The Badgers returned to the scene of the extraordinary run chase (https://www.batterseabadgers.co.uk/articles/springwatch) from 6 weeks prior. Nerves were high as: 1. the outfield was as bumpy as my son's chicken pox-ridden body and dangerous to field on 2. their opening bowler was spotted warming up 2 hours prior to the game - a clear sign that he was a pro
Captain-for-the-day Peach won the toss and, with only 3 Badgers present, opted sensibly to bat. Ben Marshall was promoted up the order to open the batting with Will Kenton. As the fully-warmed-up opener fired the first ball in, umpire Larsson fired a panicked "Hurry up we're batting first. Whoever turns up first, pad up" to the WhatsApp group.
Robin answered the call and padded up just in time to witness a run out. In the short time it took Ben to walk back from the middle, Robin chinned a full can of Red Bull and with veins full of taurine, he took Ben's place.
The objective was to survive long enough in the middle for all the other Badgers to arrive. Mercifully, they batted sensibly and kept the scoreboard ticking over at 8 an over during which the other Badgers sheepishly turned up with excuses ranging from "The throttle on my motorbike was dodgy" to "Sam Allwood has broken TfL".
Just shy of 10 overs, Robin's Red Bull wore off and he ran Will out. We were on 67 runs off 9 overs
As Ben Cornish took his place, there was a bit of hubbub from the spectators around the ground as people found whatever they could to protect themselves from the impending airstrike. Sure enough, one of his overs resembled an SMS short code 164661 prompting Hash to chuckle "Only Australians hit like that". High praise indeed from Mr Strike Rate himself.
Robin and Ben ended up making 44 and 39 respectively and they got us safely through 17 overs of the game. The remaining overs were sensibly seen out with some tap and run by the remaining batsmen and we ended up setting the Rabbits a tantalising target of 173. Based on total guesswork, the game felt finely poised with neither side having a clear advantage.
Hash and Sam A opened from the same end - this is the custom at Paddington (apparently, this is to protect the children's playground from flying cricketing projectiles despite the fact that most children seemed to be playing directly next to the pitch). The bowling was tight and the fielding was sharp.
The Rabbits' opening batsmen, who were clearly quite good, found the boundary early causing the fielders to just drop back a little. One of them hit 2 lovely straight drives for 4 in close succession but, on his third attempt, was caught and bowled by Hash. A few overs later, Sam's attacking line was also rewarded as the sticks went flying with the Rabbits on 58 /2 off 7ish.
As we all ran in to congratulate Sam, Cornish offered some words of wisdom: "Oi mate, if ya chuck it in the slot, you’re askin’ to get belted over the fence! Gotta bang it in a bit shorter, hey — make the bloke work for it." People started nodding pretending they understood a word of his advice. Those that did responded: "You can actually choose where you watch to pitch it?".
Karl took his advice and immediately lured their batsmen into a big shot only for the ball to land in Hash's glue-like hands.
The Rabbits were still in the contest though. They continued to track our worm and frustrate the bowling. Karl tried his best to take another wicket but Lee couldn't be bothered to take the catch. Peach brought himself on to bowl but struggled to follow Cornish's advice.
With the options running dry, he turned to the Badgers of yesteryear: First up, he turned to Robin but forgot to provide him with jelly babies. Then he turned to Lee, who reminded him that he was more a manufacturer of pies rather than wicket taker. He tried Cornish but as he only had spikes, he was unable to bowl on the astro strip. Finally, he turned to the debutant Ben Marshall asking "Can you bowl?" to which he responded "I can give it a go?".
Quiz time:
What do the following players have in common? - Daniel Vettori - Pete Cade
If you thought the answer was that they had both drifted cars around a cricket pitch, you would be wrong as Cadey can't drive. No, they were both cricketers who, in their prime, would use their left arms to do magical things with their balls.
Time to add Ben to the list. In 3 overs, he took 5 wickets (including their 2 top scorers) for just 7 runs! Incidentally, 2 of the wickets were stumpings from Will who, post-game said that it was his first time keeping (no one believed him because he was too good). The precision and consistency of his deliveries had everyone purring in admiration.
It was a hard-earned Badger win which everyone agreed could have gone either way until the last 5 overs. For his efforts, Ben was awarded BOTM and we all retired to the pub for some delicious suds.