Leisure over powered by Pudong: Lumberjack 29th May 2010

For the second time this season the Leisure’s finest were headed out to Dulwich to face the Pudong Power. After the season opener ended in the Duckworth Lewis debacle that is still being argued over in the No1 Court of Shanghai Sporting Arbitration, the team was looking forward to getting a full shot at the Power.

After meeting at a leisurely time at the camel all talk was about the rematch between GG aka Glit Glit aka The Glitatorius and the demon 8 year old that so devastatingly dismissed the big man in the season opener. Boarding the bus with a virgin bus driver behind the wheel it was looking like we would be taking the scenic route to Dulwich but the new boy pulled through.

Wasting no time to put the pressure on, His Royal Looseness won the toss and put the power into bat. GG took a big sigh of relief as news filtered round the ground that the young lad had been rested as he had eaten too much jelly and ice-cream the night before.

Looking to bamboozle the opposition right from the get go the bowling attack was put on a quick fire rotation with Long Dong and Made In opening the action with 2 overs each which failed to make the first breakthrough the Leisure were hoping for.

Meanwhile the field was looking solid and keeping the runs to 1s and 2s with the Jaguar getting to stretch his legs on a few occasions. When the first change came all eyes were on the Pusher as he took the ball. Scotland’s finest stormed in with the look of an angry Glaswegian who had just had his pint spilt, the crowd could feel a wicket coming, however this was not to be as he was dispatch for 10 off his first over. This was followed by a tight opening over by Loose to put things back on track. The Jag continued to over achieve in the field by deciding to not bother using his hands and just stop the ball with his chin.

Finally the first wicket fell in the seventh over with a big catch off the improving bowling of the Pusher, this was followed up the next over by Loose as he dispatch the other opener cleanly on the middle stump. This put the Power on 30 odd for 2. Next up in the ever changing bowling attack was 3PO and Bird Shit. They fired through 4 tight overs until Bird Shit was smacked for 2 sixes, this seemed to spark something inside the veteran Basher and the over confident Power batsman was on his way back to the pavilion the next ball after having his stumps sent flying. Long Dong remained tight while Made In was determined to get the field moving by letting the batsmen hit the ball to all corners of the ground and beyond for a game changing 20 from the over.

The Pusher then smelt blood when confronted with a Power batsman wearing the 3 lions of England on his chest and quickly dismissed the old foe. Loose followed this with another direct hit on the stumps while the runs kept ticking up. 3PO finished the innings up with a wicket in the last over to give an achievable target of 143 to win. Worthy of note in the field was the Korean’s arm from deep, Parrot’s solid chirp and general athleticism from Glit Glit and Shears.

After a quick turnaround the Pusher and Parrot were back out at the crease with the bat and chomping at the bit to get the runs ticking over. Unfortunately this was short lived with both of them back in the stands less than 7 minuets later after a couple of devastating overs from ex Basher Piledriver lived up to his name. 3PO and Shears then took up the challenge and steadied the ship.

The controversial off-season trade that saw Shears arrive at the Bashers was yet to pay dividends but there was a glimmer of hope as he managed to make it to double figures before self-destructing. The ever-reliable Long Dong put on a classy 17 while 3PO remained solid at the other end. Loose added a quick fire 23 while 3PO bowed out with 34 in the bag.

This left the tail enders to try and pull something out of the bag. GG was starting to look as comfortable at the crease as he would in a school playground but with 2 overs left and 31 still needed he quickly blew his load shortly after hitting a beautiful 4 off the returning opening bowler. This left Made In and The Jaguar to see out the dying moment of the Leisure’s innings. For a moment it looked like the Jag was going to do something spectacular as he stroked one off into the covers to put 1 more on the board. Made In added a couple more before the time run out and Pudong scraped past the line to take the win by 16 runs.

• Saturday 29 May 2010 Dulwich College
  Pudong Power 142/6 (7.02)
  Bashers Leisure 128/8 (2.48)

During the post match press conference His Royal Looseness vowed he would go over the score book with a fine toothcomb to ensure all was in check, unfortunately what this actually meant was that he would just empty his newly opened beer into said score book in an attempt to erase the last 6 Bashers overs and make a retrospective claim based on Duckworth Lewis that the Bashers should take the win.

The Leisure now take a 3 week break before returning for a hotly anticipated match against the Hot Dogs on June 20^th.

2010 Santa Fe Social League