Match
reports
Weather: cloudy but delivioed
Tea: good to soft
Late: Brindo (whisky) and Buzzard
(passenger)
The disconcertingly close village
of Theydon Bois, Essex, was the location for the Harpenden
Cavaliers' (est.1999) fourth game of the 2005 season.
Stand-in skipper James 'The Hat'
McHanford won the toss and elected to bat on an even, green
wicket. The opening partnership of the beclocked Jay Wise
and the bebalding Azar Mahmood promised much, yet before
you could say 'lots of fit', both were back in the hutch,
Jay to a momentary (momentary?) loss of concentration and
Aaron to a direct hit/ calling debacle. Fraser looked good,
as ever, but then so did Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction.
That said, there is no disgrace in being caught behind for
16, even when the wicket keeper is only eight.
SNR and The Hat steadied a mildly
rocking ship, putting on, well, hard to say seeing as we
had to use their scorebook, but most likely sixty or so.
Jim looked in especially good nick and it was a suprise
to everyone when he perished via a toe-ended pull to mid-on.
However, that only brought short-a*se Brindo to the crease.
The minature Brindley took some time to shake off the remnants
of one of Scotland's finest malts, but eventually did so,
with aplomb, amassing vital runs senior p-ro, the g-oat.
When Simon was finally castled for a measured, "scrappy"
(F.Tant) and timely 65, Burton cameod for 15, Wordsworth
anti-cameod for 4 and JNR protected his average by purposefully
avoiding the strike. Brindo finished on 61*and the Cavs
had 237/7 off their 40 overs.
Though deemed "probably not
enough" by the ever-pessimistic Buzzard, spirits were
high at tea.
Timmy Eff opened the bowling from
the 'field' end and was immediately on the shekel, cutting
off the run supplied to the openers' bats. His strangulation
paid off, twice, including their first team captain. At
the other end the metronic and bespectacled dwarf that is
Brindley was unrelenting in his accuracy. Replacing Brindo,
The Buzzard swooped, claiming two wickets in his first over,
including one with his first ball. Sean "competitive
dad" Roy sured up one end and was rewarded with the
vital wicket of the annoying bloater, who had earlier been
spilled by Wordy, one of two catches dropped by The Bonk
in an otherwise (otherwise?) tidy display.
The 'Bois were five down, 160 short
and required eight an over. For half an hour, well-spoken
army boy and shaven-headed, mild-mannered bruiser threatened,
but when Tant struck, dislodging the desert rat with military
precision, the slimest of Theydon Bois hopes were dashed.
As the game dribbled to a Cavs win,
SNR decided to speed things up by lobing slow off-spinners
to a man with his eye in, but victory was already a formality.
As they marched off at 7.45, the Cavaliers had recorded
their second victory of the campaign, by 50 runs.
MoM - SNR and Brindo, dead
heat.
