Business vrs K2, June 20th: Lumberjack Report

The final round robin game of the first round found Business (1-2) up against the undefeated K2 (3-0). The very side the Business beat for the title the season before. Heading into the game Business really needed a victory to keep in touch with the play-off spots.

Having beaten K2 three times in a row Business were confident of getting a result if Cpt. Oliver “Stats” Austin could do something he had not done all season, win the toss. With a partner out of country one might think Stats had all the time in the world to master the art of the toss but with a 0-3 record confidence was low. Fortunately with the overcast conditions and a bit of rain in the air Stats was able to call correctly and immediately inserted K2 into the field.

The search for an opening partner to the ever-reliable Sheyan “Dipso” Patel continued with Philip “Filthy” Mildenhall the latest to be given the opportunity. The move seemed to pay-off as the openers put together an unbroken stand of 77 by the drinks break at 13 overs. Both batsmen looked comfortable but it was the the 30 extras that really padded the scoreline.

As it often does the drinks break brought about a wicket. Filthy, seeing Stats prowling the boundary desperate to get into the action, took it upon himself to achieve what K2 clearly couldn’t and ran himself out for 23. Stats strode out with confidence and blazed away from the start but was quickly caught behind of a thin edge for 5. 102-2 Business was still looking good but with a previously shaky middle order there was always the fear of a “Bashers Collapse” (TM). Adding to the pressure was Hadleigh “Sir Dick” Churchill’s rather underwhelming return so far this season. That however was about to change and how so. With new bat in hand and Union Jack grip Sir Dick flayed all comers to all corners. Scoring at such a rate that Hannah “Lady Dick” Churchill could barely keep up in the scorers chair. A quick fire 59 and the Business were really rolling. With the 200 up the question was simply how many would the Business end up with. Dispso departed for a very well compiled 50, Andrew “Whipper Snapper” Unsworth and Sameer “Paps” Jolly threw the bat around for a delivery each before John “Shower” Rees, Dave “Oscar” Rosenthal and Denzyl “Cranky” Allwright finished of the innings in style. Oscar’s 22 from 23 a particular highlight. 267-9 off 40 overs. Job done one would think.

The innings break chat was understandably all about taking catches and not bowling wides. While K2 had been racking up massive totals against other opposition we felt we had their number. Be patient and take our catches.

Paps and Cranky started tightly with both wides and runs at a minimum. Dipso dropping one difficult chance at slip having insisted on fielding there. K2 slowly picked up momentum and it was not until a direct hit from mid on by Filthy that their first wicket fell having put on 40 odd runs. From here it went downhill for the Bashers. In total 10 catches were dropped in the innings, Dipso had another very touch chance at slip of second change bowler Filthy, Paps put down a skier, Filthy dropped a regulation chance at midwicket, Stats missed a skier after running 30 metres and dispatching Paps from directly underneath it whilst Oscar and Sir Dick were peppered with chances on the leg side boundaries. It was ugly and unbecoming of the reigning champs! Fortunately Bashers spin twins, Kaylan “Sinbad” D’Silva and John “Inquisition/Leppa” L’Epagniol were yet to come into play and boy were they needed. Having seen the state of the fielding both bowlers decided to hit the stumps instead resulting in the second, third and fourth wickets to fall to bowleds or LBWs. With the asking rate fairly comfortable and the target getting dangerously close the Bashers need to start taking their catches. After dropping a relatively simple chance on the midwicket boundary off Shower, Filthy was final able to cling onto one in almost the same spot off Sinbad. All of a sudden catching became easy again as Leppa took a caught and bowled and Filthy snaffled three more catches at mid-wicket and long off, each one more difficult than the last. Despite Leppa’s full toss on leg stump theory resulting in an over of 20-odd he still received the days best figures, a four for. Credit to Sinbad who also took three wickets. Shower picked up the remaining two wickets and the Business had secured victory by 30 runs.

• Sunday 20 June 2010 SRFC East
  Bashers Business 257/7 (8.57)
  K2 CCC 219/10 (3.59)

2-2 record now for the Business and a real chance to get into the playoffs and defend the title. Special mention to Shower who is now 2-0 for the Bashers, not sure if there are many others undefeated in the Bashers career. Also to the Bashers team spirit that keeps the team together when lesser teams would crumble. I think other teams would have let the catches going down really affect their morale and it’s a credit to the squad and the club as a whole that we stick together and are always positive and I think we were rewarded for that this Sunday! Well done fellas and I look forward to Round Two, whenever that may be.

2010 Santa Fe Premiership