Bashers Social Sixes Lumberjack, 16 Feb ’14

Bashers Social Sixes looking sharp in the new team shirts

Bashers Social Sixes 105 vs Pudong 74

Batting 1: S.S. (9) & Hollywood (16): 25 runs
Batting 2: Latex (11) & Long Dong (18): 29 runs
Batting 3: Post-Op (33) & Swoop (18): 51 runs

It was a miserable winters day, but the Bashers were looking sharp in our new indoor shirts, and had a full team assembled 10 minutes before game time, so we were full of confidence. It quickly became a scramble for the first batting partnership as Pudong found a brand new ball, and it was swinging around a bit. S.S. was bowled a couple of times, and Hollywood popped one up to be caught on the back net. Next up were Latex and Long Dong and they began with some disastrous running between wickets. Then Latex, a.k.a. Gary Glitter, went for a big swing and got bowled by the Pudong youngster. The batsmen settled after the second over, and picked up the scoring. Then Post-Op went ballistic with a series of swipes and slashes to the back net. He was well supported by Swoop at the other end. The first over of the partnership took 21 runs, and finished with 51 – to post the ominous total of 105.

Bowling 1: Hollywood (0/12 off 2 overs), Latex (2/11 off 2)
Bowling 2: S.S. (0/12 off 1), Swoop (1/3 off 1), Post-Op (0/12 off 1), & Long Dong (0/7 off 1)
Bowling 3: Post-Op (1/2 off 1), S.S. (1/0 off 1), Swoop (0/8 off 1), & Long Dong (1/7 off 1)

The bowling began well, Hollywood and Latex finding some good form (when landing the ball on the blue). The fielding was also good – Post-Op did a good job keeping and the whole team was making an effort to keep the ball off the nets. The next two partnerships were split between all the bowlers, with some good run-outs keeping the scoring down – one off a ricochet from Latex’s boot in fine football style. The Pudong team didn’t keep up with the scoring rate, and Long Dong was able to close out the match to give the Bashers Social Sixes a comfortable win by 31 runs.

MVP: Post-Op

Bashers Social Sixes 112 vs NCA Academy 100

Batting 1: S.S. (22) & Hollywood (36): 58 runs
Batting 2: Latex (4) & Long Dong (19): 23 runs
Batting 3: Sick-Note (16) & Swoop (15): 31 runs

During the first game, Sick-Note and Tubby arrived (Sick-Note rode out on his bike showing a great deal of commitment), which led to the opportune use of squad rotation. Sick-Note replaced Post-Op in the Bashers team, and Post-Op and Tubby joined the NCA Academy team, along with Korean (all of whom wore their Bashers shirts). S.S. and Hollywood began strongly, with just a solitary runout in their partnership. Hollywood was especially brutal to mid-on, with a number of drives and pulls threatening the fielders and non-striker. Tubby was giving notable chirp from the NCA Academy field. Latex and Long Dong somehow managed to put up 23 runs, with a couple of run-outs and several close calls. Then the innings was finished strongly by Swoop and Sick-Note, although Sick-Note did his best to give one of the NCA Academy youngsters a hat-trick of caughts, but luckily survived the third delivery. The Bashers finished on 112 runs, which was an impressive total (except we were playing the NCA Academy).

Bowling 1: Hollywood (1/20 off 2), Sick-Note (1/3 off 1), & Swoop (1/6 off 1)
Bowling 2: Latex (0/18 off 2), Sick-Note (0/12 off 1), & Swoop (0/10 off 1)
Bowling 3: S.S. (3/9 off 2), & Long Dong (1/22 off 2)

The bowling was relaxed, and the fielding was barely acceptable, but we thought the game was in the bag after posting such a big score. However, the NCA Academy team had those three Bashers ring-ins, who all showed their skills with the bat. Hollywood, bowling his loopy slows, had Tubby (23 runs) caught by S.S.’s arms at short cover, and Swoop bowled one of the youngsters with a straight one. Post-Op (31 runs) dominated the second partnership, and the Bashers didn’t even manage a wicket. The NCA Academy side had the momentum, and the third partnership also started with 21 runs off the first two overs, as Korean (19 runs) hit strongly down the ground. However, the match turned when Korean drove powerfully back to S.S., who jumped and popped the ball up for Hollywood to take the catch one handed and running in from the back net. S.S. took 3 wickets for -5 off the over, and although the NCA Academy side continued to score freely in the final over, it wasn’t quite enough and the Bashers Social Sixes scraped home with 12 runs to spare.

MVP: Hollywood

All in all a good days cricket from the Bashers, which will see us continue to sit at the top of the league table. Thanks to those who made it out today!