The battle lines were drawn again as the vanquished
cricketers from the Mucky Duck were replaced by the Black
Swan all-stars who were attempting to gain their revenge;
................... Trickery was afoot, the all-stars arrived
on time ........... Sober, some were ready strapped up with
pads, arm guards, helmets, boxes in position with pressed
& creased flannels.
They were practising running catches, bowlers were limbering
up, press ups & stretching exercises were co-ordinated by
some on site trainer, the stench of lineament was everywhere.
Not to be deterred the Arab Cricketers went into a huddle
and disappeared round the back of the pavilion, not really
knowing what to do then they decided to throw balls at one
another, however it was decided that before anyone sustained
anything broken or dislocated, the toss should be made, Davison
lost and the Arab were put in.
Early wickets tumbled, mistakes were few on the fielding side,
there were no no balls or wides this time, |
the game was on, lesser teams would have capitulated;
not the Arab Cricketers, they were not about to lay down and
accept defeat without a fight; they played like demons, all
of them, running for everything, keeping the pressure on the
all-stars whose milky white flannels were now becoming stained
green & tainted .............. they were being run ragged.......
The fielding side called enough, it was half time. The chuckles
and sniggers from the all-stars was now replaced by sweat
starting to appear on their brows; on resumption the Arab
total rose to a creditable 147 after 30 overs this was at
least going to be a challenging tally.
Enter Raymond Alderson, bowling a sedentary pace of right
arm over, early wickets were taken, notably big Simon All
Star who was caught at mid off by Mark Wheeler, just as well
as Raymond had been run out by Mark in their innings and had
threatened to put Mark's house up for sale!!! The all-stars
looked anxiously at one another, morale was running low, |
this wasn't going to plan and they knew it.
Not giving a second thought to the possibility that some of
them may never walk again or at least not be able to get up
in the morning the Arab Cricketers were like a swarm of bees,
they were everywhere, runs were hard to come by and wickets
were falling ............ it was a tense time.
Requiring 35 runs off 10 overs the All-stars ripped up the
plan and decided to revert to slogging; enter "Typhoon Keeney".
Roared on from the Arab supporters he ran up and delivered
an UN-playable delivery that sent all three wickets cartwheeling
and bails scattering, the crowd went wild, unfortunately this
was the last wicket to fall.
Against all the odds and the All Stars scheming the Arab Cricketers,
despite performing heroically with the bat and ball lost the
battle, the All-stars carried the day, but they knew they
had been in a game.
Copyright rod@householdlinens.com |
