Our opponents today were the Wombats, 20 year veterans of the tournament – a classic case of old meets new. As was pointed out to us when the fixture list was published: “Wombats vs Beavers – you couldn’t make it up!”
It took a while to locate the team after the carnage of the previous evening however we finally reconvened at the luxury D2 hotel and repaired to the less luxurious but more appropriate O’Malley’s Irish pub for a team meeting and a restorative full Irish breakfast. After all, when in Rome……
Onwards to the Gymkhana Club and the urgent application of some beer. The chaps, true professionals that they are, were soon in the nets, working hard on fine tuning their game. On reflection we should maybe focus on the tuning first, and get fine about it at a later date, but you cannot fault the commitment,
The toss was an unorthodox affair – the Earl of Wombatshire, no doubt suffering from the long walk round to our tent, announced that they had never lost a toss in 20 years and were not going to start now – apparently this is a time honoured tradition of the tournament. The SBCC however are no respecters of tradition, so in the glorious art of compromise, a coin was tossed and the Womabts called shortly after it had landed. They elected to bat first.
In a radical development from day 1, John had broken off his patrol of the boundary to agree to be included in the draw rather than dictate his place in the batting, and so the names were drawn by our photographer Mark, whose work will hopefully be displayed on this site very shortly. The draw was kind to Dicky the wickie, sending him in to open the innings with Matt, who had been devoting considerable time and attention to his duties as head of banter. Chas was the third name out of the hat, with Nige at 4, Chris at five, and the last name to be drawn being the one and only John. And this was not even fixed! So far so good, or so we thought. Just as we were all getting into “the zone” it turned out that John was unhappy with the hand that fate had dealt him, and declared that he did not want to bat at six as he was keen to have an innings. In the spirit of team-ness (made up word), and possibly to stop him going on about it, Chas agreed to swap and peace was restored.
And so to the game. Chas completed his stretching exercises just in time to steam in off his 3 pace run and send down a penetrative although ultimately unrewarded first over. Some nifty footwork from Millers in cow corner saved a certain boundary and at the end of the over the Wombats were under pressure at what was for the SBCC a highly creditable 9 for no wicket. The boy Begley had carried his form into day two, and most importantly: no wides!! Up stepped the big man from Belfast to inject further pace into the attack and let the Wombats know they were in a game. The pressure was maintained and despite the lack of wickets. Things were not looking too shabby after two overs. Little did we know… First change is a pivotal role in any form of the game, and Nige with his mix of wides and complete tosh is undoubtedly not the man to fill this role. The board ticked on and suddenly the Wombats were disappearing over the horizon. It was down to Millers to see us home, but the line and length days seem to be a thing of the past. The extras total ticked up to 42 and the Wombats returned to their tent, very happy in the knowledge that they had to defend 77 for 1.
After 20 minutes re-hydration, Dicky and Matt strode to the wicket to launch our chase. A stylish single from the Fordster put Millers on strike with aggression seeping out of every pore. After a brief look at the bowling, he opened his shoulders to launch one over the marquees. Ten out of ten for intent – hit out or get out! In this instance, sadly, it was the latter as a gentle top edge looped into the stomach of the wicket keeper. After a short delay, both the ball and assorted other household items were retrieved and the game could resume.
And so the game itself petered out into a comfortable victory for the Wombats. The Dickster was a rock in defence, breaking Chas’s record the previous day by carrying his bat for 6. John edged and nurdled his way to 11 and our most productive player, extras, saw us through to 46 for 1 and second place.
By the way, correction to Day 1 report, Millers scored a rather impressive 10 in the first game, rather than the slightly pitiful 5 as reported. We therefore forgive him his misfortune in this game.
We repaired to the Wombats tent for post match libation and extended them an invitation to join us in Tuskers Bar. Whilst they were unable to join us this time round, we have no doubt we’ll see them before the end of the week and we were pleased to welcome our neighbours, the Sa Pa’s along with the Divine Felons, The Taranaki Taverners and most importantly, the umpires for another thoroughly enjoyable and hopefully lucrative night for the SBCC clubhouse.
More news tomorrow, however rumour has it that our Northern Irish contingent called it a night at 7.00 am this morning – oh the stamina of youth…
