it did.
Nevertheless, prior to our post-match pint we managed a full game (14 8-ball overs) vs. Cherry Hinton. Thanks to Robin Eddington, who twice retrieved the ball from the hedges surrounding Quy's field, most of the game, including our final chase as the light went, was played with the orange ball.
Anyway, my first crack at captaincy, capably chaperoned by Paul Jordan, began by losing the toss and us fielding. Ben Carol opened with some tidy deliveries, and at the other end Robin Eddington was hit for one of many throughout the innings that resulted in time-consuming, but ultimately fruitful, exploration of the hedges surrounding Quy's field. Their opener was removed in Ben's second over with a regulation catch by Sam Serby, to a sigh of relief as he'd already cracked 17 by then. What followed was a moderately steady stream of wickets, largely stemming from their either missing the ball in Andrew Granville's first over, confusion and a very good throw from Sam Serby, and a pretty casual but ultimately spectacular one-handed catch by Josh Nall. These wickets had kept them to less than 10 per over, and at 101 after 12 overs we were pretty happy, thanks to only 37 runs from 6 overs from Faruk Kara and Andrew. Unfortunately things went a little askew for the last four; Paul Jordan started very well, but his second over included more byes than I would have liked, especially since they were my fault. Alec Armstrong was on the end of some inventive hitting, leaving us with about 138 to chase. I say about as the scorebook wasn't clear, but maybe they just missed the last four.
Tom and Sam Serby opened the batting, with scoring initially rather slow thanks to their first four bowlers being rather quick, accurate, and moving the ball around. Sam still stuck some excellent shots, including good pulls of short balls, eventually retiring at 40. Tom's exit brought John Young to the crease, his innings a mix of dot balls (more good bowlers) and impressive cut and drives. Perhaps at Fitzwilliam he would have gotten better value for money from these, but Cherry Hinton's fielding effort included a ring of competent outfielders with strong arms. John's eventual departure brought Josh Nall briefly to the crease, and Sam's retirement brought Robin out. At this point the asking rate was well over ten, but Robin proceeded with his usual grace and stroked a big pile of runs. By the time I went out to replace Josh, things were a little better, only 36 needed from 3. Having borrowed Faruk's bat I managed to keep off strike and let Robin score. Following his retirement I did the same and Ben Carol (10*) clobbered consecutive fours off sometime remnant Shoaib Shahid to leave us requiring only three of the last over. I hit the winning run, scoring a glorious 4* (all singles).
It was refreshing to play elsewhere, safe in the knowledge that we don't have to always have a backup ball on hand every week. If it was close enough to bike I'd have had a second Ghost Ship.