Report by Daniel Mortlock:
Our defeat against TK's "weak, but not that weak" GEANT side a few weeks ago came right in the middle of a dismal run of losses that we finally seem to have arrested with two wins last week. This was achieved partly through hard-nosed captaincy, something which was not going to be so easy this evening with TK again announcing the presence of lots of non-cricketers and kids playing their first game . . . although it did not go unnoticed that alongside TK in the GEANT line-up were the two batters, Sajid Mahmood and Aman Tawar, who led their side's successful chase last time around. We agreed to the request that we bat first (natural perhaps to make a game of it, but also useful in providing information about a chase) and retirement at the unusually low score of 35 (which probably actually advantaged us, as we had a longer batting line-up).
And that really was the defining feature of our innings: any time someone was dismissed or retired there was a strong replacement ready to go. Seb Hammersley and CJ Barry (both 38* retired off 21 balls, and both hitting 6 boundaries) starred with some incredible clean-hitting - no mean feat with slow bowling on a low-bouncing pitch - although CJ's innings was the more remarkable as he'd come in at number seven. Extras also contributed 38, as we were a bit more sensible with our wide calls this time - no dots with the ball bouncing on the next strip - which is already a run-a-ball tally. That was then augmented by Kanwar Singh (23 off 17 balls before being run out, which seemed to inspire his later contributions) and John Young (13 off 20 balls), John also presided, as umpire, over the most eventful over of the innings, bowled by one Tony Barber: first he got Cam (6 off 9 balls) LBW, a decision that puzzled most people in the pavilion but was supported by everyone closer to the action (John, obviously, but also the non-striker and the square-leg umpire); and then Marcus Baker (2 off 2 balls) skied his second shot, leaing Tony into an uncontrolled backwards shuffle during which he took out the non-striker's stumps, fell over . . . and took a most difficult catch (which somehow recorded as another "LBW" by the scorers). Such fielding successes notwithstanding, there was no hiding Remnants' dominant batting performance as we finished on 185/5, easily our highest total of the season to date.
Any remote chance that GEANT would chase down our total was quickly snuffed out by Tim Simmance (0/20) and Faruk Kara (0/2), who both delivered tight opening spells. Half-way through the 5th over GEANT were just 11/0, now needing 174 off 93 balls, and we could surely relax . . . except the next three balls went for 6, 4 and 4, Faruk took himself out of the attack with a muscle strain, and John requested to be "hidden" in the field due to a back twinge.
Don't worry - we really did have too many runs on the board, meaning that Marcus Baker (1/34) could really flight his leg-spinners - it was the short balls, not those tossed up, which got hit - and CJ Barry (2/12) had the freedom to make his "loopy balls" as loopy as he liked. CJ got wickets off his first two deliveries, meaning some hat-trick excitement; and then Kanwar took two more wickets in CJ's second over. No, not a typo: Kanwar, fielding at square-leg, was an obvious target for the cross-bat shots expected off slow bowling, and the batters kept taking risky runs to him. First time around Kanwar entered into an elabroate juggling act, meaning that the batters were home by the time he threw the ball; next time he gathered cleanly and fired off a fast throw that basically bisected the pitch, but the batters were both at the striker's end by this stage, so CJ had so much time that he was able to stroll back to the stumps, flick off a bail and then catch it before it touched the ground; and then a few balls later Kanwar, having had to chase the ball, fired in a flat and accurate throw that was a direct hit with the batter well short. By this stage GEANT were 61/7 and it was starting to look prescient that they had a 13-strong squad who we'd agreed could all bat.
Except we now had Aman and TK back together again in the middle, and it was just as well that they needed almost four runs a ball as they went pretty close to doing that. Part of the problem is that it was now getting seriously dark - back to 15x8s from next week! - and the fielders couldn't see the ball off the bat. Our only hope was perfect field placement, and that's where the inside knowledge of TK's favoured flick over mid-wicket was invaluable: when he got on strike to Daniel Mortlock (3/17), Cam was assigned to this critical spot, with several minutes spent moving him this way and that; with Cam thus positioned TK obliging went for his favourite shot; Daniel's immediate shout was "Cam - catch it!"; Cam's response was "Can't see it!"; but then the ball got above the treeline and was perfectly outlined against the grey clouds; we all watched as Cam waited and then calmly took a simple but hard catch. (This was the first non-run out dismissal of any of Sajid, Aman or TK in the two GEANT games this year; overall the three of them scored 151 runs of 160 balls at an average of 75.50 and a strike-rate of 94.38 against our "attack".)
With the match comfortably wrapped up - and the 2023 Remnants vs. GEANT "series" tied at 1-1 - it was time for pizza and drinks, enjoyed by members of both sides with the backdrop of a glorious sunset.
