Leisure

Leisure turned up at the NAIC ground at 8am,  all 11 players on time despite the start time being moved up 30 minutes at short notice due to predicted rain.The kit was locked away out of reach, but leisure took the chance to get an extended fielding warmup and eventually play got under way, still before the scheduled start. Korean won the toss and inserted the Hotdogs in dry conditions.Paps and Focus opened up and kept the scoring rate low, Paps going for 10 off 3 overs and Focus bowling  his full quota of 4 for 23 runs. Focus took a sharp caught and bowled to start the wickets, and soon got a plumb lbw and a low catch taken by Mr. Tickle at square leg.Mr Tickle replaced Paps and bowled 2 tight overs as Hotdogs were kept quiet early on. Fielding standards were high, with Rooty and Hub patrolling covers and mid wicket to great effect.Yeti Dick took over from Focus and Hotdogs continued to struggle against spin - he clean bowled 2 batters with well flighted deliveries and only went for 17 off 4 wily overs.Fling bowled a couple of luckless overs as the rain began to fall and apparently made the ball too slippery for Mr. Tickle to catch. Twice. Square Root bowled a couple and got a caught and bowled while only going at a run a ball.Cracker showed all of his experience and cunning during this time by making such an inaccurate throw that the next ball the batters assumed thay could take a run on his arm. They were wrong as he rocketed it in and sent the top scoring Doggie on his way.Eunuch and Paps finished off the bowling effort, with Paps only conceding 2 in the 19th over. Eunuch wasn't quite so parsimonious, but did take a wicket on the penultimate ball, skied to Korean with the gloves. Fling then  finished off the innings with a good throw from near the boundary to get the 9th wicket run out.With just over a run a ball needed to get the 125 target, but mindful of Duckworth-Lewis as the rain began to fall more steadily, Cracker and Gu Ailing made their way to the middle. First ball Ailing played solidly off the middle of the bat.And that was it. The rain came in heavier and the game was soon abandoned with Leisure probably favourites to get yet another win. Leisure lose their perfect record but remain unbeaten and in form.Hotdogs 124/9 off 20 overs. Bashers Leisure 0/0 off 0.1 overs. No result.

Was it Talk Like a Pirate Day? No, that is in September. Whatever the motivation, the skipper inspired an unusually punctual and cheerful team to arrive and the rain did stay away. It was an unseasonably pleasant temperature too and everyone seemed in a good mood - Omega even managed to get to the ground without abusing the Didi driver for the first time this year.