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I
no longer play for the club, so these days you are regularly seeing
the views of other club members on this page. Not as easy as you
thought, is it lads!?
Gubbays
Away 30/4/07 --> Courtesy of Stuart O
Bovingdon
Away 6/5/07 --> Courtesy of Rocky
Gubbays
Away 30/4/07
The sun was
shining, the grass was lush and green and the faint whiff of optimism
hung in the air. The Ocopti lined up, their whites crisp and their
hangovers gently throbbing like like a freshly spanked arse.
The new
season was underway.
A new season
brings fresh hope and a hastily arranged fixture against Gubbys CC.
With organisation that would make a west Indian cricket official look
like a German Professor of Japanese event planning, Octopus managed
to lose their home pitch and then the rearranged opposition, so it
was good to be playing at all. Reprising his role as fixture seccy,
shaky found this fixture with the caveat that they were medium to our
weak medium or "We're going to get spanked" as he put it.
This trepidation was born out by arriving at the ground to see the
opposition with matching kit bags. Panic started to spread. Octopus
were ready to walk had Gubbys started doing any kind of organised
warm up. There is no surer sign of superior opposition than
coordinated luggage and physical preparation. Luckily Syd arrived
wearing a blazer, clearly the full house of Sunday cricket. Genius.
To the match:
A brief inspection
of the wicket and it was obvious the groundsman took a minimalist
approach to mowing, rolling and marking out. Captain Harsh went out
for the toss hoping to pick correctly and have a bowl. Toss lost but
same outcome. Octopus take the field. Ogilvie opens the bowling and
it's soon evident that the strip is going to be about as predictable
as a hormonal woman with no access to chocolate. Fenner from the
other end and a combination of International wide adjudicating and a
left handed opener with a penchant for slogging saw Gubbys making
enough hay to last the summer. Retiring after one over with figures
that would scare small children, Popat replaces Fenner for over
number 3. The leg side wide zero tolerance campaign was being waged
in tandem with the "no ball for all", anti bowler movement.
Extras were off to a flyer.
The opening wicket
eventually came with a caught and bowled for Ogilvie, with one that
popped up and hung for an age. The scoreboard was looking X rated
with the oppo racing to 91-1 from the opening 11 overs.
The skipper had
seen enough and bought himself on and struck in his second over.
Debutant bowler Hayward on at the other end soon had Gubbys tied in
knots with his dibbly dobblers. The run rate lessened and the
pressure started to grow on the batting team. Harsh was causing havoc
and struck a of couple times to give the incoming batsmen something
to think about. The mixed fielding was frustrating the bowlers, with
every fenner dive and Hough slide being equalled with dropped catches
a plenty. Hayward being especially unlucky to see two regulation
chances being put down off successive deliveries. The air turned blue
as Ogilvie's hands were momentarily replaced by two twitching
penises, with all the coordination of heather mills after an attack
of woodworm. Gopi came into the attack and removed a couple to leave
Hough and Popat to finish things off with one a piece - the worlds
slowest LBW decision for Hough and a C and B for Popat.
Despite such a
quick start and the fact that Octopus needed approximately 16 chances
to bowl them out Gubbys posted 214 all out from 33 overs. We'd have
all taken that after 11 overs.
After a shoe in
for Tea of the season, the Octopus openers took to the field with
their bellies full of curry and a combined total of zero balls faced
in pre-season. It's the Octopus way. Operation "sacrificial
Lamb" saw shakey swap no11 for no1 with the intention of soaking
up some early chin music from the Gubbys speed merchants. Five balls
latter and Stew was back in the hutch and the skipper was at the
crease. Cowling and Harsh took it to them with Cowling's sweep fetish
bringing a quick fire 15 before a sweep too far bought Gopi to the
crease. Harsh was in imperious form and Gopi was being driven hard by
the skipper to push us to the total. Gopi left Harsh to it after
playing across the line and Ogilvie added 5 to total before playing
all around one that kept low. Popat played the foil as Harsh reached
his 50 but he was running out of accomplice's. Harsh fell for a
cracking 65 and the lower middle order failed to trouble the scorers
with Hayward, Hough and Ingram all vying with Stew in the early
running for the duck trophy. Fenner and Braham provided some late
entertainment, with some fine strokes and comedy running between the
wickets, but the 60 plus needed to win was aways a tall order in the
growing gloom on lively pitch. Braham eventually fell with Octopus 48 short.
