Report by Daniel Mortlock:
With forty-odd Remnants players, ex-players, supporters, friends and family gathering at Fitz this evening, cricket felt second to community. During both the languid pre-match nattering - the first ball wasn't bowled 'til 6:15pm - and the indulgent post-match BBQ, one of the main themes of conversation was how unusual it is to be able to play what is essentially "proper" cricket where everyone from beginners to seasoned top-level league players all able to contribute - and indeed, as we saw several times this evening, the latter don't always come out on top.
As usual with our annual internal games, the biggest challenge was not getting players - our two 13-players sides made a mockery of the difficulty we've had previously this year just getting an eleven out on Wednesdays - but on what to name the teams. Given that the game was set up as a nominal celebration of Faruk and Daniel both recently playing their 400th Remnants games, this number was an obvious starting point which JP cleverly suggested could be linked to Brian Lara's Test record innings of 400*. Thus Faruk's Brianiacs (hard to say) took on Daniel's Larakins (a naming choice which had to be explained to most of the club, "larrakin" being an Australian slang term, not used so often these days, for "a boisterous, often badly behaved young man, with apparent disregard for convention").
The Brianiacs won the toss and elected to bat, leading to a nicely dramatic start to the game as St Giles regular Seb Hammersley faced up to Ben Stone, now turning out for Barrington . . . although of more note was what he was turned out in today: having forgotten his playing kit he came steaming in wearing a vest but no shirt, his "muscle top" look as disconcerting to the batsman as Seb's new "just checking the field positions before taking guard" trigger stance is to bowlers. Seb won the contest today, retiring for 27* off 19 balls, although Ben (1/21) had consolation in the form of a wicket with the final delivery of his spell. At the other end we had the cricketing version of the light-sabre battle between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader from the climax of Return of the Jedi as Lewis Young (0/4) got a couple of overs at father John (1 off 13 balls). And no, it wasn't like the climax of The Empire Strikes Back, as that was just Luke and his father, whereas today Daniel took on the role of the emporer, attempting to goad Lewis to higher speeds and nastier lengths.
The next confrontation we got was between Neeban Balayasoderan (211 runs at 110.50 so far this season) and Sasha Vail, who's just starting out on her cricketing journey. It was, unsurprisingly, a hopelessly one-sided contest, which was completely dominated by Sasha. She had Neeban dropped first ball at mid-off; then almost had him caught on the leg-side boundary, the ball not quite carrying; and eventually did have him decisively stumped by Hume Fisher, for 5 off 13 balls. Sasha also bowled Natasha Rutterford (1 off 8 balls) to finish with deserved figures of 2/10. With Max Ayliffe (0/8) at the other end even more economical - and ruthless, running out Dave Green (0 off 3 balls) with a direct hit - the Larakins were dominating, having restricted the Brianiacs to just 39/3 after 10 (six-ball) overs.
Fortunately for the sake of the game, the Brianiacs lower order mounted a very effective rescue mission as Marcus Baker (28* retired off 23 balls, going to retirement with a Rishabh Pant inspired "roly poly sweep"), James Robinson (17 off 12 balls) and Brajesh Kumar (25* retired off just 10 balls) ran rampant. Saurav Dutta (2/3) had the last laugh with a superb spell of ripping leggies, providing Hume with another stumping and a catch, although it wasn't enough to stop the Brianiacs posting a competitve total of 114/6.
The Larakins' chase began superbly as Pete Ames (18 off 17 balls) and Temoor Khan (26* retired off 28 balls) scored freely from the outset. Naveen Chouksey (2/15) brought things back with two wickets in three balls (including an unlucky Dave Williams, who nicked off second ball in likely his one Remnants game for the season), Neil Grover (17 off 31 balls) then scored steadily, although would probably have reached retirement if he'd taken the advice of his watching father to i) run the first run hard and ii) cut out the reverse sweeps.
The Brianiacs first-change bowlers, Paul Jordan, playing his 450th Remnants game, and Iqtedar Alam (both 0/11) were sufficiently economical to get the required rate up to a run a ball with 5 overs left, after which Faruk turned the game their way with a spell of 3 overs, 1 maiden, 2/8, which included the prize wicket of Hume (21 off 17 balls, and now with a Remnants batting average: 179.00), well caught by James on the boundary. After a comparably economical spell by Seb Hammersley (1/9), the Larakins were behind for the first time all day, needing 13 from the final over:
After a superb game of cricket we were presented with a BBQ, beer and plenty of light left to enjoy the warm evening. Thanks to procurement by Faruk, Daniel and Naveen, cooking by Andy, Denise and Quentin we had more food and drink than we could handle - at least on the night - and ended up staying past 10pm.
