Lumberjack | Leisure v Hot Dogs | May 1st

With the firecrackers still ringing in our ears from the opening of EXPO, the Bashers finest assembled for their 8AM MAY DAY bus at The Camel. Pity there was no bus, but we had beers & pies & new baggy blue Bashers caps, so we legged it via taxi’s to Dulwich. First thing we noticed at the ground was how beautiful the weather was, probably better suited to drinking than running around after a red leather ball. JC was as usual late, so we offered him as a Bashers sacrifice to the under manned Hot Dogs, who didn’t even say thanks!

Toss lost, into bowl we go. Bashers debutante Luke “The Penguin” Haggett gave the best impression of a bowler this season and the handbreak was firmly applied to the Hot Dog’s openers. He was puffing like a steam train but was firing them down. Fellow debutante Chris “Stealth” Griffin made inroads but the sneaky Hot Dog buggers were chipping away slowly but steadily. All kind of goes a bit hazy after this for me to be truthful, but I think Steve “C3PO” made a double break after about 10 overs to stop the momentum and have them on the back-foot. Lee “Heff” Henshaw was solid with the ball as was yours truly, but not much was happening of note. Bashers returnee Allan “Here’s the Ting” Duffy was a little rusty but got back in the groove, as did ANOTHER debutante, Garth “Shania” Muncy. Fair crack at bowling for the first time by the big fella!

Plays of note during the innings was Jason “Bumblebee/Queen Mary” Adamson’s general lack of interest in anything and his ‘lightning’ speed in the field, a great catch by “Here’s the Ting” and the solid glovework of Mat “Santa” Ryan. Couple of wickets here and there, with a good dollop of sundries led to The Hot Dogs reaching 159 of 25 overs. GAME ON!

…or so we thought. The skipper shook up the order to try and cause chaos in the minds of the opposition, sending in “The Penguin” and Bashers import strike weapon Alessandro “The Jaguar” Pezzani. Both openers out for 0. Score = 2 for nothing. “Heff” and “Santa” put on a 29 run partnership to steady a very collapsible looking batting list, with “Heff” smacking a quickfire 17 before being run out by, yep, you guessed it, “The Queen Mary”. The wheels fell off when “C3PO” was gone 2nd ball and it looked a miracle if we could reach 50 runs. Debutant Martin “Hans” Grieger & “Shania” made for some great cricket viewing for all the spectators [3 in total – Mrs C3PO and the kids]; with both never playing before and “Hans” not having an idea of what the 3 pegs of willow otherwise known as ‘wickets’ were for. “Tingy” & “Loose” were in at the death but the ship was sinking fast and was un-salvageable. All out for 60 odd.

We may have lost the battle but we won the war. We proceed to the bus and initiated our debut Bashers brethren with the elixir of life from the holiest of holy grails; Pure Blonde beer from “Birdshit’s” batting box. Lovely. The fines session was lively and continued well into the afternoon at The Camel, with beers galore, general debauchery and The Pleasure making a guest appearance. Typically, The Hot dogs although sponorsed by The Camel were no shows, apart from their skipper and a lone dog who looked like he needed to be put down. The “Bumblebee/Queen Mary” could well be the most heavily fined player in a Bashers shirt for general lack of talent, both on & off the pitch. Well done Sir.

Story of the day is we should bowl first as the batting needs a massive lift. Well done overall though to all the new guys and for the general amount of alcohol which was sunk. Special thanks to myself for being a great skipper and general good guy, Neal “Birdshit” Watkins for shunning work responsibility in order to Umpire, Just Beer & Kooka Pies for the wonderful beverages and snacks, and The Camel for not organizing the bus but really making up for it with shots and providing us with free reign @ The Members End.

See you at the bar. Stay Loose.

LXXXVII

• Saturday 1 May 2010 Dulwich College
  DPR Hot Dogs 159/8 (7.59)
  Bashers Leisure 56/10 (2.16)

2010 Santa Fe Social League