Leisure vs Pudong

1. 1. Dags (c)
   2. Truffles
   3. Tampon
   4. Mouse
   5. Omega
   6. Birdshit
   7. Square Root
   8. Consent
   9. Miyagi (wk)
   10. Shay “Puffy” Bisset
   11. Tom “Wiki-leaks” Elsden

And so arrives another weekend of cricket and glory! Still riding the wave of triumph from the previous week’s triple header winner, Leisure showed up to the Camel at sparrow’s fart to prepare for a showdown against our favourite competition, Pudong!

The team were, for the best part, punctual and on time and everyone was in high spirits as we packed the kit bag, beers, pies and team onto the bus. Only a few brave souls dared a beer whilst at the pub, however by the time we headed out from the Camel (30 mins late due to  Consent and new Basher Tom “Wikileaks” Elsden not realizing SRFC meant a 7am departure) we were beer’in’hand and ready to roll!

DJ Birdy was cranking out the tunes, which is massive improvement on Cranky’s tweenybops, and jovial chat and banter was had by all. Tunnels approached, beers were drank and then within half an hour we were there!

Captain Dags went out to toss, and lost. It wasn’t the first thing he’d lose that day.  We were sent into Bat.

The Skipper had talked about “playing with the batting list” and sent in Tampon and Consent to take strike against Pudong and it was game on! Dot, dot, dot… – all looked like it was professional with Tampon leaving a few through to the keeper and harassing the oppositions with a few swipes, but to no connection.

And now for Consent who had been waiting eagerly down the other end to take a swipe at the bowler! A swing, and a miss. 2nd ball – swing, and no miss; the bowler that is, who sent Consent back to the pavilion with a score of zero.

New batter up –  Shay “Puffy“ Bisset! Having connected smoothly on a few throw downs with one going over the fence, it was time for our newest Basher to take the crease… A swing, and a miss – bolloks! a golden duck, and now hat-trick ball for the bowler! Leisure  now 0-2, off 2.

Not intimidated by the field positions or banter on the field, team ballast #1 Truffles stepped up to diffuse an otherwise delicate situation with a few choice defensive blocks, followed by connecting swings. In a flurry, he had hit 3 lots of 2’s (yes, not singles!), however was sent back  to the pavilion by the bowler who missed him on the hat-trick ball, but still got him (Saqueria). Leisure now 3/6 off 4.

It didn’t look great, but we are Leisure and we still held high hopes and with our opening batsman, Tampon, still at the crease in single figures however looking ready to pull us out of the shit. In cometh Mouse who was heckled by Chirag and his brood with reciprocal “bloodbath-on-the-pitch” talk in return for the (non-intentional) hip and shoulder which had seen Chirag sent to the grass canvas earlier this year…the bowler steamed, ball in hand and a full front assault of rage and redemption as he unleashed the leather ball.

Crack! it wasn’t Mouse’s wickets, but a solid forward foot block which sailed past the bowler to the boundary! 4 runs! what a start! that shut them up! With a smile on his face that could be seen from space, Mouse opened up his account with a few choice shots before being bowled by, you guessed it, Chirag! Mouse bowled for 14.

Tampon also fell to one between the floodgates and was out for 7. New Basher Wikileaks scored 1 followed by square root who reached double figures, but stopped on 10.

It wasn’t a complete massacre however, as Basher #6 – Omega, fronted up to the opposition (in particular an ex-Basher) and scored a very tidy 39 runs consisting of 6 4’s and a massive six which ended up in the mutant piss trough river festering next to the ground. A marvelous knock which energized the entire team!

Miyagi supported with 6 runs, Birdy with 0 and Captain Dags 4. Leisure completed our 25 overs with a score of 98

We were in with a shot! Bowl them out for 97! a couple of quick wickets, tight fielding, banter, and they’ll be ours….so off we went to field and claim a victory for the day!!!!

Well, what can I say. It was not to be the case as the Pudong batsmen came out and took attack from ball one…it was obvious, they wanted a beer earlier than us as such decided that if they can just complete the task of 99 before drinks, then it’d be a cold ale and not warm plastic cup of water.

Although we saw some tight bowling from the likes of Rooty, Birdy, Omega and Wikileaks (who took the only wicket of the day) we were spanked a few times with an expensive over of 19 being counted amongst them (was that Dag’s over???? J)

A loss for Leisure, but a great day/game of cricket which saw 2 new Bashers join the club! A post game kick of the footy led by Mouse in his muscle top (J) and Fines were enjoyed by all, as well as our new tradition of sandwiches and cocktails thanks to team caterer of the week, Miyagi!