Remnants vs. NCI

Report by Daniel Mortlock:

With no rain and a full eleven selected several days in advance, there was only one thing to do this evening: win. This is something we've managed only twice this season, and another loss tonight would mean just one win per month - not very pleasing given that we aim to play twice a week.

We lost the toss and were asked to field first, which meant an immediate opportunity to find out if Remnants first-timer Tom Hinch really could, as he stated, bowl "outswing at a decent pace". The answer, very happily for us, was a definite yes: the NCI opener R. Banerjee was beaten by the first few and then decided to leave the rest - which turned out to be pretty sound judgement, since he was able to score much more easily of the later bowling, making it all the way to a half-century and retirement. That, along with the fact that we didn't take a wicket until the 12th (six-ball) over, might make it seem like the batsmen were dominating; but, while it's true that we were struggling to take wickets, NCI's run rate never got above a run a ball, and their second highest score was the other opener's rather slow 17. The floodgates were eventually opened by Daniel Mortlock (3/16), who enjoyed a little purple patch in which he bowled three batsmen in seven balls and then pulled rank to put himself at mid-on just in time to take a fairly straightforward catch off the next delivery. This, in turn, came off the bowling of Naveen "Chapsi" (1/15), whose immaculate spell left the batsmen with only one shot, a little squirt to leg, which we were able to render impotent with an unusual slips-like cordon centred on the square-leg umpire. Tom came back on at the end and finished with a hyper-economical 0/11, but the real surprise packet was Dave Williams (2/13), who hadn't bowled all year who was initially brought on only to fill a one-over gap after John Moore (0/12) hurt his shoulder. But Dave was so good that he prevented Alec Armstrong (0/13) from getting his expected second spell. Other than a few attempted faster balls, which turned into beamers and were rightly called as no balls, Dave completely bamboozled the batsmen with his high-flighted wrist spin, and got his just rewards in the final over of the innings when he had two batsmen neatly stumped by 'keeper Marcus Baker.

Having earned ourselves a target of just 106, it might have semmed that a third win for the season was a foregone conclusion - certainly the NCI players didn't seem to rate their chances. But we knew something they didn't: we had a pretty thin batting line-up. Veterans Dave and Daniel aside, there was nobody in our side tonight who had scored more than 150 Remnants runs at an average of at least 15.00. In some cases that was just due to being new to the club - Tom obviously hadn't ever batted in a Remnants game, and Marcus had only played for us once before - but overall the sense was that we were in for a rather nervous hour. (This was rather like the Pakistan fans at Edgbaston today, who included Qaiser Ahmed, Kaustav Dutta and Saad Shoukat - all were named in today's side at some point, but understandably took the opporunity to see their team play a live World Cup match. Pakistan's gain was very much Remnants' loss, as we really could have done with their batting tonight.)

Sure enough, our openers found scoring just as difficult as NCI's had an hour earlier, and after 4 overs we were just 16/1, and in danger of falling behind the required rate. After Tom Hinch was bowled for 6 (off 13 balls), thus adding himself formally, if hopefully temporarily, to the above "averging less than 15.00" list, we got the "village cricket moment" when John Young (0 off 9 balls) chipped the ball up to short cover and, even while the fielder was parrying the chance back towards the pitch, started setting off for a non-run, allowing said fielder to dive forward, re-gather the ball, and complete a farcical run out, the only material result of which was to deny the presumably displeased bowler a wicket.

We then got our noses in front, entirely due to Marcus Baker, who combined rock-solid defense with decisive attacking strokes to make a mockery of the previously turgid batting by players from both teams. Marcus seemed to have broken the back to the chase when he hit 24 runs (i.e., almost a quarter of what we needed) off a single over, although then there was a bit of a lull as Sam Thomas, batting for the first time in any cricket this season, struggled to get going, largely dead-batting his way to 6* off 16 balls. The NCI fielders were most impressed by his tennis-style bat flip when he came to the crease, but they soon worked out that they should crowd around him to try and stop quick singles, which they managed very effectively. Scorer Dave Green couldn't bear any more of this and hollered his trademark "Tonk it boys!" - and for once it worked, Sam hitting his next two balls to the boundary before being bowled for 14 (off 18 balls). Daniel Mortlock (4* off 6 balls at this stage) then succeeded with the obvious approach of giving Marcus the strike, and he in turn kept scoring freely, taking us to 86/3 after 14 overs. That meant we were in the surely unassailable position of needing just 20 runs from 36 balls, with two set batsmen at the crease . . .

