Remnants vs. Woozlers

Tuesday, May 7, 2003
Fitzwilliam College

Woozlers (99/7 in 15 8-ball overs)
lost to
Remnants (100/5 in 12.3 8-ball overs)
by 5 wickets.

Report by Daniel Mortlock:

On yet another drearily sunny afternoon the Remnants were faced with the Woozlers Wandering Cricket Club, resplendant in their colourful sweaters and caps. We took to the field first, with Paul Jordan (1/16) and Russell Woolf (0/22) keeping the imposing Woozlers' openers in check, despite a few missed chances (not the last of the day, sadly). Next the Romsey connection took up the attack: Daniel Mortlock (3/14) and Andy Owen (0/16) largely maintained the tight standards set by our spearheads, although Daniel did manage one of the worst deliveries of the season to date, a long-hop about four feet outside off-stump that the umpire had no hesitation in calling as a "wide". This would is worth noting only because the batsman had somehow managed to hit the ball - and not an easily-missed edge, but sufficiently cleanly that the ball flew all the way to mid-off (who dropped the admittedly difficult chance). When challenged about his call the umpire mumbled something about the ball being "pretty far from the stumps" . . . but he eventually reneged, deciding instead to give the other batsman out LBW next ball.

In a break from tradition, things then went from the ridiculous to the sublime, with Faruk Kara (1/8) pulling off a superb caught and bowled from a cleanly hit straight drive - the ball popped in and out, but he had the presence of mind to take it at second grab, despite the initial impact splitting the webbing on his hand. He had to leave the field, of course, but at least his attentive wife, Heather, was on hand to provide instant sympathy and gasps of admiration. We finished things off with Graham Stafford, a last-minute substitute, who started his Remnants career with tidy figures of 1/6, and Rob Harvey (0/7), who combined to deny the Woozlers the dignity of a three-figure total.

The target of 100 didn't look quite so small when the Woozlers opening bowlers combined sufficient pace and accuracy to prevent any of our top order getting going, although George Speller (15) and Ev Fox (17, following on from another good 'keeping performance) accumulated enough runs to keep us in the hunt. Then the bowling turned slow and nagging, and a couple of quick wickets fell (one due to the most hopeless running imagineable - the batsmen involved managed a total of four calls of "yes" and three of "no" between them). So, once again, it fell to the reliable Andy Owen (39*), with support from Rob Harvey (4*), to ensure a fairly comfortable victory.

In American parlance we were "three for three" - think about how little sense that phrase makes! - for the season, and that with a handful of Antipodeans in the opposing team. To make things even better, Dave had opened the bar - the kids had been put to sleep with the help of a little gin in their milk. Allegedly.