Report by Daniel Mortlock:
It was almost surreal arriving at the CUP ground this evening, partly because many of us had spent at ten minutes trapped in the maze of new accommodation built in the area, partly because this game was in absolutely no way linked to the thousandth match celebrations, but mostly because it was actually a nice sunny evening. Despite the navigational difficulties, we had a full eleven present by 5:50pm, something that CUP could not claim, and so it was no surprise that their captain decided, upon winning the toss, to bat first. (But we probably would have done that anyway given the twin lures of fielding in the sun and drinking draught beer in the second innings.)
With an embarrassment of riches in the bowling department - everyone bar wicket-keeper Kshitij Sabnis had at least 5 Remnants wickets - our biggest challenge initially was who not to bowl. This problem was solved by ignoring it: we gave the first 9 (eight-ball) overs to different bowlers, causing serious problems for the CUP scorers . . . and, fortunately, for their batsmen as well. At the end of this period they were just 67/3, and already staring down the barrel of an indefensibly small total. We then rewarded those less likely to bat with second overs, the result of which was that Paul Jordan (1/16), Catherine Owen (1/23) and John Moore (2/19) all got wickets. (Paul and Catherine made their breakthroughs with straight balls that the batsmen missed; but John's wickets were much more exciting, both coming after the batsmen had absolutely smashed the ball, only for Andrew Lea and then John himself to take superb reflex catches.) But the undeniable star was Ferdi Rex, who began the innings with an over of medium pace and then ended it with a mixture of leggies, off-spinners and darts, the result of which was figures of 3/8 and, thanks to a superb throw from the deep by Saurav Dutta, a run out off the final ball of the innings.
A target of 108 felt like a complete doddle, but a quick look at the history books would have revealed that, in our history of 30 matches here, only 3 of 60 innings totals have been higher than 115. So, really, CUP's 107 was no worse than a par score, and our confidence was based more on a failure to understand just how low the ball was bouncing and the insane lushness (lushity?) of the outfield. Openers Mihir Chandraker and Kshitij Sabnis both batted solidly, but its hard to win a twenty/20 game when your openers are stuck on 8* off 21 balls and 13* off 27 balls. Indeed, we would probably have been sunk but for the fact that the CUP bowlers were keeping us afloat with an extraordinarily generous donation of extras (16 in two-run wides and no balls, plus 3 more byes and leg byes up to this point). With the score on 64/0 in the 9th (eight-ball) over we were probably winning - especially given that neither of the batsmen were anywhere near the retirement score of 40 - but it was getting close to an even money bet between the absurdities of i) winning a match without hitting a boundary and ii) failing to chase 107.
In the end the situation was resolved when Mihir finally decided to try a risky aerial shot and was caught (for 14 off 26 balls), a mercy killing that was immediately conveyed by fellow Warwickshire University teammate Ferdi Rex to their Facebook group. It seemed reasonable to hope that fresh blood at the crease would spark us into action, but when new batsman Saurav Dutta scored off just one of his first 11 deliveries we found ourselves longing for the good old days when Mihir was at least hitting a couple of singles off most overs. At the end of the 11th over we were 73/1 and now needed 35 runs from 32 balls, which mightn't sound like much in a modern twenty/20 game, and probably would have been a doddle at Fitz . . . but this was in a game that thus far had seen just 180 runs come from 208 balls, and that when the grass wasn't as dewey as it had it become now. In other words, we were in serious danger of losing the game despite only being one-down, which is always a crime.
Fortunately, Kshitij and Saurav seemed appropriately horrified by this prospect, and (literally) swung into action: Saurav hit 4 3 4 from his next 3 balls before one kept low and he was bowled (for 13 off 15 balls); and Kshitij walloped 21 off his next 15 balls, at which point he had to retire (on 43* off 50 balls). Ferdi Rex (7* off 7 balls) and Andy Owen (4* off 4 balls) then finished things off efficiently enough that we didn't even get to the final over. Our final winning margin, of 8 wickets with 11 balls remaining, ended up looking way more comfortable than it really was - but that probably just made the post-match beers taste even better.