CARLOW: 105 for 9 off 20 overs
Batting: R.O’Driscoll 26* Vishnu 18 Milton 15 Capi 14 Laeeq 7
Bowling: Gopi 2-5-1 Vishnu 3-15-1 Laeeq 3-21-1 T.Gillespie 3-12-0 Ladi 1-4-0 R.O’Driscoll 1-12-0 Brian 1-6-0 Milton 2-13-0 Moshan 2-14-0
OAKS: 107 for 5 off 19.4 overs
Batting: B.Ashmore 25* K.Hodson 18 S. Hayes 17 G.Bayer 17 H.Beaumont 6
Bowling: G.Bayer 2-6-3 A.Pandey 3-11-2 D.Drumm 3-12-2 S.Hayes 2-0-9-1 J.Kirby 2-11-0 B.McAllister 2-11-0 G.O’Shea 2-14-0 B.Ashmore 1-13-0
This was a game of heroics. “Heroes” may be a bit OTT, so let’s designate them TOP (Totally Over Performing) men. The first TOP man was Jimmy Dooley, coming up trumps after a very late call from me when the Dublin lockdown deprived us of Cavaliers. By Friday afternoon the game was on, even though they had a Sunday game too. Their team would comprise League, Development and some social players- much like our own.
In keeping with Carlow’s democratic leanings noted previously, there was a small huddle to agree the rules,with young captain Laeeq (TOP man generally) having the casting vote which gave us a mainly T20 game, with limits on bowling and batting. Winning the toss, Carlow batted first. Kevin and Jon had their openers struggling early on but they settled in and the runs started to add up. Robert (TOP man) hit a fine 26 not out with Milton ably supporting. At the half way mark they had 62, 4 runs more than when beating us earlier in the season. Our own Vishnu, returning to his Carlow roots, contributed 18 before Abhi struck to dismiss him and Eoin. Suddenly wickets started to fall- an astonishing 3 for 6 for Gunter, two wickets for Abhi and myself and 1 for Stuart Hayes. The true TOP men, though, were our fine fielders and most especially Cecil behind the stumps. Who can recall a wicket keeper taking 5 wickets, an unbelievable 4 of them stumpings? TOP man of the day and probably the season. Their final wicket fell on the last ball with a runout, giving a total of 105, 1 more than they won with previously.
Barry Ashmore and Kevin opened confidently for The Oaks: after 5 overs we were 5 ahead of target but after Barry retired (a super 25, including 4 boundaries), we slowed sharply. At the halfway stage we were well behind the run rate and Brian’s earlier “We are cruising” and Kevin’s “What’s the hurry ?” when he was out in the 13th over came back to haunt us. After 16 overs, despite good work by Stuart and Gunter, we were 14 runs behind Carlow’s rate. Brilliant bowling by Gopi (TOP with 1 for 5, including the only maiden of the day) had us worried but Gunter eased nerves with a 6 and Hubert with a sweet boundary. We expected double TOP (batting and bowling) Gunter would see us home, but his run out on the first ball of Vishnu’s final over had us terrified. Abhi had just gone in and there was a kerfuffle as the batting order was shuffled and I was sent out to face. Dot ball for his second, then I scrambled 1 to achieve my goal of having someone else face the last 3 balls. Luckily that was Abhi and TOP man that he is, struck the ball firmly- though not in the direction he intended. We ran madly, neither knowing where the ball was. Fortunately, to our surprise, it was a boundary and the win was won! This was the first time I have captained a winning Oaks team for over two years, when we beat White City. For that, I have awarded myself TOP man too!