Victory on the Piece: George leads the way

The first two games of the season had seen two defeats. Going into our 3rd game, several team members were unavailable: holidays, cup finals, hangovers and visiting relatives were taking their toll. Three players were making their league debuts for Coton and we just managed to piece together an XI: well done George! It was with some trepidation that I caught the train and walked over to Parker’s Piece for the game against NCI IVths last Saturday.

I also reflected on the fact that I had never completed a cricket match on this historic ground: all previous attempts had been rained off. At least the weather was looking better this week.

There was a last minute panic as Alastair was nowhere to be seen and calls to his house and mobile yielded no results. Had he really said he was playing? Hadn’t he said he was going to The States? Had he got the score book? Andy was resigning himself to going behind the stumps and was starting to pad up. It’s hard to say whether Andy or the bowels were more relieved to spot Alastair and his dog team racing past Reality Checkpoint.

Meanwhile, Gabriel continued to search for the score book…

NCI batted first. George repeated the previous week’s fast/slow opening bowler tactic (with so many missing bowlers this was perhaps more of a necessity than an actual choice). It soon paid dividends: in his first over George induced an edge that was confidently taken by Alastair behind the stumps. Rob then had two confident LBW appeals turned down before taking a simple caught and bowled and George rearranged the remaining opener’s stumps.

Rob tried a tactic that had worked for him successfully in a mid-week match a couple of years ago. Getting very close to the stumps he delivered a straight yorker whilst kicking over the stumps at the bowler’s end. The opposition captain was trapped LBW but whether this was because of the diversionary tactic or just an unplayable ball we will never know. This put NCI at 10-4 and thoughts turned to an early finish.

George continued to work through the batting order whilst Rob was economical without taking another wicket. The number 5 was castled and another caught & bowled reduced the opposition to 23-6.

We were now reaching decision time. We were on top but the two opening bowlers were reaching the end of their spells (and one of them was doing his grumpy old man impersonation, limping around the outfield looking for sympathy).

Rob “Warnie” McCorqudale stepped up for his 1st spell for Coton and promptly took the 7th wicket (32-7). He went on to take the 8th, aided by a smart stumping by Alastair from a leg side wide. Richard bowled a spell from the other end that alternated some wide balls, some very wide balls and several unplayable deliveries that might have caused others to tear their hair out. By the time the 8th wicket went down the score had doubled and NCI were making a fight of the game. Their #9 comfortably outscored the rest of his colleagues: he got more than 50% of the runs that came off the bat.

Rob McC was tiring, Richard was being frustrated by repeated near misses, and debutant Jack (Rob, Dave, Jonny, whatever) delivered a couple of unsuccessful overs. It was time for King George again. In his 2nd over back (and 10th overall) he bowled their #9 one run short of what would have been a deserved 50. One run and three balls later he repeated the treatment sending leg stump flying to end the innings. NCI had gone for 114: George 6-23, Rob K 2-20, Rob McC 2-26.

While we waited for a fine tea to be ferried from The Cricketers Gabriel (“I’m the only player from the village”) entered the scores into his Excel spreadsheet (in lieu of a scorebook).

We set about the chase. The target of 115 was about the same as we had made in the two previous league games combined so looked quite challenging. Gabriel opened with Will Frost, the 3rd of our debutants. Will soon went, bowled by Hefferland for a duck which brought Alastair to the crease. Alastair was soon into his stride and contributed 23 of a 25 partnership by the time Gabriel unerringly picked out a fielder to make it 26-2. Perhaps it’s was eagerness to get back to his automated scoring system. Richard became the third person to be caught and bowled and at 30-3 things were looking sticky. It soon became clear that NCI’s change bowlers were not going to cause the problems that their openers had. Perhaps a lack of maidens was the problem.

Alastair was compiling runs steadily and a sudden burst of scorning from Jack-Rob-Dave-Jonny (“I’m a tennis player really”) started to swing things around. Two sixes into Park Terrace contributed to his 21 from just 11 balls and we were half way to our target. Two quick wickets turned this into “half way to our target with half the team gone”.

It was time for the skipper. He had lifted the curse on his new bat by demolishing the pavilion roof at Fitzwilliam 10 days previously. Today he took an instant liking to NCI’s bowlers. Two attempts to kill the same toddler about 50 yards beyond the deep mid wicket boundary had the liability lawyers readying their briefs. The ball was now speeding to the boundary with some regularity. The remaining runs were rattled off and we reached our target with 17 overs to spare: Alastair 41 not out, George 35 not out off just 17 balls.

This was a comprehensive win in front of the massed tourists and students on Parker’s Piece. Some excellent bowling & keen fielding was followed by a mix of elegant stroke play and vicious hitting. I am sure the great man – after whom the pavilion is named – would have approved.

Gabriel was left wandering the streets of Cambridge checking rubbish bins and assailing random bystanders to inquire whether they had seen a score book. Meanwhile the rest of the team retired to The Cricketers to (a) pretend that they lived up to the name; (b) enjoy some jugs of beer; (c) wind up the absentees about the chances of them getting back into the team.