Report by Daniel Mortlock:
The advent of county over-50s cricket has limited our access to Fitz, necessitating a wider search for grounds. Thanks to Simon Godsill's fellowship of Corpus Christi College one possibility for a second home has emerged in form of the tranquil Leckhampton ground off Grange Road. The vibe at the ground today was a bit less chilled, with the Corpus rowers punishing themselves to a thumping soundtrack of AC/DC classics. (It's tempting to think this as fundamentally at odds with Cambridge college culture - but rock and roll ain't noise pollution.) Following a necessarily shouted negotation with the Fen Ditton captain, we settled on 14x8s (which would hopefully have placated Tom) and they agreed to field first as their full eleven was at the ground while we were still in single figures.
Openers James Robinson and John Young headed out into the middle suitably energized, only to be thunderstruck by some wildly unpredictable bowling, exacerbated by inconsistent bounce - the pitch was less a road and more a highway to hell. Rather than the tight "beehive" Hawkeye reveals for the most consistent bowlers like Shaun Pollock, the equivalent graphic would have been more like a cricketing Jackson Pollock, showing the ball passing the batter anywhere from ankle- to chest-high and spanning the width of the pitch. The latter should at least have meant a decent run-rate just from wides, but for some reason our umpires had adopted a Test standard (something Geoff probably would have approved of). John (2 off 11 balls) and then James (11 off 22 balls) did eventually manage some clean strikes, but both fell to sharp catches from well-hit shots, leaving us on just 29/2 after 6 of our 14 overs.
We then got our - and indeed the - best partnership of the match as Qaiser Ahmed (33* retired off 23 balls) and first-timer Matty Wills (21 off 20 balls) put on 38 runs from 31 balls. While a long way from making it onto the list of highest partnerships, Q and Matty each hit more boundaries than the rest of the side put together and it was the only period of the match during which the batters were on top. Our innings ended with more of a whimper than a bang: Marcus Baker (10 off 16 balls) was the only other batter to make it to double figures; the dominant player was sometime Remnant Shikhar Asthana who harvested three wickets; and we ended up being marooned in double figures, our final total just 98/6. We last defended a sub-hundred total back in 2006, when scores were typically much lower, so even to make a make a game of it tonight was probably going to take a near-perfect team performance in the field.
Any such fantasies were immediately revealed to be just that, as a rusty Joe White started off too leg-side, a big wide and then a deflection beating both the wicket-keeper (Marcus) and the fine-leg fielder (John) to cross the boundary. After just three deliveries Fen Ditton was 11/0 as we'd effectively self-imposed a 10% tariff on our already sub-standard product. But then, seemingly galvanized - or at least with the rust knocked off - we did get the near-perfection we were looking for as Joe (0/15), Naveen Chouksey (1/11) and Daniel Mortlock (3/12) landed the ball in the right place for the pitch to do its work and Qaiser contributed in the field with a run out and a nice catch. At the mid-innings swap-over - for the second game in a row we'd opted for 7 overs from each end - Fen Ditton were 44/3 and now needed a run a ball.
Having learned from our opponents we slowed the pace and exerted a disciplined strangle. Pete Ames (0/19) and Tim Simmance (1/19) gave precious little away - the only boundaries came from a couple of rogue full-tosses - and John sacrificed his already-bloodied knee in the name of saving runs. Coming into the final over we were in the astonishing position of having 13 runs to defend, and so it was natural to turn to Joe for a final over. He was already removing his jumper when Daniel instead threw the ball to Rahul Jhawar for his first over of the game, leaving Joe to style it out. This approach worked a treat as Rahul took a wicket with his first delivery and thereafter allowed just five singles.
The final result - a comfortable 8-run win - meant a near-perfect game, with all members of both teams getting to either bat or bowl and a timely reminder that cricket doesn't require a rain of sixes to be exciting. The only way to improve things would be with another win tomorrow night to get our season . . . back in black.