Josh Lee and Nick Foord were the stars of the show as the Badgers maintained their electric start to the season. Vital contributions with the bat allowed the Badgers to chase down a moderate total and enjoy their first win over the Norsemen.
Having been invited to field, Stewart Mcluskey led his troops onto the rain-soaked outfield and fired them up for the battle ahead. Leading the side for the first time in place of the absent Barker, he considered a number of captaincy styles before finally opting for the ‘still quite drunk from the night before’ school of skippering. It marked an extraordinary transformation from a lowly player who faced the wrong way when fielding to a commander juggling the responsibilities of leadership while managing an array of characters, each more deviant than the last.
Hampered by the rain and the muddy pitch, the bowlers did remarkably well to produce so many legal deliveries, let along facilitate the demise of the batsmen. While wickets fell at the other end, it fell to the Norsemen’s Scandinavian talisman to bludgeon the lion’s share of the runs. Peppering five fours and two sixes, his dangerous innings was only ended by an outstanding catch on the boundary by Alex Morse. Mere centimetres from the boundary, he saved a certain six and plucked the ball from the air as if he were an Australian celebrating with the Ashes urn above his head (an impossible fantasy but try to imagine it if you can).
Set just 116 to win from their 35 overs, the Badgers were in no hurry as they crawled to 28 for the first wicket. However, just a handful of balls later, the score stood at 29 for 4 and the Norsemen cheers were beaten only in volume by their wicket-keeper’s belching.
Lee was still there and, supported by a crucial innings from Hirst, he scored 47 priceless runs to get the Badgers back in the hunt. Nevertheless, his fall at 75 for 5 brought Foord to the crease with the required run rate still hovering above five an over. The match was very much in the balance.
Or so everyone except Foord thought.
Blocking his first ball, he then proceeded to smear an astounding 31 runs from his next 12 deliveries. Angrily swatting away everything the Norsemen threw at him, he wrapped up the victory with three overs still remaining.
As the last vestiges of alcohol ebbed away from his body, Mcluskey took a beer from the pavilion bar and sat back to toast another excellent team performance and his first win as captain.