On possibly the most perfect day of the summer we all braved our last 6pm start for the season and suffered the most inglorious of defeats, and one which has ensured that our season's ledger is destined to remain in the red: fewer wins than losses for Remnants in 2002.
We batted first, and our innings proceeded in what has become a somewhat predictable manner: we recover from the loss of an early wicket with a half-century from either Nick or Tony and finish the innings with plenty of wickets to spare but a not-quite imposing total on the board. Today the main variant was that both Nick Clarke (52) and Tony Malik (62*) got fifties as they combined for a 113-run second wicket partnership. This was no mean feat given decent bowling on a soft track and the sapping effects of the 30 degree heat, but Tony's exhaustion at the end of his innings (despite Sal's attempts to revive him with offers of berry-flavoured isotonic sports drinks) played a critical role as the game unfolded.
With Girton boasting a powerful batting line-up we needed quick wickets, and we almost got their ``other'' opener (i.e. not Phil Watson) out first ball, a Dave Rowson loosener being slapped inelegantly to the mid-wicket fielder. Unfortunately that fielder was Tony, still recovering from his innings (and with one eye on a misbehaving Inzamam) and the catch went down. It didn't seem too important at the time -- a batsman playing a shot like that wouldn't be expected to last long, surely -- but by the time Girton's opening stand had reached 90-odd it was the most important event of the match. After that first ball both batsmen played things pretty safe, with neither offering much (more) in the way of chances -- Martin Parker and Mike Sneyd ('keeper and slip, respectively) thus waited in vain for the edge that never came, even though Martyn Waterfall (0/22, first game of the season) and Paul Henderson (0/35) both beat the bat several times. In the end we did at least get one wicket, Faruk Kara (1/23) having the aforementioned ``other'' opener well caught by Dave Rowson for an even 50, but that was our only consolation. The remainder of the game saw turncoat Watson (56*) lead his team to an easy victory as the ever-fragile Remnants fielding crumbled into an even more complete mess than usual.