Report by Tom Serby:
Tonight's match was an historic occasion since, according to former Remnant Richard Rex (more games against than for this season), guesting for opposition Bar Hill was the culmination of his lifetime dream to represent an out of town shopping centre; harsh words, for while unlikely to appear in a calendar of cricketing village greens Bar Hill, the antithesis of the jazz-hat opposition we are used to, are always fun to play against, representing the best of the "village" cricket tradition, players of all abilities, genders, ages and sizes, having a great time.
It was quickly apparent that the match would turn on how long their opener Sam Clare would be at the crease. Felix Serby, with a cunning plan to ensure he would move up the batting order by only bowling one over (successful on both counts), opened the bowling with gentle filth off a few paces, despatched to all corners by Clare.
Thankfully Joe White arrived in time to take over from Felix, which produced an interesting passage of play, since Bar Hill's other opener, Curry, with eccentric footwork, eschewed the traditional "back and across" for "across and back" resulting in several boundaries which cried out for a cordon of fly slips. Eventually the inevitable occurred when Joe produced a full straight ball taking out the off stump. From the other end Adam Long kept things tight before the slower bowlers cashed in against the weak middle order: two wickets each for Suarav Dutta (including the dangerous opener Clare) and skipper Paul Jordan; and four for Alec Armstrong, owing to some fine catches, including the fielder's dream of the one handed pluck from Tom Serby, and a very well taken low dive at cover from Felix to close the innings.
Chasing a modest total and boasting a very strong batting line-up, Remnants were always ahead of the game, owing to 19 from James Crozier, chancing his arm through midwicket, and an especially bellicose boundary-strewn 26 (off 14 balls) from Julius Rix, who turned out to be the warm up act for Ferdie Rex, who smacked 17 off 5 balls (seemingly intent on locating his back garden with his aerial drives) before being well caught by his dad on the long-on boundary. He thus avegged himself in the best way for a dubious filial LBW [It was plumb - ed.] in yesterday's the Rest of the World (well actually Dry Drayton) match. That left time for a cameo from Temoor Khan (11* off 5 balls), who completed an easy win.
And so the thousandth game came to its inevitable conclusion; watched over all the while by a deservedly beaming and proud umpire President Hales; not the 1000 year Reich, but 1000 games marked by inclusivity, fun, wit, warmth and the occasional cricketing excellence. Looking forward to the next 1000.