Written by Craig Knight
The sun was out, the deck looked good, everyone was at the ground early (possibly a first for the Badgers), Captain Karl maintained his perfect record and lost another toss, 7 from 7 so far this year, and the Badgers were asked to bowl first.
Peach opened with a tidy spell of 0-9 off 6 overs, whilst Alex, The Jester, Johnson bowled a couple of handy overs from the other end to have 2-28 at the end of his first spell. Peach was unlucky not to have 2 early LBW, but alas, Apparently getting struck below the knee roll ok the back leg twice in 2 overs was not sufficient for the oppo umpire to change his stance, not out was the decision.
Allwood came steaming in after Peach took a breather. As the old saying goes, catches win matches, and just as Smith dropping Bavuma arguably cost Australia the world test championship, Foord dropping the opposition #3 early in his innings of 150 odd, arguably cost the Badgers their first win over JMC. One could argue it was the keepers catch, but as the keeper didn’t get a hand on it, and with the author being sympathetic towards keepers, that argument has been deemed Null and Void, it was clearly first slip’s catch. Sam Nariani rolled the arm over for a couple of overs, and having splurged on a set of pristine new Badgers whites mid week, he was in the running for best dressed, only to be toppled by the arrival of Dickie in his whites, a pair of ankle boot converse and a designer Japanese turquoise denim jacket which he had picked up at market in Brixton earlier in the week.
Their #3 forged on, Knight had a bowl, fruitlessly disputing the umpires wide single, with the hope of a wicket from the extra ball he was gifted, his sledging was silenced as the ball was aptly dispatched to the boundary line for 4 more.
Peach returned for a couple of overs mid innings, their #3 having bullied several of our bowlers out of the attack, a huddle formed, it was decided, Peach was to bowl bouncers, so with 5 out on the leg side boundary, Peach got one back for the bowlers union, hitting the batsmen in the lid, ‘That was fun’ whispered Peach at the end of the over.
Finally an LBW was awarded off Karl, the batsmen was probably unlucky to be given out as he was so far down the pitch he was turning for a second run when it hit him, but we’ll take it.
After dispatching Karl for 4, one of the middle order batsmen turned around to the men behind the stumps and said ‘have you guys not got any other bowlers?’ Before promptly hitting Karl’s next ball down Peach’s throat, a good catch saw him on his way back to the sheds. Charlie, the new recruit, also took a great grab, at least some of the lads can catch.
Alex got his man late, dismissing the #3 with a ball that clattered into middle, and JMC finished 7 down for 264.
As the second innings was about to commence, one of the oppo said, hope you don’t mind looking after my dog, handing over the lead, Trevor, made a nice addition to the watching Badgers faithful.
T-Rex and Knight strode confidently to the crease, with Rex suggesting we should just knock off these runs and prevent our newly recruited #3, Charlie, from having a hit on debut. That was a short lived idea though, as just as Rexy was looking good and starting to put a few runs away he was skittled for 11.
An admirable mention for Dickie, a true club man, he came down just to umpire (or maybe it was to watch his son play, we will never know), and like the oppo ump, he too knew how to say ‘Not Out’ when a batsman was struck on the pad.
Knight probably wouldn’t have passed a breath test before the start of play after enough drinks at Lords the prior day to forget the runs South Africa had amassed, and after head butting a shortish ball off the opening bowler, he probably wouldn’t have passed a HIA either, had one been administered. He was clearly rattled, only adding a few more runs to his score before being caught attempting an overhead smash, off what can only be described as a head high no ball, unfortunately, square leg failed to call it and he was on his way.
Charlie played a couple of elegant shots but fell soon after, bringing Warman and Foord to the crease. Charlie had warned the skipper earlier in the week that he would have to leave early for ‘an event’, turns out that ‘event’ was his best mates wedding, solid start to your Badger career, choosing the team over your best mates Wedding. Respect.
At this point, Foord had an aggregate of about minus 150 for the day following his dropped catch and a few head high no balls of his own, he had a lot of work to do, but time was with us… or was it? With the flicking of a switch, the red mist swept over Warman who decided he was going to have a piece of the first change bowler, a swipe outside off, an attempted lap scoop thing and a missed pull shot. Foord hurried down to have a word, and thankfully Warman decided to put the attempted lap scoop over the keepers head back in the locker before any more damage to egos, or helmets was done.
The pair built a solid partnership and the game was almost in the balance, the oppo first slip even applauding a lovely drive from Warman, ‘nice shot grandad’ he murmured, luckily it went unheard by most or the Warman-Scoop may have come back out…
Rexy was deployed to square leg umpire after drinks, and returned a few overs later stating he had enough of the oppos chat, someone else can do square leg now.
Unfortunately our run chase stuttered, most got a start, but unfortunately no one was able to go on with it. the Badgers total reached 185, a good 120 runs more than the last time we played this mob, but still 80 short of our target. Karl focusing on his average this week, with a valuable red inker, having been dismissed by a 12 yr old the week before, no hard feelings Karl.
I think we can all hold our heads high for a what was a good all round team effort, even with it being a loss, it felt somewhat of an even and definitely a hard fought contest.
Good Badgering gents, and I’m sure we will get them next time!