TYRRELSTOWN 275-9 (40 overs)
Amit Kharb 92
Neville Case 3/34
HALVERSTOWN 277-6 (37 overs)
Paolo Rosa 84 Lijo Joseph 60 Andy Wordley 48 Anoop Kurian 28*
What a day, what a win, what a run chase! This one will live very long in the memory of all of us who were there. A grey, windy, chilly day was lit up by an onslaught from Paolo and Lijo, but there was much more to this victory than that. It was due to the steadfastness of our bowlers, lots of contributions with the bat and a lesson in hanging in there when a game is going against you - things can change quickly in a game of cricket but I don't know if I've ever seen it change so dramatically in favour of the team chasing. I can't remember ever being more delighted at the end of a game.
They won the toss and chose to bat on what turned out to be a fast batting track with a quick outfield. Most balls that made it through the field went to the boundary, so even after a few overs I remember thinking to myself "What's a par score? I think it could be 250." Neville's figures were really good (Anoop and Tojo also bowled tidily) considering that the bowlers generally were hit for 7 or 8 an over. Most of their batters got between 15 and 30 runs each in what increasingly turned out to be a tough day in the field. After 30 overs they were 201-4, in full flow and we were getting a right chasing. Half our team was injured - Paolo's back had been really troubling him since early in their innings, Sam hurt his groin, Tojo wasn't moving freely and Seán had pulled up chasing a ball on the boundary (where else?). A mention for Sam who was keen to bowl despite his injury. They even offered us a fielder which was a decent gesture in what turned out to be a very competitive but sporting contest. For the first time this year I called everyone together and said "Look, we're really under the cosh here. No matter how many runs they get I do not want us to fold. I want us to support the bowlers and to see good body language for the remaining overs." In other such circumstances I have seen teams come off the field and you know to look at them that they are beaten. We did succeed in stopping the innings from descending into a real thrashing and while I'm sure we came in thinking it was a hell of a total and we were unlikely to win this one, we were taking it as well as a team could, given the state of the game. We hadn't folded and we had just about kept ourselves in it.
The task was this: we needed to score at seven runs an over against the team sitting on top of the division. We then proceeded to lose our first wicket at only 2 when Chris clipped a ball powerfully and low off his legs past their most unfit fielder, who stuck a hand out for a brilliant and most improbable one-handed catch at backward square. A very unlucky dismissal and we were off to the worst possible start. Adriaan and Andy then steadied the ship and we made very good progress to reach 72-1 off 13 overs. Even then I was thinking "We're doing really well now, scoring at 5.5 an over and that won't be enough!" Adriaan played very sensibly and Andy continued his excellent form this season with a mixture of correct defence and some very aggressive drives and pulls. But Adriaan, Tojo and Andy were then out in fairly quick succession to leave us at 91-4. There were still 185 runs to get as we approached drinks. The writing was on the wall and if this game was to continue as basically every other game I've seen, we were likely to fall short (possibly well short) of 276.
But who was to know that the writing on the wall would say Paolo and Lijo! There followed a festival of clubbed boundaries as Paolo (with a bad back) smashed the ball around as only he can. Lijo (who wasn't really up to running much between the wickets) at the other end finally hit out as he loves to and the ball started its tour of the ground - and beyond. The middle of Lijo's innings reads 44616161646 and the sixes were enormous! They weren't slogs either, they were struck with great power and timing. The middle of Paolo's innings reads 6124641414166. Consider this: after 18 overs we were 91-4. After 29 overs we were 217-4 and back in the game having scored 126 runs in 11 extraordinary overs at more than 11 runs per over. But we lost Lijo and at 217-5 needing 276 on most days you'd be thinking we had a chance but you wouldn't call us firm favourites.
But this was not 'most days'. Paolo struggled on for a while longer until he was out for 84 and even then we'd have been forgiven for thinking that we mightn't make it. But enter Anoop, who defended well while continuing to add boundaries and it started to dawn on us that we could win it. He and (hobbling) Seán were there at the end when a ball went for 4 byes and we danced and cheered an incredible victory. But NO! The ball had hit a pad, no shot was offered and it was (correctly) called a dead ball. On the sidelines the torture continued. But we got to repeat the celebrations a few balls later as we made the target - incredibly - with almost three overs to spare with the team having scored 186-2 off the last 19 overs. It's a win that keeps us in the hunt at the top of the table. We were ecstatic.
I remember commenting at one stage "this would be a good one to win". There were a few smiles of acknowledgment that if the game was to continue as it usually would, we were facing a comprehensive defeat. Well, we weren't smiling at the end - we were jumping for joy. Even the lame were dancing around!
On reflection, the foundations for this win were set in the last ten overs of their innings and the first ten of ours. We stuck at our bowling when the runs were flowing and we could have folded or conceded another 20 or 30. There were no tantrums, no finger pointing and no panic, we stayed disciplined. We then batted steadily and while not at the required rate, we stayed in touch with it. On that platform the fireworks were launched. It was a real team effort.
After all that and following a well-earned week off, next up for H1 is a game at home to Ongar on Saturday 17th August.
Lastly, it was lovely to see approval from Michael (Mick) Neville in the comments after the game. It is only a few short years since he was opening the batting - and captaining - this team but he's now unable to do so due to illness. While he was a fine batsman, I'm sure he won't mind me paraphrasing him (in his distinctive Brummie accent) with something like "I may not hammer the ball to all parts of the ground, but I'm damned if I'm giving my wicket away." There is still some of that spirit in this team and this one was for you Mick.
John Threadgold 06/8/24