All in all, lots
of positives for a Rockyless Octopus against a team with matching
kit. MoM has to go to Harsh for his 4 wickets and 65 runs. Pretty
much everyone made a contribution and a special mention to Hayward
for tight bowling that would have got at least two wickets in any
other game.
Bovingdon up next.
Bovingdon
Away 6/5/07
A match against
Bovindon is always a close one and this one was no different.
On a picturesque
ground a time game was agreed. Octopus turned out with 10 players due
to a last minute pullout by Rich due to ankle injury. Harsh won the
toss and elected to bat on a flat track.
Left handed Shakey
was promoted to open with Rocky. The first over yielded 16 runs by
Rocky and all was set for a big total. Next over however, Shakey got
bowled out, playing across the line. The skipper joined in next and
looked in very fine form, by hitting a quick 29 before getting in
identical fashion to Shakey.
The run rate
looked good as Rocky kept plundering runs from the other end.Gopi
walked in his first words when he walked in, “be slow with the
running”.A partnership developed with Rocky and Gopi, before
Rocky top edged and went out. Skipper Harsh was heard at the boundry
saying “AAAHHHH&ldots;.” .Run rate was never a problem
Ogilvie was in next and he continued the blitz.
Gopi kept moving
at a steady pace, while the much improved Ogilvie started hitting
some attractive shots all around the ground. His expensive nets at
the oval are paying off. He however went in an attempt to clear the
off side field hitting a quickfire 29.At one stage Octopus were 100
in 15 overs, a testimony to the fact that Octopus does not hang
around.Pete joined Gopi and started the repair job and both started
hitting boundaries between singles which kept the score board
ticking. However once Pete left, wicket started tumbling. Gopi went
for a big heave and got stumped, just a few minutes ago he was
lecturing the umpire on the virtues of patience and concentration.
Wickets started
tumbling and Simon Ingram and Lyal went in quick succession. Simon
Braham offered some resistance and showed a remarkable improvement in
technique , which augurs well for the future. However he got out and
the Octopus innings folded to 145 in 25 overs at 4.00 pm with 45
minutes to before tea. Bovingdon’s keeper was remarkably
athletic a t 67 years , Octopus were left thinking about themselves
at 67!
Bovingdon had
enough overs and time to win the match or stop Octopus from winning
it, they failed in both. Octopus had both time and unlimited overs
for the bowlker but needed wickets to win the match.The heads did not
drop at all and the skipper did a quick meeting minus the Syd huddle
and the determined Octopus led the way to the field.
After a good
opening spell of fast bowling, Bovingdon reverted to blocking the
deliveries. Just before tea a Yorker from Rocky sent one opening
batsman back to the pavilion, a sign of things to come. Post tea the
Octopus were even more determined , the fielding was top notch with
the skipper leading the way.Simon, Pete,Chris and both Stu’s
made some remarkable saves. Ogilvie struck soon after lunch trapping
the new batsmen LBW. The notable Gopi was giving Bovingdon a lot of
doubles where a single should have been, raising suspicion of match
fixing but more likely his wifes cooking could be to blame! he
improved straightaway.
Simon Brahm was
gutsy behind the stumps and after the match showed some bruises he
sustained during the match, Syd would be a very proud dad. He was
also guilty of some poor misses behind the stumps, which left the
skip fuming silently in a corner - the old gloves got the blame!
Good captaincy
with some good field placements and excellent bowling led to a
Bovindon collapse which was inevitable. Each team member was charged
up and exerted immense pressure on the opponents who kept hitting an
odd four in between. Rocky took 4 wickets by now and all were bowled out.
Rocky bowled two
overs of leg spin and picked two in two. The skipper after his medium
pace smashed around the park, turned to his spin and immediately got
a wicket and this time Simon B did perfectly behind the stumps.
Suddenly Bovingdon looked all at sea with the score being 115/8
.Rocky took one more and left all to Ogilvie who bowled well without
any reward.125/8 now.
Ogilvie had the
Bovingdon keeper in sight as he had batted gustily for some time. His
worst delivery of the day, heading for a wide before the WK went
fishing and was snaffled at point. Sparking wild celebrations for
Octopus. Rocky finished career best 7-21 amazingly all bowled,
including one which broke the bail! The Bovingdon Broken Bail man of
the match trophy was born and int he posession of Rocky.
A great win by a
team who never gave up. Thank You Bovingdon for a great match.
"All
the strength and succour you want is within you,you can do anything
and everything."
Swami
Vivekananda
(Footnote from Stu
- Rocky was a bit too modest and ommitted the bit about the Bovingdon
Broken Bail MOM award. It's in his posession and ours to win off him.)
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