It all seemed quite normal at the start. Duncan's first over passed without incident and the trick of using Gregory as an opening bowler also worked quite well. The first hint of something unusual came in the third over, when the batsmen chose to run for a firm push to short cover, apparently fooled by Gregory's very slight fumble. But the ball was already in his hand, and his throw was accurate. Rhodri was rightly congratulated on the tasteful way in which he removed the bails, rather than crudely demolishing the stumps. The new batsman missed a swish across Gregory's line, and his successor scooped Duncan high to Adam at mid-on. We were well in control, it seemed.

The other opener had played a couple of powerful but crude shots against Gregory, one of which was stopped and might on another day have been caught by James Coughlan: and suddenly he picked up the fifth ball of Gregory's fourth over and deposited it effortlessly in the middle of the meadow beyond midwicket, losing the ball. With Duncan and Gregory out of overs, this was the start of a few overs of mayhem. Mark was selected, somewhat arbitrarily, as chief victim; but only Duncan, who had finished, and Paul Wilson, who chose not to start, escaped altogether. Even Kevin was treated roughly and the Jameses were thoroughly mangled. We were beginning to contemplate a score heading towards 250 when Alex dropped a chance off James Dutton in the deep; but the next ball produced another one, and Luke caught it. There was a brief respite, but before long they were off again. Adam went for 22 off one over, which at the time seemed like a lot; James Dutton's last over went for 19. Mark bravely returned for one more over, and the fielding promptly went haywire. Two straightforward catches went down in the deep. It is hard to say whether Gregory or Paul looked dafter. Gregory forgot to allow for the Coriolis effect, or something, and went and stood confidently about three yards away from where the ball landed. Paul at least stopped the ball, but then dropped it gently on his own head.

Once again we were chasing 180, with half as many overs to get them in this time. Luke and James drifted along at ten runs an over for a while. James played one beautiful shot off his legs before being very well caught at short midwicket. Adam replaced him and immediately hit a perfect square drive: he made an elegant 13 before picking out extra cover. But Luke's innings was indescribable. He played every shot in every book: baseball shots, tennis shots, golf shots. Shots from badminton, polo and the Eton Wall Game! Shots borrowed from lacrosse and jai-alai, with names only in Algonquin or Basque! And every one of these shots ended with a loud bang and the ball whistling away in a completely unpredictable direction, so that it was utterly impossible to set a field. One ball slipped from the bowler's hand and turned into a fastish full toss about two feet above Luke's head. A double-handed overhead smash sent it screaming back over the head of the umpire and away towards Trowbridge. Most of them went for four, which was just as well because when Luke did try running he ran into James, somewhere near cover. He made exactly fifty, and then tried something he had read about in Advanced Beach Volleyball and missed.

Suddenly, everything changed. Mark played the next ball, the last of the over, quietly (and misleadingly). Paul walked casually past the first ball of the next over, so far down that he didn't bother trying to get back. Rhodri played his first ball back to the bowler and swatted the next to midwicket: then both Alex and Duncan were bowled first ball. The bowler had taken not only a hat-trick but also four wickets in five balls (which is much rarer); and we had lost five wickets for no runs in seven balls. Kevin played the last ball carefully.

And the next moment, it all changed back again. Kevin collected ones and twos and contributed a few big drives as well; and Mark simply took over where Luke had left off. His shots were a bit more conventional; but whereas it was impossible to set a field for Luke, it was useless to set one for Mark, who simply hit the ball into the trees all the time. He also lost the ball once. One over contained three sixes, and with several wides and no-balls also included cost 28, making Adam seem economical. Mark followed these three huge blows with a late cut for four: this was no mere slogging. As the attack went on, an awesome possibility loomed: we might, after all, win. But the overs, which we briefly lost count of, as well as the wickets, were running out. Both batsmen were eventually bowled, and James Coughlan and Gregory were left to get 24 off the last over. They didn't do so badly: James hit the last of the game's many sixes, though it was a two and four overthrows; and we got five penalty runs which the opposition insisted we take when the ball landed in a cap. Considering that the innings had no middle at all, we had done astonishingly well, although Monkton Combe could evidently have defended a smaller total if they had had to.

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