Pacific CC was a record company that competed against Virgin and lost out. Luckily for us their cricket team remained to continue their rivalry against Oxford based opposition. I won the toss and decided to bat first on what looked to be a pretty good wicket. Avinash and me did well until Avinash played over a straight ball from their leftie and got bowled. Their other opener was extremely good and continuously troubled me. He bowled an inswinger that seamed away (How do you bowl a bowl like that?) and various other deliveries that completely confused me. After two consecutive balls in which I edged one to the keeper and skied another to cover, both just dropping short of the fielders, I decided enough is enough. I promptly hit him for six over long on and after that, he didn?t bother me no more. Julian got a birth at number 3, in the hope of keeping him away from umpiring. He again showed his remarkable learning curve, being involved in a 50 partnership with me, and also playing all around the wicket. However he got bowled by trying to cut a ball that was too close to his body. Jason, our debutant, hit a nice couple of fours, and ended up on 35, while I ended on 66. I continued our proud history by hitting another six into Zoology's garden. The ball was lost but I didn?t manage to break their window. Maybe next time. With another 50 partnership between Jason and me, the foundation was laid, and it was left up to Martin and a rejuvenated Benson to increase our runrate and hit out in the last ten. Benson hitting his first 6 in five years decided to cash in and hit another two. While Benson?s sixes was all straight over the bowler?s head, Martin decided to take another route and hit over the keeper?s head, top-edging a six. Not the most elegant, but highly effective in the last couple of overs. We ended up on 196 for four after 40 overs. A very competitive score or so we thought. With our clubhouse under construction and the portacabins not very suitable for teas, Deb organised us the JCR in Harris Manchester College. The Teas turned out to be pretty good and hopefully we can continue this relationship with HMC. Thanks Deb, the teas were great. Deb and Martin opened the bowling for us. Martin (4/42 off 8) got the ball to swing and got rid of three very early on. Deb however was not so lucky. His bowling was a bit erratic and he went for sixteen off his last over. He bowled one great ball however: The ball was so fast it completely beat the batsman for pace, took of the bails from middle stump and still had enough pace to reach the boundary for four. Unfortunately it was a no-ball, and all it did was add five to the opposition?s score. Our main error was not being able to get their opener. A certain Miles Picknett, whom I?ve played three times in two years, and he did the same on all three occasions. His pattern has now become clear to me. All he does, is bide his time and concentrate in the beginning. Then he starts hitting out when you least expect it and take the game away from you. James, our debutant, and Tony, our veteran, came on first change and did really well pegging back the runrate for a bit. Benson, our man for the day, bowled even better and ended up on 8 overs for 28, very unfortunate not to pick up a wicket and going for 14 off his last. Even Prashant and Me got a bowl, but it was not to be. They made the score in the 37th over, with their man Miles Picknett, unbeaten on 81. A good day of cricket but we will have to work on our bowling and make sure we win more of these games. I will have to check up on the records but this must have been the game where the most sixes were hit. 11 in all.
QW