You Could Say That Cricket Is the Winner

But if you did, I might just kick you in the knackers

A quintessential English scene: a green oval in a park surrounded by trees, the sun slowly going down over the pavilion, the smell of skunk gently wafting over the outfield. 13 people dressed in white, seemingly standing at random around the field, everyone’s attention furiously fixed on what, to a casual observer, appears to be absolutely nothing. So far, this is just a cliché of nostalgia for a merrie old England that probably never existed anyway.

Look closer though and you will discover you have stumbled over a sporting contest of high drama. The last over, 6 balls with six runs needed to win, 8 wickets down, this one could go either way. This may not be professional sport, but the intensity of the contest and emotion is still there. However, before we discover how the story unfolds, we need to answer the question; how did we get here?

A few days before, the club are struggling for numbers, with more senior team scrambling for players – bank holiday weekend and all. So a couple of people in the Kapils are asked if they want to play for the 2s. My boy being one, this saddens me, as what father doesn’t want to play with his son? He takes it with a philosophical shrug though, happy to help out the club, and still in a lower league than he was playing last year so can take it in his stride. This does however leave the Kapils in a quandary, searching for players. We do get a full team out, but with the possibility of some people having to leave early.

So, the teams gather, some people on either side know each other so the greetings are friendly. It is a warm but not hot day with a bit of cloud cover, the Winton captain keen to bowl first to take advantage of the hard shiny ball (at this level of cricket, the same ball is used in both innings). We promptly lose the toss and get put into bat…………

It is, by a long way, the Kapils best batting performance of the season so far though. First game, we started well before collapsing to just over a hundred. Second game, we got our collapse in early before recovering to just over a hundred. This game, we started solidly against a moving new ball, before consolidating and accelerating through the middle overs. The bulk of the work here being done by Z Stainer-Reid and J Lee for a partnership of over 60; the maturity of their batting belying their young age. With 8 overs to go there were seven wickets in hand, time for the final assault. Due to some good bowling from Bournemouth this did not go completely to plan, with wickets falling regularly in the last few overs. Still, 158 is by far our best score of the season and represented a competitive total, not crushing but ‘in the game’.

The score was mainly driven by the youngsters in the team. One particular piece of praise I would like to give is their attitude in the final overs. When needed they hit out, trying to push the score on rather than preserve their wickets. Even when they got out it was the correct decision, showing a maturity and willingness to play for the team, rather than worry about their individual average.

Notable points of the innings? Two catches and two shots. The first catch was from a well driven on drive, a bit uppish but flying towards the boundary. Mid On just turned and started running to the boundary to see if he could chase it down. As the ball went past him, he looked over his shoulder stuck out his arm with the hand facing backwards and plucked the ball out of the air. A catch, that if it was at the coming world cup, would have the commentators raving about it. The second catch was much more village. A leading edge chipped up into the air between mid wicket and square leg, an easy catch for either of them. They both sprinted forward to take, and you can guess where this story is going……..One of them actually had it in both hands a split second before they crashed into each other and went sprawling. As square leg umpire I did my best not to laugh but it was kind of hard not to. The two shots were identical, coming in the final over. Both glorious lofted straight drives, the only issue being would they be a six or one bounce four. The first landed about 30cm inside the boundary and just plugged. The batters had stopped in the middle of the wicket to chat and admire the shot and ended up having to run a single in the confusion. The second was exactly the same. So two singles instead of two boundaries, would the missing six runs play a part in the game? Of course they would…….

The defence of the total started well, with the watchwords being ‘squeeze’ and ‘scoreboard pressure’. By drinks break at 20 overs Bournemouth were scoring at less than 3 an over, nowhere near enough. Then several things happened that allowed Bournemouth back in the game. The first was that the Kapils lost two players, their time was up and they had to leave. No blame is attached here, the rest of the team are grateful that they could make it at all. Fielding with 9 is a lot harder than fielding with 11 though….. Looking back, I think it did have a mental affect as well, the fielders were quieter, there seemed to be less energy in the field and mistakes that did not happen in the first 20 overs crept in. The was compounded by one of the bats pulling out a favourite village shot – the slog to cow, with which he was very successful, scoring 66 including a brutal over for 18. When he fell in the 36 over, lbw missing a slog across the line, there was only 12 needed off of 23 balls, seemingly game over. The fall of the wicket acted as a catalyst though, Winton finding their belief, the next 17 balls going for only 6 runs with another 2 wickets to fall.

So, back to where we started, 6 balls, 6 runs needed. Both bats and the bowler were amongst the younger members of the team, who could keep their heads the best? First ball, hit away for 2, advantage Bournemouth. Second ball through to the keeper but the bats run anyhow and get a bye, very risky. Next ball, through to the keeper, the bats run anyhow and there is a run out, which leaves the game at 3 needed off 3 balls, with one wicket left. I can’t help feeling that the Bournemouth bats had gotten over excited, suicidal running not yet needed, could it cost them the game? Now only 1 wicket remaing. The number 11 though was the Bournemouth captain, an older head that might be just what his team needed. Fourth ball, 2 runs to tie the score. It was noticed that the younger bat was backing up so enthusiastically he was well out of his ground before the ball was bowled. On having this pointed out to him and that he was at risk of being run out he cheerful pointed out that he should get a warning first – with the reply being told that this was the warning. Low level cricket is just for fun but does come with a competitive attitude. Fifth ball a dot, defensive shot back to the bowler. The non striking bat though was enthusiastically scampering way down the wicket screaming ‘yes’. The batter, still in his crease, and whose enthusiastically scampering days are, to be fair, well behind him shouted a despairing noooo….’. The backing up batsman turned to try and get back in his ground, but the ball was in the bowlers hand and he was closer to the stumps, a throw – and a miss! The last ball was hit for a single to wrap up a win for Bournemouth.

A truly enjoyable game, played in a friendly but competitive spirit, I could almost say that cricket was the winner, but if I did my family would be treated to the unedifying spectacle of me trying to boot myself in the nuts, and no one wants that. But it was, for all involved, an excellent day playing sport, what more could you want? Well, to be fair, I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I had won……..

Match Scorecard

Sometimes I feel it is so much easier being a professional sportsman. People go on about great international captains but picture the scene - Nassau County International Cricket Stadium. India v Pakistan, half way through the run chase, the stadium a cauldron of noise and energy. Over a billion people watching on TV. But who is this figure that has appeared on the boundary? Its Bumrah’s older sister. And what is she saying?

 ‘Jasprit, Hey JASPRIT, you have to go now!’

His reply, ‘can I stay and bowl just one more over?’

‘No, we have to pick your sister in half an hour.’ And off indeed he does go.

Yeah Rohit, you think you have problems as captain, try dealing with that………