Summer is coming to an end. Parker's Piece, so full of people when we played there in June, was largely empty today, and the few passers-by had coats and hats -- last time 'round it was warm enough that we even got some exposed buttocks. It was also the first 1:30pm start of the season, although there was a bit of a delay when we found the scoreboard was devoid of numbers, necessitating the inelegant use of chalk and eraser.
Our decision to field didn't look too good when the first ball of the innings was smacked to the boundary, eventually coming to rest a few yards from Regent Street. Even more portentious was that the striker in question had smacked 18 sixes in a 80-ball innings of 160-odd against Ashwell earlier in the season and, judging by his opening shot, seemed keen on a repeat performance today. Instead of getting a hiding, however, we got a bit of luck: he got an inside edge to a near-wide and was heading back to Hobbs Pavilion while we had the early breakthrough which has so often eluded us.
After that there was a curious hour of play during which 97 runs were added for the second wicket despite the bowlers having the upper hand throughout, Joe White (2/29), Andy Owen (1/46) and Daniel Mortlock (2/33) all making good use of the lively pitch. That Royston went to drinks still just one-down was partly down to dogged batting by their two and three -- both took plenty of blows to the body from balls rearing off a length -- but would you believe it if I told you we dropped both of them several times over? Yep, we dropped more chances than oh, I don't know, Kevin Pietersen. But, just like ``English'' Kevin, our ground fielding wasn't too shoddy, even if occasionally hampered by the unwelcome attentions of a large, enthusiastic and probably rabid dog whose initially friendly owners revealed themselves to be complete pricks when we made the radical suggestion that they restrain their idiotic beast.
Back on the pitch Royston had moved onto 106/1 in the 27th and it seemed they had an excellent base from which to accelerate towards 200 or so; and even when a spiralling top edge arced high towards point it seemed likely to result in yet another muffed chance. This time, however, Rod Dennis steadied himself under the spinning ball and clasped it tightly between what were no doubt rather sweaty palms. And this was the key moment: from then on our dominance on the field finally manifested itself on the blackboard -- during the last third of Royston's innings we took 6/53. Critically, our fielding lifted during this period, with the two Andys starring: Owen behind the stumps (with a catch, a stumping and a bit-part in a run out) and Page with some sharp work in close and superb returns from the boundary. Rog Shelley (1/42) completed the good bowling effort -- we didn't even need to call on Andy Page or Paul Jordan -- and we headed to tea having restricted Royston to 159/7.
Our chase started well, with Roy Page (25 off 32 balls), Rod Dennis (27 off 40 balls) and John Gull (17 off 29 balls after uncharacteristically playing out two maidens before getting off the mark) taking us to a very healthy 69/1 after 14 overs. Already Royston had used five bowlers -- they would eventually call on eight -- and with just 91 needed off some 156 balls, and with 9 wickets in hand, the only way we could fail to win would have been a sudden meteorite impact . . .
. . . or . . .
. . . do the words even need to be written? Yes, that's right, a Romsey Collapse (TM). And that's exactly what we got, losing 4/13 through a combination of cagey bowling, self-administered LBWs and foolish slogging. With 78 runs still needed and just our last 5 wickets in hand it now seemed we were the ones left hoping for an errant bit of space rock to slam into central Cambridge at a hundred times the speed of sound. Okay, okay, so things weren't that bad, but it was close to an even-money game now.
Andy Page and Paul Jordan, both fresh at the crease, found themselves being called on for their batting rather than their bowling, and settled down to play as carefully as the situation demanded. And that they did, nurdling singles, dispatching the bad balls and, on the few occasions they had foolish swipes, enduring stressed out calls of ``Heads down!'' and ``Easy does it, boys!'' from the boundary-line. Our efforts were also aided by the fact that the wheels were starting to fall off for Royston: there was a two-bowler over that included 5 wides and 2 no-balls; a catch taken off a chest-high full toss that was also a no-ball; a total of 21 runs in bowling extras; and several singles that turned into boundaries when the ball went through the fielder.
The runs ticked down steadily, and in the end we won rather comfortably, Paul scoring a chanceless 14* (off 34 balls) and Andy, having hit out towards the end, finishing up on 48* (off 62 balls).
For a while it seemed there might have been four unaccounted runs to take Andy to the half-century he clearly deserved, but unfortunately it turned out to be yet more wides that were missing from the book. Still, it does mean that Andy has joined Ev Fox, Andy Owen and Roy Page in the four-way race for the batting award: all four have qualified and and are averaging 30.50, 32.83, 28.60 and 27.10, respectively. Today also saw the two contenders for the bowling award solidify their positions: Rog Shelley has 12 wickets at 18.08 and Joe White has 15 at 19.67. Joe's played his last match for the season, so Rog has the prize sewn up if he can ensure rain for the next two weeks . . .
In the wider context of the league this win has taken us out the of the relegation zone, at least for the time being. Moreover, as our final two matches are against Wilbrahams II and Ashwell (currently sixth and eighth), our fate will most likely be in our own hands -- if we can win one of those two games then the Division 2 batsmen will have to endure being dropped by our fielders for at least one more year.