The Shot Heard Round the World

[Match reports used to be a major feature of this blog. There was always an element of "sing when you're winning" about this. The glory days of the blog coincided with a rich vein of form for the club, while there are few things more depressing than having to relive yet another heavy defeat, find yet another euphemism for collapse.

Over the last couple of seasons, as results have improved, the reports have reemerged as a feature of the weekly availability emails - behind the "play wall", if you like. The Secretary thoroughly approves of this development. There's been some excellent reporting, not least from Dave Windram (or Windrush, as the Carlton scorers named him this weekend, possibly in tribute to his love of West Indian cricket). And the more limited distribution saves hours of editing to keep us the right side of ESCA's Social Media policy.

But every so often something wonderful happens and someone describes it so well that it should be shared with a (slightly) wider audience. So here, very lightly edited, is Ken's great moment as narrated by Dave, who is too modest to mention his own three wickets, including that of the centurion, Iain Hathorn.]

Sporting moments when you get to say "I was there" are rare. Headingley 2019, I had thought, would forever be mine. A sun-drenched afternoon which ended with me spewing out of Dan Shaw's car window. Heat exhaustion or adrenaline overload - who knows and frankly who cares? Meadows 2023. The location and year. That is all it will take to recall another of those "I was there" days. Another day of baking hot sun, another day of late evening spewing (this time in Hectors). Heat exhaustion or adrenaline overload - again, who cares?

There was no sign of any earth-shattering activity as Robin's 2s navigated the quidditch games, multicoloured pelotons, interpretive dancers and over-zealous young lovers of the Meadows to take on Carlton 5s.

On this day, the game was to become an irrelevance, but, for completeness, we won the toss and chose to field first. Matt and Ashish P set about trying to prise out Carlton's opening, and league-leading, father-son partnership, the disgustingly correct technique of the younger batter proving a real depressant to the HX team, whose average age was about four times his.

Some clean, crisp hitting from Dad took the score beyond a hundred at drinks, and had some Crossers begging for home time. However, the introduction of Ashish V, JB and Keith assisted in squeezing the run rate and a total that looked certain to balloon was restricted to a run over 200, leaving us a target of 202.

The chase started promisingly, Robin lifting us well above the required rate by smiting the first ball of the innings to the boundary. Surely, the Skipper asked, that was a six? No, said Ken umpiring at square leg, just short. Perhaps an inspiration for what was to follow.

Ken keeping on the day. Photo: Stewart Gray.

We rattled along at a good clip against some very good young bowlers with 20s and 30s from Robin, Ziggy, Keith, JB and Vijay, leaving us requiring 38 from the last 4 overs for an unlikely victory. The Meadows crowd, which had surrounded the pitch all day, could sense something special on the horizon.

A couple of big overs followed as Vijay, who could no longer run, dealt more or less exclusively in boundaries, but when he was finally out we still needed 24 and with just 11 balls left. Enter El Presidente to join Dave at the crease. First delivery, dot ball, ah here we go. "Come on, Coastal, get me on strike, son."

And then it happened. The bat pulled across the body. A shotgun crack. S**t, he's middled that, by the way. The ball shooting like a comet towards some poor unsuspecting soul in the long grass. Ziggy's arms aloft. Is he celebrating or signalling a six? Probably both.

You wait 57 years for your first six and then it's over, just like that. Back to task. 16 off 10, 8 off 5, all Prespectfully defended. 5 dot balls to finish. Back to task.

It has been long established that cricketers are masochists. Why do we give up a day every weekend during the summer for this? Earlier that afternoon, as I lay flat on the ground in the middle of the Meadows, yelling as many expletives as possible at the blazing sun, that very thought ran round in my head. Keith, who thought he'd just made the key breakthrough, was probably wondering why as well. Twenty five overs in, a hundred-odd for none,  and I'd just dropped a dolly off a 12 year old who is already much better at this ridiculous game than I will ever be. A few minutes later, a typical Meadows bounce and the ball clipped me on the jaw. "It's really not your day," came the comforting from Ziggy.

And that is exactly the point, very rarely is it our day. The sooner we accept that, the better. But what draws us back, week after week, is that occasionally it's going to be someone's day. And it it's not our day then it feels just as good, maybe better, joining in celebrating with someone who's day it is. Those days are rare.

Standing at the non-striker's end, as Ken bludgeoned the ball over the square leg boundary the  joy at seeing it clear the spray-painted line felt like my own. Arms aloft at his career achievement, the embrace that followed in the middle was the only natural response. The youthful opposition looked on, baffled at the scenes in the middle, given the fact that we were still almost certainly going to lose. It will all make sense in 57 years, lads.

Fantastic start to the season

 Match Reports from Saturday 29th April, 2023. 

From the keyboard of 1s skipper Ben:

As the alarmingly youthful first team (including debutants Alex, Jack and Fraser) gathered in the freezing drizzle on the Meadows, there was much grumbling about the prospect of playing in such miserable conditions, which only increased when Ben lost the toss and the Morton skipper, after a theatrical pause, opted to bowl. New-look opening partnership Scott and Dan wandered out into the murk, aiming hopefully for the cricket pitch cleverly camouflaged as a very damp public park, with everyone on the sidelines speculating that at least we might be done in time to get back to Arbo for a proper tea with the 2s. However, a combination of calm batting and very tricky bowling/fielding conditions meant the openers progressed slowly but relatively serenely to 35 after 10 overs, at which point Dan departed for a well-made 20.

