Report by Shoaib Shahid:
Despite being almost June, we decided to make use of an orange ball after arriving to some pretty gloomy conditions. As is the standard British conversation to have before doing anything outdoors - several of us moaned about the weather. Captain Julius Rix (1/10) opened the bowling and kept things tight up front, with what ended up being the only resemblance to fast bowling throughout the whole innings. Captain Rix was in action again in the second over taking a well-judged catch at point, as the Philanderers opener looked to hoick Shoaib Shahid (2/19) over mid-off. Julius then instigated a run out and picked up the wicket of the other opener and was looking set to end the match all on his own!
Shoaib's and Julius's spells came to a close, which led to our bowling becoming even tighter with the introduction of our resourceful off-spinners Quentin Harmer (3/13) and Faruk Kara (3/8). They tied down the Philanderers' middle order with genuine flight and guile and Dave Green credited several of their wickets to "the effective use of the straight ball". Barring another Dave Green injury, a maiden over from Quentin and some fine out-fielding from Felix Serby summed up a clinical performance with the ball. [The Philanderers were thus dismissed for 56, their lowest ever total and the third best bowling effort Remnants has managed this century. - ed.]
Alec Armstrong (25 off 29 balls) and Felix Serby (27* off 32 balls) opened the batting and looked completely at ease throughout both of their innings, chasing 57 to win. Alec in particular made effective use of the late cut and it took the Philanderers a good 4 (six-ball) overs to realise that they didn't have a third man. Given that Felix was probably quicker than the rest of the team put together, Dave questioned what would happen if he were to run four while his batting partner only managed two runs. The mystery remains unsolved . . .
Alec eventually fell LBW, but Felix smashed a few good-looking boundaries to take Remnants home in just the 10th, over leaving plenty of time to enjoy a pint after the game in the fresh evening temperatures of late May.
