[By KF]
Morton (not the Greenock crew) arrived at ‘Fortress Arbo’ sitting proudly atop Division 5 with an unblemished record hoping to slay Nozzer’s New Model Army. With one squint eye looking over their shoulder at the relegation fight, HX, as is often the case, had a decent team on paper and worryingly, spirits were high. In what turned out to be a very even game for the duration, once the dust had settled, a top class innings from King Jon (129 no) proved decisive.
That’s not to say it was a one man show, I thought Andy G (9-3-18-0) and Usama (9-3-47-1) in particular looked handy with the ball, the fielding was thoroughly decent (despite IIRC, three difficult drops; me, Andy G, Usama), an ‘experienced’ 3rd wicket partnership of 91 kept us ahead of a ‘rain result’ before a super smooth Nawaz (30 no) helped JB see us through to maximum pointage.
Canny skipper Webb, who didn’t put a foot wrong all day, drew first blood losing a ‘great toss to lose’ and accepting the request to bowl first. The conditions were perfection for June in Caledonia, dull, muggy, drizzle almost hanging in the air, although the outfield was quicker than appearances suggested. Despite the recent rain, the wicket was in good shape, with some green for the bowlers and enough pace and bounce to keep both clubbers & chuckers happy.
Andy G & Usama opened the bowling against the positive Morton openers (Sehwag impersonator included). Any loose ball was severely punished, Usama particularly harshly dealt with, taking the visitors total along nicely at around 4 an over for the first 10 or so. Their taste for the aerial route was their initial downfall. First to fall was Karthik, pouched with aplomb on the long off boundary by Nawaz. Lancashire at 3 got busy, but with Sehwag (Sannah) sitting on his bat at the non-striker's end, he failed to heed the obvious warning from an aborted quick single the ball before and called again to Badback at midwicket. Hurling the throw directly over the stumps, albeit 8 feet above them, that man Norrie, in a whirl of fluoro pink, had the bails off with Lancashire still at the bus stop on Ferry Road.
Any time the Cross took a wicket, Morton replied in a positive fashion and the teams went head to head, toe to toe, neck and neck, blow by blow (ran out of those now). At one stage the visitors looked good for 260+, then we might have kept them to around 210 as Milly (9-0-53-2) nibbled on their tail and the final 229 was a fair and respectable total from 45 overs. Nathan (64) top scored for Morton. He looked good until around 55 when he injured himself and required a runner. Smudger (7-0-48-2) apparently with his radar signal a bit scrambled & Nawaz (2-0-12-1) were our other bowlers.
Tea was well received, Mandy doing her usual madnificent (sic) stint providing pizza and cans, although skipper Webb ensured his team stayed focussed and positive with rousing one-on-one’s all around the lounge.
Cool-headed PVB and a somewhat out of sorts Nipun began the Cross reply in the increasing gloom. Nipun (6) was triggered by Andy G (keep this one in mind for the Awards night) and just as the rain forced the teams off, PVB (16) was bowled. Not missing a trick, Webb jiggled the order during the rain break, promoting your lame scribe to 4. With heavy skies and a wet pitch and outfield, conditions weren’t ideal for batting. But they were worse for bowlers, enough bad balls slipping from the bowlers' grasp to help us along. While I baseballed one of my beamers for 6 (+1 nb, behind square, leg side, where else?), JB rather comically wore one (in his trademark sunny style) after trying at least twice to play a proper shot at it. It must be said that this was sandwiched between two typically dismissive 4’s. In an innings dripping with power, positivity and class, the highlight was probably a lofted Ferry Road bound maximum which dropped just short of the wall. Any width was clattered and anything full got blootered.
Amusingly, after another beamer was dispatched for 4, Smudger at square leg called no ball, and PVB, oblivious, proclaimed ‘over’ and set off to square leg at the other end. Fortunately it didn’t matter in the end. My share of our 91 partnership was an almost whimpering 27. The consolation being I had the best seat in the ground.
With 3 down, we still required 78 from 72 balls, but Nawaz was able to continue the supporting role I’d assumed for the middle of the innings adding a few really lovely shots of his own. Long before the end, as the gloom dissipated and the sun began, almost surreally, to beat down, the league leaders became resigned to their fate, the wickets we still had in hand stacking the odds in our favour and no end in sight to Psycho’s brutality. Their last hope faded late on when the centurion was dropped, HX strolling home with 13 balls to spare.
An excellent result against a very decent side. I thought their positive attitude while batting was impressive and they’ll surely do well in Div 5 this season. Through green & gold specs, an excellent team performance with what will surely be a season’s best knock by an in-form Jonny (look, I wasn’t going to mention, but he bowled quite well too (9-0-42-1), I thought he got enough of a mention with the bat). All that’s left to say is…
Crosstastic, Crossalicious and Crossmungous!!!
brief report from the Morton perspective
here.
Lets hope the weather holds this weekend so Arbo doesn't witness another scene such as this where a fragile old man was forced to arm wrestle a far stronger virile opponent for the amusement of a braying crowd. Disgraceful.
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