Remnants vs. ARM

18:00, Tuesday, July 10, 2018
Queens' College

Remnants (101/10 in 19.4 6-ball overs)
lost to
ARM (107/2 in 17.2 6-ball overs)
by 8 wickets.

Report by Paul Jordan:

I determined to get here early as possible as the traffic on the A14/M11 has been horrendous and luckily was the first to arrive; well not quite, as sitting by a table contemplating the view from the boundary was none other than a certain Remnants stalwart Russell Woolf. He had kindly agreed to score this evening's game. So on a rather cooler evening by Mortlock standards (i.e., a jumper job) I waited for the other Remnants to arrive. There is an old Chinese proverb that states: when Remnants leave the security of Fitzwilliam and Daniel's seamless organisation, a cock up may occur.

Well by 6 o'clock we were up to seven with the promise of Naveen arriving late. With some smooth Brexit-like negotiations I managed to secure a batting first option, with the an additional caveat of sub fielders from ARM when we fielded. It is worth saying at this point that I have nothing but praise for their skipper's understanding of our depleted team situation and getting a game was always going to be the first priority. Not sure of a batting line up as we went down to 7 at that, which for Dave Green and myself meant lofty promotion from the tail that sometimes wags. Julius was our only recognised batsman, so I took a punt on Amit Kumar (playing his first Remnants game) to partner Julius. Retirements were the name of the game. I sent them out hoping for a solid start.

Amit Kumar, facing his first ball for Remnants.

Ahhh. Now sometimes a hunch can prove valuable or go spectacularly wrong. Sadly in this instance it was the latter. Amit facing his first delivery as a bone fide Remnants batsman hit rather awkwardly straight to a fielder at mid on. He decide to call for a single and unsurprisingly Julius called no, having glanced quickly at the situation and the hapless Amit was run out first ball.

Amit Kumar, having faced his first ball for Remnants, back with Russell Woolf, John Moore and Julius Rix in the support squad.

Claude Warnick entered the fray and was able to sustain a little more momentum. Enter John Moore. Now John has quietly developed over the years into a stubborn defender of his wicket and an occasional sweet hitter of the ball. Tonight he vanquished any caution and faced ARM'S captain, who on this wicket extracted head high bounce and skiddy pace . John took on two midriff balls and absolutely smashed them through mid-wicket for four. John achieved a personal best of 22 and helped our cause no end. The rest of our innings capitulated rather and we finished up with a total just on the right side of a 100. Enough to make a game of it and an opportunity for John to shine and indeed Dave Green, who finished on a respectable 8. No captain's innings from me and I have a bruise to prove it.

The opening pair of Jordan and Naveen managed to keep the batsmen reasonably in check with the change bowlers of Claude and Amit tempting ARM's batsman into several edges and close shaves. Amit produced the best bowling performance of the evening bowling a good line and length in his spell. Our fielding on this occasion was really good with tireless boundary chasing from Julius, Claude and Debasish. The fact that we kept in the game till the 17th over was a testament to our bowling/fielding efforts but also the generous supply of enthusiastic fielders from ARM.

Julius Rix, generating some serious pace.

Paul Jordan, generating some less serious pace.

I'm not quite sure what happened to our absentees; all will be revealed over a pint at some point perhaps? Thank you to the team tonight, you gave your all.