Business vs Pudong Lumberjack, Aug 14th

Half the team met at the Camel with the usual late arrivals, and the other half at the ground with the usual late arrivals. All honourably fined later. The Camel was encircled in rain however hopes were high that the threatening weather would stay clear from the pitch so there was no repeat of last weeks draw. This was a game the Business boys needed to win to stay in the hunt for a semis birth. Considering no one really wants to know about occurrences at the Camel or cares about the usual debate and banter on the bus, let’s get straight into the game.

Upon arrival to the SRFC, we found the 20min downpour which occurred earlier left the turf soaked. Kit-bitch Tubby left everyone’s water-wings behind, except his own, so it was sink or swim. Into the fray strolled “the Mut”, who thought he’d leave an early mark on the game by defining the boundaries as well as everyone’s bags.

Stand out performers worth a mention prior to the start: the Mut, Filthy felt more at home with the Leisure and Sir Dick’s imitation of Dipso slip catching prowess. Dismal display springs to mind! Was this a sign of some technical batting to come from the specialist 5th drop pinch hitter? The team quickly saw him to the slip cordon and gave the log of wood to the El Capi-tain. Agghhh, and then Sir Dick was given the nod to take the team warm-up and was accordingly fined later. Enough said.

El Capi-tain Dipso won the toss and elected to field on the soggy SRFC carpet which was a questionable decision at the time, but then again it was Pudong he was putting in to bat.

Cranky led the boys from his members end, firing down some absolute crackers with the wind behind his tail leaving the Pudong openers only able to score runs by taking big top edges over the safe hands of the business choir consisting of, John “sticky fingers” Leppa and Mike “the mouth” Tubby and Tim “I got the legs” Tiny. Dazzler opened at the clubroom end into, at times, what seemed to be a shifting stiff breeze. Unsure of which way to hold the ball, he struggled to stop it from moving both ways. Of course this carefully planned tactic not only had the batters confused but also members of the choir and the Cranky-man himself, who was caught chatting to the umpire and not catching the ball. This of course ruined the Dazzlers figures which went from promising at times to custard.

It wasn’t long before Cranky’s decision to bowl from his members end paid dividends when one of his rockets shot off the edge of Bernie’s wood into the safe presidential mittens of Stats. Pudong 1 for 11 off 3.

Papas took over from Cranky’s member’s end after 4 and kept the batsman tied down with some swinging, bouncing deliveries (Tubby talk), and in just his second, some clever bowling saw a dolly sent down Sir Dick’s throat at long-on for an easy catch. Pudong’s second batsman sent back to the shed: 2 for 32 off 11. This bought David Boyle to the crease for his first bat of the season.

Dazzler bowled out his 8 overs straight, so it was a good time to bring some absolute Filth. The change had immediate effect when Pudong boiled over sending a screamer straight to Dazzler at point. Another was sent packing and Dazzler was off to the clubrooms to ice his fingers in the drinks bucket. Manoj A  Trois was called onto the paddock to fill the empty spot. Unbeknown to the team A Trois had been severely punished at the Leisure’s fine session and 5-6 draughts later he was fielding for the big boys clearly steady on his feet. Leppa left his mut in the rafters while he sent an assortment of chocolates down for what might be his finest bowling spell ever, 1 for 32 off 8.

Making a long fielding story short, stand out performances: the El President behind the sticks, taking 3 catches and one superb diving catch, in-full-flight to his right, in front of second slip off the Filthy-man. The Filthy man took 4 for 35 off his 8, along with a making a simple catch look simply outstanding. Paps, Cranky and Leper chimed in with 2 scalps each. So Pudong were all out for 146 off 37 overs. A solid performance from the lads and an achievable target to chase with the bat.

El Capi-tain Dipso and the Filthy-man led the boys out to the middle scoring dot balls at will, with wides leading the scoring in the first few overs. The Filth-man looked safe taking 20 mins to consolidate a solid 4 singles off 15 balls before edging a nice catch to 1st slip. This bought Dazzler to the middle where he proceeded to tease the slips by edging a few swinging deliveries to vacant 3rd slip before middling his usual straight drives back over the bowlers head for a few fours. At the same time El Capi-tain was feeling lonely and decided to find the middle of his bat, striking some nice half valleys off his legs to the boundary. Soon after Dazzler was caught on the pads for the 4th time this season and sent packing for 24 off 33 and a 53 run partnership with the El Capi-tain was at an end. The Presi-don-tae Stats was next to the crease and it was just 7 balls before he dispersed the only 4 bouncers bowled at him in spectacular style to the boundary, however he was soon on his way, bowled for a quick fire 17 of 29.

This bought a Business choir member to the crease Tubby Tenor who continued his hard hitting form from recent weeks smashing a mighty 6 over mid-wicket and some nice boundaries mixed in the fray. Unfortunately his promising hitting was short lived as he was caught at square leg for 17 of just 9 balls. El-Capi-tain was next joined by Sir Dick, who was already warmed up from his slip catching debacle earlier during the day. He too made short work of settling in before his bat was cracking the ball to the boundary. Sir Dick and El- Capi-tain made short work of the remaining 30 odd runs guiding the ship to port in 31 overs. This was helped along by the 32 extras bowled by the opposition.

Highlight of the Business batting was El Capi-tain batting for two and half hours with some sensibly slow scoring, but did what was required of an opener to see the boys across the line. Thanks goes to the Korean and Tiny for joining the lads after starting with the Pleasure earlier and consistent scoring of the batting by Dave.

A win to the Business by 6 wickets. Well-deserved lads! Long may it continue!

• Sunday 14 August 2011 SRFC Near
  Pudong Power 146/10 (2.26)
  Bashers Business 147/4 (7.47)

2011 Division One