Business Vs K2 17th July Lumberjack Report

Sunday morning held the promise of great cricket in the air. The Biz team were facing K2 for the 3rd time this season and both going into the game 1 game a piece, it promised to be tough and exciting. The morning started of optimistically with Sinbad being uncharacteristically on time for the bus and Dazzler deciding to keep the bus waiting 7 minutes, prompting the skipper to want to leave without out him. What a great call on the skipper’s part to instead wait as Dazzler would live up to his name and go on to score 107 RUNS, making him the 2nd person only in Bashers history to score a ton.

WELL DONE DARREN!!!! 107 runs!!!

The skipper on winning the toss wasted no time sending in K2 to field putting himself as number 1 bat with Filthy at number 2. In true test cricket form the two opening pair concentrated on getting rid of the opening bowlers by dotting away until Dipso fell on the 10th over for 8 runs. He was heard remarking to the incoming batsman “Job Done!!!” In walked Dazzler with his brand new bat which as I understand had not been knocked in yet. So with a firm resolve he started his 1st of three 50 run partnerships (57 runs) with Filthy by smacking a 6 off his 3rd ball. Phil decided to end his turn at bat by being run out on 18 runs, not an easy decision as it took Paps what felt like days to make the call. Not much on the board either (18 runs from 16 overs) but definitely a stabilizing factor for the team.

Now it was the Ex Div 1 skipper “Stats” turn at bat. Not to be outshone bye Dazzlers swashbuckling performance, Stats too decided that a 6 was the order of the day and on his 4th ball decided to have a swing and placed the ball delicately over square boundary. He too with Darren put on another quick fire 58 runs before being caught by the K2 skipper Meer for 31 runs. Following hot on his tail and itchy to make his mark with the skipper back at the helm, Tubby showed his stuff with a quick 20 runs from 21 deliveries against the opening bowler (didn’t the skipper face him off). Then with less than 4 overs left, Growler stepped up and getting 3 hits decided to make a 6 off one of them. Better to hit boundaries than run…

The usual suspects in the tail order all desperate for a bat were kitted up ready to go, it looked like the usual bashers collapse might pay off in the last few overs and they might get a turn but sadly only Cranky got the chance to face the last two 2 balls following Growler and Papsmeer’s quick demise. With Sinbad all dressed up with his bling on and at the non strikers end he could only watch as others got bat on ball. The Korean and Inquisition resigned themselves to having a great day on the field instead.

228 for 7 was the target set.

The bowling attack started strong with Phil taking the first scalp in his second over and soon Div 1 team was looking strong with 32 for 3 after 10th over when Dazzler took his first wicket on his 2nd ball. For the next couple of overs things ticked over slowly with no real chances coming for wickets while all the time the runs continued to climb.
Until Paps came in!!! Dispatching 2 batters in his second over, it got our tails back up and we were ready for more.

Then it happened… What followed was a huge onslaught by Shafqat (94 runs off 48 balls and dropped twice) and Sajid (34 runs off 35 balls). No matter what the bowlers tried, somehow a boundary was the result pushing K2 ever closer to the target. Inquisition managed to get the wicket of Shafqat but all too late as damage was already done and K2 needed 17 runs off 6 overs. Not to give in, Div one still pressed on taking 2 more wickets and with Sinbad bowling a tight line keeping the pressure on from the other end it still ended up a close game.

Unfortunately the additional 24 extra’s (22 wides) helped push K2 over the target to win in the 36th over.

• Sunday 17 July 2011 SRFC Near
  K2 CCC 230/8 (7.9)
  Bashers Business 228/8 (3.88)

Mention also goes to Growler for great fielding and to the keeper of the day, The Korean, not to be forgotten, who also put on a marvelous display of diving all over the place to save the balls going down leg. Not 1 bye let through for the day…

Good effort to all team members, unlucky result but not a true reflection on how well the team played.

2011 Division One

Eyes now forward to next match against Pudong Power at Dulwich on 24th July.