On a rare sunny afternoon, Cincinnati travelled to the historic Kentish fishing town of Whitstable, famous for its Native Oysters and organic ale, to take on the local Labour Club (and sample the ale).
Last year's match at the Radfall Cricket Ground, just outside Whitstable, saw CCC win by nine wickets as the home side's bowlers struggled to contain the Skipper who was in the batting form of his life.
This year, some feared that the contest would be even more one-sided as we fielded one of the strongest batting line-ups of the season, with Selfish, Tom, Dan, Tim M and Jim all in the side - and all with runs behind them this season. The ECB's medical experts had even cleared the Skipper to bat with a runner for the rest of the year.
After a swift sharpener in the pub across the road, where the absent chairman was spotted pretending to be a Carp in the fishpond (we knew he couldn't keep away), Selfish and Tom strode to the crease to make first use of a good batting strip. There was talk of scoring 300 by tea...
Not for long.
Whitstable had unearthed a particularly rapid opening bowler who was getting swing and bounce with the new ball. To general alarm in the visitors' camp, both Selfish and Tom perished cheaply after some promising early shots and Cincinnati were about 30 for 2 when the two Tims came together.
Both had been short of runs recently but the joyous grin on the face of Tim M upon getting off the mark for the first time in three matches was probably visible from space.
The Tims put on a century stand which helped ease the Cincinnati score towards respectability as the Whitstable bowlers continued to apply pressure.
A valuable attacking innings from Jim saw the tail add another 30 or so and Cincinnati finished on 164.
A fine tea, including the now compulsory contributions from Amy, was demolished in seconds and, after a strangely controversial extra two overs of Cincinnati batting, Whitstable began their run chase.
For much of the evening Whitstable were in with a chance of chasing down our meagre total but they kept losing wickets. The highlight of our fielding performance was surely Mark W's pair of brilliant slip catches.
The first rivals the Selfish run out against the Actors and Ash's direct hit against the Saints for the title of this season's best fielding. The ball took the outside edge and flew low to Mark's left but he dived, flung out a hand and somehow got his fingers under the ball just an inch from the ground.
Jim roared in to bowl a spell lasting nearly two hours, getting quicker and angrier as his 12 overs unfolded. The rage which boiled within our star seamer was eventually responsible for denying the home side a win. They finished some way short and despite sometimes dangerous appealing, we couldn't take the last couple of wickets.
Match drawn. The wicket deserves a special mention - considering the amount of rain we've had recently, it played extremely well.
Scores: CCC 164 all out. TimR 62, TimM 35. Whitstable Labour Club c130-8. Jim 4-29.
Season so far: Played 8; Won 3; Drawn 1; Lost 3; Baffled 1.
2 comments:
It was terrific to witness the Wright brother's flight to take that first catch. Here's to more of the same from Steve in Galway.
Well written article.
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