Report by Cam Petrie:
With gloomy skies overhead, TTP elected to bat and the captains agreed to a 15 x 8 ball over format to ensure that we wouldn't need to rely on the motion-sensor-triggered lights on the pavilion to see at the end of the game. Adam Long (0/26 off 3 overs) was handed the new ball, and quickly had it fizzing through the channel and made life uncomfortable for the TTP openers who found the inswing and sharp bounce a little too much to handle. Paul Jordan (1/29 off 3 overs) came on at the other end to provide a mix of pace and was unlucky not to be given one or two LBWs that looked pretty convincing from behind the stumps. Both bowlers were being punished by one of the TTP openers for straying from the straight and narrow, but Paul did, however, draw the slugger into a mis-hit in his second over that floated gracefully toward Julius Rix at mid-off, who hared in (prompting mutters of “no chance” from the pavilion), chose not to dive, but stuck out his right hand at the last possible micro-second and was greeted with a satisfying thwack as the ball stuck.
Qaiser Ahmed (0/10 off 3 overs) came on and kept the noose tight from the Windsor Road end, drawing a series of sharp edges that flew out of reach of Cameron Petrie at keeper and kept Alec Armstong busy at third man, but it was Alec (2/25 off 3 overs) bowling at the Huntington Road end, who drew the next two breakthroughs, both in his first over, as he was hit for a boundary but then finally snatched our first LBW and bowled one through the gate for good measure. John Moore (0/18 off 1 over) got a bit of a raw deal as his one over was (im-)perfectly timed for the TTP mid-late overs acceleration and he was pummelled, while Huw Davies (1/11 off 1 over) was lucky enough that what was almost certainly going to be a leg side wide was gloved through to Cam at keeper, who had eventually worked out how far back to stand for each of his bowlers. Unfortunately, that was pretty much that for Remnants, as the TTP final pair put on 60 in the last five overs, punching and belting anything loose to or through the boundary fielders, while the rest of us stood around feeling inert and superfluous. No one said much, but we were pretty happy to be chasing a total of 136/4 off the full 15 x 8 ball overs.
The humidity had pretty much done for Cam's brain, so he sent Chris Badger (81 off 43 balls) and John Young (6 off 19 balls) out to open and weather the zip of the TTP opening bowlers. John in particular was getting visibly frustrated at the developing blockfest, but it led to a fantastic drive for four before he eventually edged off to the keeper. Julius (14 off 11 balls) looked uncharacteristically cautious as he mixed defence with burly pull shots to the boundary, before lofting a soft catch.
"Badge" had been quietly plying his trade through much of this, but when Qaiser (11 off 12 balls) joined him, he soon set about dismantling the TTP bowling attack. Pull shots were soon launched into the pavilion roof showering tile fragments onto Remnants sitting below, and the “official” match ball was also lost in the hedge, and all we managed to find was some sodden mongrel ball that had potentially been in there for much of this century. A series of TTP bowling changed managed to enhance our run rate such that the result became inevitable, with the 13th and final over going for nineteen, including an egregious wide that went for four and sealed the deal when the scores were tied on 136.
Beers and ciders in the muggy after match gloom were enjoyed by many!