Version 1 (for the attention deficient): When setting out to write this I was tempted to keep it short and sweet. They batted, we batted, game drawn. But having seen Ross’ mammoth effort for the tour report, I feel compelled to put in a little effort at least.
They batted well, we bowled okay. We had a lovely tea courtesy of Paul. We batted okay, they bowled okay. Game Drawn.
Version 2 (for everyone else): Having lost the toss and been sent to field, we walked out full of confidence and relishing the prospect of an early tea. The dream took one step closer to becoming reality when Nick, opening the bowling with myself, took the first wicket of the day. The delight however was short lived and it would be the last moment of ecstasy for quite some time, the opposition could bat. The old adage of wait for the bad ball didn’t seem to apply for their second wicket partnership, all balls whether they were outside off, hitting middle stump or going down leg seemed to be dispatched to wherever there wasn’t a fielder – the talented bastards! Nick finished on 1-24 off 6, I returned figures of 0-16 off 5, Walkie 0-39 off 5, Dino and Dave finished on 0-38 off 5 and 0-23 off 3 respectively.
With our heads dropping, cometh the hour, cometh the man. Jordan Oaten reminded us all what it’s like to smile by producing a brilliant spell. His efforts not only slowed down the run rate but also yielded the wicket of their opening batsmen who was closing in on his hundred. Jordan finished with figures of 1-33 off 8 (last over went for 16 which was a shame) and at the other end, the returning Jack Rogers finished with 0-21 off 6 and Darren 0-16 off 4.
After tea, Dino and Dicky P set about chasing down Reigate’s 229. As they were progressing through the gears, disaster struck. Pushing for a quick second Dicky injures his knee halfway down the track and is ultimately run out for 2. Chris ‘Lofty’ Lock came in at 3 and despite having not played cricket for 10 years seemed strangely calm as he strolled out. Soon joined by Darren (Dino out for 4), the two set about bringing our score up to a respectable level with combination of big hitting and rotating the strike at the end of every over. Darren eventually departed for a solid 54 and Chris went for 9.
With 15 overs left in the game and Paul heading back to the pavilion after an unfortunate top edge, it became essential that we batten down the hatches and secure the all-important draw. That’s exactly what I told Jack to do and despite not being able to do it myself, he did me proud. Not scoring a run until I’d departed for 25 and Nick had hit 15 of his 19 runs. He eventually left Walkie Talkie the task of blocking out the final few balls. Game drawn.
Ainsley’s ‘Spicy’ player of the day went to Jordan Oaten for the best spell many of us have seen him bowl. SB went to Jordan Walkling for a combination of reasons, most notably two dropped catches, one included running into Dino.
– Jordan