Bashers Slayers Lumberjack, 1 March

Bashers Slayers Lumberjack

It’s taken a while to get the scorecards from the arena, hence the slight delay in posting the match reports. This was a classic Chinese one-day weekend, and the Slayers were struggling for numbers until Messi and Parrot chirped that they would play late in the day before the match up. I should also like to mention that Hardon put his name forward at Bashers drinks on Thursday, and had to be reminded that he was playing on match day!

There was the England vs Sri Lanka game starting at 6am, so naturally the Bashers arrived at the Camel in time to watch a Dilshan – Sangakara – Jayawardene special unfold in the second innings. Messi arrived to show off his new Cranky-esque hair style (shaven head and full beard). We left a disappointed Cassius at the Camel and headed out to the Arena in 2 cabs (as Hardon bought out his sons along with a Dominos pizza).

Bashers Slayers 59 vs Pudong 110
The Bashers lost the toss and were put in to bat, and the first thing we noticed was the sudden zip in the bowling matched by some late swing. Apparently, the arena had new balls for the games just in time for the end of the season. Shit Shoes and Hardon started adequately, but the next pair of Messi and Long Dong had a nightmare.Parrot and Postop finished strongly but a couple of run-outs cost them a good score, and the end result was a mediocre 59. The Pudong side had no difficulty in getting the runs, and the only thing to note is Long Dong pulled out his season best effort of 4/3 with the ball and was at times unplayable.

Pudong 91 vs Bashers Slayers 93
After the disaster of the first game Pudong split into two teams to play the next games against Hot Dogs and the Bashers. Shit Shoes finally won a toss and decided to bowl. Hardon started off bowling the Pudong opener off the very first ball of the game, and it was suddenly all on! Parrot came to the party with a hat-trick, on his way to figures of 3/7, and Long Dong continued his strong form with the ball (a good sign for the upcoming outdoor season). However, Parrot fielding off his own bowling decided to knee the floor and was in some pain… so took up the keeping gloves, only to step on the ball and fall again. It left the Bashers with only 5 men in the field for a couple of overs, and Pudong posted a total of 91. Shit Shoes and Hardon opened up with a solid 41 run partnership, with Shoes hitting a series of 5s to the back net. Long Dong and Messi were solid (no suicide stumpings from Long Dong this time). Parrot was still limping, and so Messi batted again in the final partnership with Post-op. It came down to the final delivery, with the Bashers needing 2 runs to win. Messi had a huge swing, and missed… and the keeper missed too… and Post-op called a single… the Pudong fielder took a shy at the stumps at the bowlers end and missed… so Post-op called the second run to give the Bashers their first win in 5 games!

It was a good effort to get a team together for the Bashers so close to the New Year holiday, and good to end the losing streak in such dramatic fashion.