 

Nipun (31) and Scott then put on an excellent second wicket partnership of 86 in 20 overs, highlights including the first boundary of the day in the 22nd over (no mean feat given the volume of spray and grass clippings that erupted every time the ball hit the outfield), and Scott bringing up his 50 on his way to an excellent 59.  A bit of a stumble followed Nipun’s dismissal, as we slipped from 121-1 to 139-5, but some energetic running and 20* from Ben ensured we made it up to a more than respectable 170-9.

After a hasty tea, Parvath and Fraser opened up the bowling, with Parvath’s in-duckers proving a tricky prospect on his way to figures of 8-1-2-20, as he trapped both openers plumb LBW. Matt M (5-1-0-13) replaced Fraser and kept things very tight, ensuring along with Euan (4-0-0-18) and Nipun (4-1-0-20) that the run-rate started to climb.  However, at 100-2 with 10 overs to go, Morton were by no means out of the chase and the game remained finely poised.

Finally though, the increasing scoreboard pressure started to tell, and Morton’s #3 thumped Ben (8-1-2-26) straight to Euan in the covers, where he took a good, low catch. The immediate introduction of Jack ‘On The’ Atack’s rockets (4-1-3-11) at the other end hastened a remarkable collapse of five wickets for just nine runs in the space of five overs, with Parvath also swooping to snare a direct-hit runout. At 111-7 from 34 overs, and needing exactly 10 an over, Morton’s goose looked cooked, only for their #4 to keep them just about in the hunt with a fine 56. He eventually holed out to another good catch off Ben (this time to Dan at long-on, doing well to cling on as his feet disappeared from under him), before Fraser (who bowled much better than figures of 7-0-1-39 suggest) finally got the wicket he deserved to a screamer of a catch by Parvath, sprinting full tilt and on the stretch at long-on.

The eventual victory margin of 20 runs, with Morton claiming almost full bonus points, reflected a competitive, hard-fought game, played in good spirits against a friendly  Morton team. To take 20 points from what is likely to be one of the season’s tougher assignments is a great start, and entirely down to an excellent collective effort (especially in the very tricky fielding conditions) from the whole team.

From the keyboard of 2s skipper Robin:

In Arctic conditions Holy Cross 2s got their 2023 season underway at Arbo. The skipper proceeded to lose the toss to Livingston 3’s and we were put in, which made both sides happy as the skipper had been informed that all his new players were batsmen foremost and ended up creating a batting order with a specialist batsman going in at number 9.

Livingston's opening bowlers kept it pretty tight on a stodgy early season wicket and Bradley’s return from down under was met with frustration at not being in a position to go about building his innings with lots of flowing back foot shots, being undone by the slow low bounce and dragging one on from his pads and trickling on to the stumps. Where were the heavy bails he moaned! Newbie Ashish P came out at number 3, only to get a Jaffa very early on and promptly marched back to the pavilion. Keith F came out to join the skipper and together they enjoyed some slightly looser bowling and brought up a 50 run partnership, before the skipper rashly slogged across the line off a straight one for 36. Keith followed shortly after for 18, before Jon B played a good knock for 27 whilst wickets gradually fell away at the other end. A creditable 10th wicket partnership took the 2s score to 124 all out in 37.1 overs.

A Crosstastic tea gave all the players some respite from the Arctic conditions before we headed out to defend what the skipper had assessed was a par score on the day.  Newbie Ashish V (5 overs, 1 maiden 0 for 8) and Matt B (5 overs 1 maiden 1 for 7) opened up with a very tight spell of opening bowling. Matt B set the standards for a very fine fielding performance (skipper excepted duffing a catch in the slips) when the Livi opener melted the ball straight back at his midriff and Matt pick himself up off the deck having caught a magnificent caught and bowled.  

Time to introduce the mystery spinner Keith F in to the attack and whilst the skipper kept it tight at the other end (8 overs 2 maidens 1 for 13) Keith started making inroads into the wickets column with a couple of wickets off his fourth over before being ruthlessly taken off. He was needed at the other end. Jon B entered the attack and continued the spin twins excellent day out aided by 2 spectacular catches at mid wicket by our Edinburgh south loan player Sajad Ali, making further inroads into the Livi line up (6 overs 3 for 22). The skipper, having finished his 8 over spell, brought back Keith F and the spin twins continued to wreak havoc on the Livi batting line up as Keith mopped up the tail to secure his first ever 5 for and Livingston 3’s succumbed for 88 in 31 overs. Keith Fraser (7 overs 5 for 30)

Always a pleasure to play Livingston and despite the freezing conditions the game was played in great spirits. Wonderful enthusiasm from all the new members of the Cross and a great fielding display. Did I mention that Keith Fraser had the skipper in total shock at the start of the day as he arrived 45 minutes before the match started. A whole 45 minutes before. Was that the secret of his bowling success? Well done Keith.