Uni Staff Teach 2s a Lesson

It was a tough week for availability. We had ten - though not the ten we'd expected, with "Apples" Appleby and Tom Frenzl kindly stepping up late on - while the Staff had eleven. And that was probably the margin between the two teams.

Of course for a while we weren't even confident we had ten, as six Crossers waited by the pitch, while four of us lounged in the rather distant Peffermill changing rooms until fetched by Mike Nevin, who would lead the way once more later on. The start was further delayed after the toss, which we lost, when eight players started to pad up. We asked whether the Staff were experimenting with a novel four-wicketkeeper formation before Smudger realised that he'd misunderstood their decision to bat.

Despite some good bowling from Vik (8.5-0-31-3) and Apples, Bristow and Hands looked fairly assured in putting on 41 for the first wicket. Then Gerry (9-1-28-2), refreshed by three weeks in the American Southwest, put the brakes on, removing both. Smudger (9-1-33-2) and Nipun (5-0-22-2) chipped in with important wickets and soon enough the Staff were 51 for 3 and 94 for 5.

Overall it was a good bowling performance with even JB (6-3-22-1) recovering from conceding 18 off his first two overs to remove top scorer Nath (36). But a 9th wicket stand of 30 between Ratnarajah (23) and Shylini (18) frustrated us until Vik returned for his third spell to remove both. Staff 179 all out in the final over. Incidentally this was only the third time we'd bowled a side out this season, and the first time we'd bowled out a full side.

By the end of the 15th over we were 34 for 5 thanks to some fine bowling from the aggressive Nath (9-0-25-2) and Kumar (9-2-21-3) and a fine, very low catch from Keily. Serious embarrassment seemed on the cards but Vik (53 no, his second successive half century) and Mike (39) built an important stand of 82. When Mike was out in the 39th over we needed a rather improbable 11 an over from the last 6. With Vik in there was always an outside chance but long boundaries, a defensive field and some decent bowling, notably from Vijayakumar (9-2-32-2), denied us. At least a final score of 153 for 8 meant some valuable batting points had been secured.

In many ways this was a Saturday much like the others this season - a relaxed, friendly game against nice, sporting opponents. We've now played all the other teams in the division and it's quite clear that this year's Div 4 is one of the nicest I've played in in 22 years in the East League. In addition the umpiring has been conspicuously fair. One indication is the number of lbws, roughly 20% of the total wickets - 11 of the 56 oppo wickets we've taken and 14 of the 75 Cross wickets which have fallen. In some ways that's a miracle as the umpires don't always seem to be fully focused - last week it was the Watsonian who insisted on wearing a thigh pad throughout his stint, while this week one of the Staff was reprogramming a computer in his lab via his mobile phone.

In one respect at least, however, this was an untypical Saturday for the 2015 season. It was warmish and even occasionally sunny. Let's hope that's an omen for the second half of the season.