Put into bowl on a flat track a fiery opening spell from Deb saw two early LBWs as Mike restricted the scoring at the other end. Two for 27 in the fifth over and we thought we had them, but the psychological barrier Quentin had instilled about their lefthander couldn't be broken as we dropped him once, twice no three times. As each full toss was dispatched for four a squeaky Australian voice could be heard coming from somewhere out near the boundary 'That's 10 bloody boundaries from full tosses. I'm counting them you bastards" Eventually Q was forced to resort to that 'most intelligent of dibbly dobbly bowlers' to break the partnership with immediate success as an off course full toss lolloped onto the stumps. With Watto also now steaming in from the Southern end at their new batsmen, success seemed imminent. But it was a bad day for Australian pace bowling as the new bat dispatched any yorkers, bouncers, and straight ones heading for off stump immediately to the fence. I believe that at this point the counting stopped. After I finally got the lefthanded to a skied catch, Pete replaced me at the northern end with immediate success and did a sensational job in restricting the oppo to 232/8 off 40 overs when they had been sitting comfortably at 182/4 after 30 overs. With undue confidence the St John's boys had kindly given us Quentin and Julian, vital components of the left handed star allrounders section of the team. We all sniggered to ourselves that they'd rue such generosity as Q walked out to bat with an average from last season of 112 resting easily on his broad shoulders. The shock to us all to see him depart for a duck could only be explained from the sidelines by resorting to theories about old college rituals, a sheep, and a set of incriminating photos. Fortunately it seems they had nothing on Chalky, who claims the benefits of a winter fitness regime were responsible for a fine knock of 69. Support came from that immobile rock of the top order, Matt, whose national campaign for the elimination of the single found a like minded soul in Chalky. Their vital partnership of 102 runs contained a grand total of 6 singles - a statistic that Croc insisted with pride that I make mention of. Tom then chipped in with a more southern hemisphere style 23. Julian then survived a couple of LBW appeals that I'm sure he would have given, before going to one that had to be given. With a nervousness, rarely witnessed in the Australian breed, due to the possibility of failing with bat and ball Watto went out to bat looking to get his eye in and possibly thinking about his average. When I came joined him at the crease we needed 80 runs of 10 overs, but some gut busting singles ensured we got them in eight. The most memorable moment was a 6 over long off from Watto that never got higher than 7 feet of the ground while maintaining a level trajectory. I'm sure Chris told me that it HAD to be a parabola. Anyway he finished unbeaten on 59 and the club got the start to the 'unbeaten' season that we wanted. Good form was finally shown by Bumby at the Royal Oak.
SD
Fines for the match:
Dropped Catches: Bumby (x2) 1-00; Pricey 0.50; Thomas 0.50
Firing squad: Bumby 0.50 (Giving Chalky LBW from a full toss)
Pie bowling: Bumby 0.50
Dissent: Bumby 0.50 (Arguing about said fines)
Haircut: Pricey 0.50 (There's only one Jason in our team)
Angry Pills: Watto 0.50
Dubious calling: Watto 0.50 (Calling for runs from umpire)
Late fines: Deb: 4.00; Watto: 3.50; Jason: 4.50