Oh the day had come , the day to play<\/p>\n
A game to take us to the brink of history<\/p>\n
The finest of men had gathered together<\/p>\n
In the morning light of the camel bar<\/p>\n
To collect some kit , beer and pies<\/p>\n
For the bus ride to infamy, a spot at the top.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
With some missing , some on the way<\/p>\n
Ice filled 2 eskies and surprise guests arrived<\/p>\n
Bloody Mary\u2019s , o gallons of them<\/p>\n
To quench and fill those with the need<\/p>\n
Of partaking a little morning drink<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A happy lot marched up the road to the bus<\/p>\n
Parked away from its dock<\/p>\n
Loaded late we headed off<\/p>\n
To witness a fielding drill by Pudong.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rushing to the toss our captain lost<\/p>\n
Inserted to field we we happy with the result<\/p>\n
Out we marched as Hardon selflessly relinquished a place<\/p>\n
In the starting 11 for glory or fail<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rash steaming in off full run<\/p>\n
Gave the batsmen some hell<\/p>\n
With bounce and guile he kept his end tidy<\/p>\n
The Chancellor arrived and straight did he follow<\/p>\n
With a wicket first ball , LWB and all<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
5 overs down and Rash struck with swinging ball<\/p>\n
The Chancellor found the edge in the next<\/p>\n
And Fruitbox was true .<\/p>\n
3 for 20 and the Bashers in blue<\/p>\n
Were as happy as lads in good stead.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In the 8th Leppa fielded and threw<\/p>\n
A run out it was and Pudong in more trouble<\/p>\n
4 for too few<\/p>\n
Paps was in and Rash was off,<\/p>\n
with Omega to follow the \u201cChance\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tight lines and length created the doubt<\/p>\n
As ball skidded past edge and the stumps<\/p>\n
Omega struck twice in the 12th but it could have been more<\/p>\n
As twice edges were left on the floor<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Drinks were consumed , not a boundary was hewn<\/p>\n
and Pudong 5 for 37 in ruins<\/p>\n
Then Rash took the catch to make it 6<\/p>\n
And Leppa came on for Paps Smear<\/p>\n
First ball did he strike , caught behind if you like<\/p>\n
Celebrations coming loud from the tent.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But alas things do change<\/p>\n
And that change had a name<\/p>\n
Shreet the destroyer, the slayer<\/p>\n
The bulky hay maker<\/p>\n
And with Santosh made the Bashers pay<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
For just on an hour the batsmen held firm<\/p>\n
Striking balls with brute force and at will<\/p>\n
Half trackers, half volleys , even good uns it seemed<\/p>\n
Were dispatched with deft touch and with steam<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Some catches put down, some left to their own<\/p>\n
the runs piled on fast and mean<\/p>\n
Fruitbox had a go, saw them fly to and fro<\/p>\n
Till Rash and Chancellor came back on to stem the flow<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Too little too late<\/p>\n
The Chancellor cleaned them both up in the 25th<\/p>\n
4 wickets for him, 2 for Omega and for Rash and Leppa<\/p>\n
One each as 119 seemed a total within reach.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fisty and Parrot came out to bat first<\/p>\n
With time on their hands and their minds<\/p>\n
Chirag on to bowl and to keep it tight<\/p>\n
A single off the last kept Cymbals on strike<\/p>\n
and the Parrot to wait till the third<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As is his want Parrot hit 2 past square leg<\/p>\n
Nice and crisp and to watch a delight<\/p>\n
Playing back once too many , hit square in front<\/p>\n
And marched back before Fruity was ready<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
2 overs of dots came and went<\/p>\n
Before Fruity was set, hitting one to the boundary for 4<\/p>\n
Alas to be sure he was out with 2 more<\/p>\n
To his name and the long march back home<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Omega was in , and luck came with him<\/p>\n
Being arsey and chancey for runs<\/p>\n
He swang at them all, finding edge, sky and none<\/p>\n
before Fisty was caught for just one<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In came the Pope , with intent to hold firm<\/p>\n
As he set to it poking about.<\/p>\n
Making Fisty look eager<\/p>\n
17 dots did he plunder<\/p>\n
Before getting off the mark with a 4<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t to last , 3 more did he blast<\/p>\n
Till he picked out mid off on the fly,<\/p>\n
He juggled and gave hope that the catch was not his<\/p>\n
But took hold and the Pope had to go.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In came the Paps and together with Mal<\/p>\n
Set about to restore Basher pride.<\/p>\n
Running ones and twos ,<\/p>\n
the old men had their blues<\/p>\n
but held firm till drinks came and was gone.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Then Pudong lost the plot,<\/p>\n
Like the ball was red hot<\/p>\n
Either dropping or missing each chance<\/p>\n
With nicks and skied balls falling to grass<\/p>\n
As the target approached at a canter.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Then Omega got hold a a ball to deep leg<\/p>\n
To the boundary it surely would go<\/p>\n
In the sun sat a cup, with red juice in its hold<\/p>\n
And sent flying to the cheers of our fold.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Taking one chance too many<\/p>\n
The pair took a run<\/p>\n
That in hindsight was never to be.<\/p>\n
Omega was short by yards one two and three<\/p>\n
Out for 26 runs wondering what might have been.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sharapova in next with 50 to get , in just on a run a ball<\/p>\n
5 wickets in hand and the Paps in command<\/p>\n
the Leisure up for a battle royal<\/p>\n
But things slowed just a bit,<\/p>\n
as they tightened their grip<\/p>\n
and Paps run out from a bad call.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Captain came in , with a gleam in his eye<\/p>\n
\u2018This is the moment Ive waited for now\u2019<\/p>\n
Settled into his stance for one ball as a sighter<\/p>\n
The next was walking back , with his stumps all over<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rash strode forth with intent to do well<\/p>\n
Get his team in the second chance final<\/p>\n
But this was not to be , as his fate would agree<\/p>\n
Did the same as his happless skipper<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
With 23 to get at a run a ball<\/p>\n
The Chancellor could be trusted with an end.<\/p>\n
Sharapova holed out and Hardon was in<\/p>\n
being caught out with 3 overs left.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
All out for 99, what an end to the fight<\/p>\n
One that showed much and gave little allright<\/p>\n
But us Bashers , we men with the hammer for crest<\/p>\n
will still fight it out in the finals , Dirty doggies in our sight.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Great friends in our quest for the love of our game<\/p>\n
and a thirst for the amber fluid<\/p>\n
travelled back to the bar on the bus<\/p>\n
with fines\u00a0 banter and good humor<\/p>\n
and awaiting the debut of potential new Basher<\/p>\n
Benchods young sibling, the Kid Fucker<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Oh the day had come , the day to play A game to take us to the brink of history The finest of men had gathered together In the morning light of the camel bar To collect some kit , beer and pies For the bus ride to infamy, a spot at the top. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[233,455],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leisure","category-lumberjack"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basherscc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/basherscc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/basherscc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basherscc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basherscc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15730"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/basherscc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15731,"href":"https:\/\/basherscc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15730\/revisions\/15731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basherscc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basherscc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basherscc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}