. . . except that Marcus had just gone to his half-century, and so had to retire for an immaculate 50* off 33 balls. This obviously shouldn't have been a fatal problem, as some quick singles and a few bad balls were still all we needed - although one good over (like the 19th in Cambridge Assessment's innings last night) would have been preferable. Instead we got a succession of decidedly ungood overs:

• Over 15: NCI shrewdly bring back their opening bowler, Furlow, who took 1/7 from his first 2 overs. He concedes just a single (and a leg bye) from this over, as new batsman Alec Armstrong wisely doesn't try anything too ambitious. 88/3; 18 needed from 30 balls with 7 wickets remaining.
• Over 16: Pushing the fielders and stealing singles is the right way to bat in such situations, but things can go a bit far. Alec hits the ball to the close-in fine leg fielder, calls "Yes!" (even though it was the non-striker's call) and runs; Daniel responds, but is several yards short when the wicket-keeper collects the ball . . . or, rather, should have collected the ball. Thus reprieved, Daniel opts to try the same thing to the cover fielder next ball; but this time the 'keeper does collect the return, meaning the end of Alec (1 off 8 balls). New batsman Dave Williams plays a nice cute for 2, so at least there was some progress towards our target. 92/4; 14 needed from 24 balls with 6 wickets remaining.
• Over 17: Six decent straight balls; six solid shots from Daniel; but all go to fielders, so no runs. Not a disaster, since that means the end of Furlow (4 overs, 1 maiden, 1/8), but it's now getting worryingly close to a run a ball. 92/4; 14 needed from 18 balls with 6 wickets remaining.
• Over 18: Dave starts the over with a 3 through backward point, relieving some pressure, meaning Daniel just needs to keep his discipline - whereas he instead gets bowled (for 5 off 14 balls) by an off-cutter. Naveen Chouksey replaces him and can't score off the rest of the over, but three kindly donated wides take us to within single figures of our target. 98/5; 8 needed from 12 balls with 5 wickets remaining.
• Over 19: Dave can't score from the first half of the over, although he looks very unhappy when a ball goes way down the leg-side and isn't called as a wide. One more dot and it'll be a run a ball - but instead Dave cuts the ball to the boundary and we have half our runs. Even better, a single off the next ball means Dave's on strike for the final over, with Remnants just a single shot from victory. 103/5; 3 needed from 6 balls with 5 wickets remaining.
• Over 20: Another late cut from Dave - so far all his runs have come in the arc between backward point and third man - and he and Naveen run a comfortable two, but stop there despite the baying to "keep running!" from the pavilion. With scores tied and five balls remaining we surely couldn't fail to win - although it's essentially the same situation South Africa were in at the end of that that World Cup semi-final against Australia, and we all know what happened there. Dave hits the second ball of the over straight to the cover fielder who ran out Alec and to everyone's surprise (and particularly Naveen's) calls for the run. Naveen is a bit slow taking off, but makes good ground, and with the throw not collected cleanly he's within reach of the crease with the ball still on the ground . . . but then he seems to panic, apparently leaping over an invisible hurdle and raising his bat high in the air for no obvious or even plausible reason. There's a fumble of gloves and stumps - surely we can't have failed to win with the batsman basically in his ground? - but the appeal is only half-hearted, and it's no surprise that it's "not out", as it would have taken numerous multi-angle replays to work out how and when the stumps were broken. Remnants win by 5 wickets with 4 balls remaining.

Not only did we get a win, taking us to a significantly less awful 3-8 season's record, but we also got the chance to celebrate it, as Dave was around to open the bar for a post-match drink. Members of both teams hung around - the match was played in a great spirit throughout - and the general sense was of a pretty ideal way to spend an weekday evening.