Broughton Gifford Vs Venturers, Sunday August 31st

Venturers 143, Broughton Gifford 98

We had eleven available at various times but only nine actually turned up, Shubi and Harsh both being prevented by orders from higher authorities. There was no sign of Broughton Gifford either. One of them turned up a few minutes later and asked if we had any engineers on the team. We did, and they went off to try to start the roller. The rest of us sat around and speculated on what would happen if it broke down again but on the pitch, or what would happen if they could start and couldn’t stop it again. We decided that the best thing would be to take to the neighbouring field, put it into a tight circle, leave it until the fuel ran out, take it to pieces and then call the crop circle hotline.

After a while the engineers gave up trying to start the roller and we started to play cricket on the rather soft pitch. Roger gave a return catch quite soon, but Chris H and Nikhil made progress. Chris somehow managed a top edge when pulling, the ball reaching a great height but still falling far from any fielder. He didn’t make much of this piece of luck, though, edging to the wicketkeeper soon afterward. Manoj showed his usual solidity and hit a startling six, and Aby contributed some hefty blows before miscuing one and falling to a very awkward skier, skilfully taken. Manoj’s bat his bat stuck in the unsquashed pitch, running him out just short of fifty, and the rest subsided quickly, but we had a good score.

Chris’s second ball was short and didn’t rise, which made the opener’s decision to pull look silly. The other opener lasted a long time, but at the other end Chris steadily worked through them. One over from Aby yielded a six and a four but otherwise there was almost nothing, and he got his revenge through a good catch by Manoj, a ball after Manoj had nearly run out the same batsman. In his last over Chris finally defeated the other opener and he got a fifth wicket with his last ball. At that point Broughton Gifford were 23 for 6. Gregory was reluctant to bowl, so Chris M and Shrey had a go, but our ability to catch deserted us and the seventh wicket partnership lasted a long time. Nikhil eventually broke it and added another soon, but the last pair (Broughton Gifford had only ten) also resisted. The number eleven, once a notorious non-batsman, not only showed considerable defensive technique but even demonstrated a textbook cover drive when Gregory, talked into having a bowl, gave him the chance. Soon after, though, his partner strolled past one of Manoj’s very occasional slows and got stumped, bringing the season to an end.