Fear and Loathing in Onslow

Controversy before we started as we turned up with Roshan from the Tamils, who it seems is universally loathed by Onslow. They threw the rule book at us, and it turns out that player who've played for one team in a grade can't play for another (although players playing a higher or lower grade can transfer no problems). I argued that we barely had a team even with Roshan, so they relented provided he didn't bat higher than 7.

 

The pitch looked good but the outfield was damp after rain on Friday. There were very long boundaries on their number 1 ground out at Nairnville. Luckily, we won the toss and hence could bowl first. This was extremely lucky, as Richard could only play for the first 2 hours; we only had 10 with him.

 

Early, we did a good job restricting them on a pitch that was pretty true, but not easy batting by any circumstances, Greg took 2 early wickets, a bowled and a smart catch to Butch at slip. Needing to go early, Richard bowled 9 straight into the wind, replacing me after I had bowled three. He claimed a good bowled. This brought together their two old timers, one of whom had been honoured the night before. They nudged and nurdled and ran slowly between the wickets, and at drinks (24 overs due to Richard's timings) they were 79/3.

 

It was clear they wanted to up the ante after the break, and I conceded 8 or 9 off the first over back. Losing Richard and only having 9, there were suddenly a lot of gaps in the field. However, I was lucky enough to pick up two quick wickets; one of the old timers bowled and Patterson, who'd already biffed a couple of boundaries, caught and bowled. From there it was a quick procession; Greg finished with 4/16, Matt Boa picked up three, they were bowled out for 120.

 

Dan, who you might remember became our 10th man v. the Spartans three weeks ago, opened along with myself. We took our time early on, before Dan got a good one and was given LBW. Butch came in at 3, and he and I managed to put on a good partnership; the score was about 90 when I departed for 29. Butch had been blazing away, taking about 30 from the previous 4 overs as they were beginning to despair. They eventually picked up Butch for an awesome 58, and annoyingly Josh too; if we'd won by 7 wickets we'd have claimed a bonus point. Greg coming in a 4 along with Matt's mate Dean saw us home with a nuance 10*.