Report by Pete Ames:
The year is 2022. The game is cricket - just not as we know it. This cricketing summer will live long in the memory for a series of remarkable and record-breaking run chases, largely executed by the England Men's Test team. However, comfortably the greatest of them all came on a sunny Grantchester Meadows. This is not cricket as we know it. This is #BadgeBall.
We start with Remnants in the field and 6 overs of relative calm. Openers Ben Stone (0/32) and Max Ayliffe (0/25) kept things tight, inducing false strokes, beating the bat and taking the edge on more than one occasion.
In the middle overs, the spin of Will Phelps (0/20), Faruk Kara (0/24) and John Moore (0/22) created chances - which we weren't quite able to take. The most ignominious incident involved a comfortable catch bursting through your correspondent's hands and trickling for four. (Again, I do apologise Faruk.) The downside of all this was that it rather appeared as if Grantchester were officially "getting a shift on" - by the halfway point they had amassed a rather imposing 87/0.
At the other end Naveen (0/28) was, especially in the context of this evening, miserly. Cricket is a cruel game, no more evident in the fact that his only statistical reward for a fine spell was his better-than-average economy rate.
As the innings wore on, captain Badger, our innovator-in-chief, decided to experiment with some "death leg spin". He pointed out to your correspondent, marking his run, that it's always best to bring your leg spinner on "when you're well on top". Naturally, the score was 130/0 from 15 overs. This had the desired effect, more or less, slowing the run rate a little towards the end of the innings. The real triumph though was that it removed me from boundary fielding duties (sorry, once more, Faruk), leaving Will Phelps and Julius Rix to take two fine high catches. [While he modestly doesn't mention the fact, Pete's figures of 2/19 from 3 overs were comfortably the best for either side today - ed.]
We ended up with the rather imposing target of 173 to win. But, we weren't to be deterred. Rumours of captain Badger saying "There was a bit of me that almost wanted them to get 250, to see what we'd do" are unconfirmed.
Opening our innings, Julius Rix swashbuckled a lively 17 (off 15 balls) and Tom Serby (1 off 2 balls) was unfortunate to be bowled by a literal bail-breaker [Just want to check this isn't a typo - ed.]. This brought Will Phelps and Chris Badger together, who began setting about the total in fine style.
Will was the aggressor, unleashing a 360-degree assault on the Grantchester bowling. Pulling, sweeping, reverse sweeping, plinking (and occasionally plonking) the ball to all parts. Chris at the other end timed his innings to perfection, unleashing just as the run rate was touching tens. It was all suddenly looking doable.
The chase was less an assault, more a lively exercise in (mostly) stylish orthodoxy; Queensberry rules in Oswald Boateng. We arrived at the start of the 19th over with 14 runs required. Remnants favourites? This became 8 off the last six after a tight penultimate over. Grantchester favourites?
The final over had almost everything. Starting with a pressure-relieving lofted drive. Surely four? No, pulled back at the last minute. There were scrambled singles; a wide; a play and miss. With one ball to go, the scores were tied. A slight release of pressure. Naturally the field comes in. Will responds with a lofted cover drive, pose held ever so slightly. The crowd responds with cheers.
Will finished on a magnificent 99* (off 57 balls, with 18 fours), cunningly avoiding such vulgarities as having to celebrate a century. Chris offering a fine supporting 42* (off 41 balls, with 4 fours). The latter unleashed probably the shot of the evening: the florid cover drive of a young(er) David Gower or a bestubbled Moeen Ali. The greatest compliment we can give is that it generated cries of "Shot, Will" from the Remnants faithful.
This all meant we finished the game with a superb chasing total of 176/2 (our second highest successful chase in a 20-over game) and an unbroken partnership of 151* off just 94 balls (equal sixth highest known for Remnants). But of course, the real winner was cricket #BadgeBall: nearly 350 runs; the tightest of finishes; and a summer evening in Grantchester.
