Back to winning ways in the heat

Captain Sai ever the optimist, declared today to be the first win of a new three-match streak having narrowly missed this landmark the previous Sunday. However, purely on making it to the ground, Salix were already on the back foot, with only nine players braving the heat at a hot and dry Barnes. Despite agreeing a leisurely 1.30pm start, the first ball was not bowled until 2.20pm, perhaps a reflection of the reluctance to go out to field.

Not the MCC, presumably named following settlement of a trademark dispute, were similarly short-handed and resorted to recruiting Father Christmas (or perhaps Gandalf?) to bring a bit of magic. We agreed on a 10 v 10 match, reduced to 30 overs, and on a very large boundary, this left plenty of gaps that Raj and CK started finding with ease.

In years gone by, number 3 for Salix was essentially an opener, but over the past few seasons, it has become increasingly common to face a lengthy wait on the boundary. Eventually, my time came after Raj tired from the number of twos required by the ever-youthful CK. After a scratchy start, the boundaries came more frequent, and in a Salix first (I believe) an all-run 4 without the assistance of overthrows. The ball crept up to the longest boundary followed wearily by a fielder; the thought of kicking the ball over the boundary must have crossed his mind.

The rest of the innings was punctuated by poor running, first when Spurr called Sai for a second, despite him and umpire CK already having stopped for a chat. This brought in Rich, who almost immediately became incapacitated with cramp and could hardly stand. Despite the entreaties from the boundary, he struggled on and gallantly reached 26 (and ruined any chance of him bowling or fielding effectively).

Salix finished on what seemed to be a very competitve 237 from 30 overs.

Our opposition, who are tempting another trade mark dispute by referring to themselves as 'Notts', started their innings quickly, but never looked like reeling in the score. The run rate climbed quickly up over 10 as the clock ticked past 6pm. Stand out moments include two very sharp catches behind square by CK (both off balls which would have been called wide). Surrey over 50's have picked up a match winner! Another was Spurr hitting the top off off with a slower ball, the change in speed was so great that the batsman missed the ball twice before it hit the stumps.

NtMCC seemed content to bat out the full 30 overs, and Salix could not force poor shots, so they ended up on a respectful 177, but a full 60 runs short of the target.