Pleasure Report: Strong Bowling Outdone by Subpar Batting

The Pleasure XI started out at the insane early start time of 7:30 at the Bamboo, arriving before the staff on this cool Sunday morning. With gray skies and rain threatening, the Bashers stand-in captain Andy “Tank” Scott promptly lost the toss and the Bashers were forced to field.

With fielding restrictions in place for the first eight overs, and missing pace-man Woodstock, Desmond “Long Dong” DeSilva and Zeb “Camel” Khan opened the bowling, putting the Pudong side on the back foot and setting up the tactical first change tandem of Dean “Loose” Lapthorne and Hamish “Katie” Stevens. The varied speed and spin attacks of the Anzacs proved too much for Pudong, as Katie made a push for the return of his old nickname with three wickets (with leg spin that could take your head off!) and Loose added another scalp to his own total.

John “Inquisition” L’Epagniol induced the first fine of the day by showing up late to the game, but after a proper degree of chirp from his own teammates, proceeded to bowl three overs of stingy cricket. Sensing that Tank was about to change up the attack once again, he waited until the last two deliveries of his final fourth over to deliver two wickets. Pleas to complete the hat trick did not fall on deaf ears and Inquisition was given the chance, only to see his hat trick ball cowardly not played by the batsman.

Fielding behind the bowling attack, the Pleasure side saw outstanding performances from Ainsley “Pusher” Mann, who put his body on the line to best his old club, and debutante Richard “Parrot” Yates, who built a brick wall behind the stumps and provided endless amounts of chirp. The Bashers left the field having held the Pudong XI to 128 runs and taken all 10 wickets.

The batting started out promising as debutantes Adrian “Duracel” Moors and Sam “Mustard” Finnerty, as well as Channa “Made In” Phillip and Parrot helped take the score to 80 after 12 overs. However, a mid-order collapse meant that Camel and the Pusher were asked to make 30 plus runs with no wickets to spare.

It proved a total too far and the Bashers were left to walk off, having put up a valiant effort in the field only to be undone by the fall of the middle order. Drinks and camaraderie both among teammates and with opposing players after the game were in the finest traditions of the sport.

The fines sessions following however, became a bit rural and various fines were either not given or not received.

Debutante cap numbers:
122 Richard “Parrot” Yates
123 Adrian “Duracel” Moors
124 Sam “Mustard” Finnerty