A warm and overcast day greeted the players at Vic, arriving punctually, only to have the start delayed due to a missing hessian wicket. A search round the perimeter by Shane and Vishesh (Mishmash to his mates) found nothing but overgrown grass and discarded confetti from the previous night at the festival next door occupying the old Vic. Off went our indigenous tracker, Sam, into the bush to see what he could find with his sixth sense of knowing where to go he found an alternative wicket. The old Vic wicket was laid out waiting for a new home, and tracker Sam called off the search and requested help via the bush telegraph. It was a team effort with the help of a kind fork lift truck driver to get our drop in wicket ready for our second league game of the season.
Having won the toss, Umi opted to bowl first and soon we were underway with Lauren steaming in with her usual left arm over action. The Jaguars were purring immediately though, with a six off the second ball over the fine leg fence which set the tone for the oppos batting nice and early. Next up and charging in like a young Roy Orbison was our very own President Sam, swinging the ball more than an Uxbridge by election. Alarmingly for BICC, the ball was being dispatched to the boundary way too often, soon Shriram and Zeeshan were introduced to stem the flow of runs. Lauren "Lozza" Pamenter was placed into third man on the boundary to shore up things behind Jono "where did it go wrong" Wong. "You're in the game Lozza" encouraged Jack from behind the stumps, suffice to say the ball never did come her way for the next two hours until a dolly of a catch late in the jaguar innings. A few too many no balls were being bowled and Shiram took a couple of catches off the following free hits. Eventually Shri broke through and bowled an opener with his ever nagging line and length. The fielding was briefly interrupted by the policía and the cars parked illegally had to be moved in time for the festival to start that afternoon. Shane returned to deep point and thus the iron curtain on the offside was back in place. A break they say, brings wickets, and Zeeshan was in the thick of it taking two while Mishmash bowled well without reward. Burhan and Umi closed out the innings and a hot and sweaty BICC made for the dugout for shelter.
Catalunya Jaguars 181/5 20 overs
After the interval Maruf and Jono were striding out to open the BICC innings. Within two balls Maruf was out strangled down the leg side to a melocotón of a delivery, a glancing shot off the pads that the keeper anticipated and moved beautifully to catch on the leg side. Next in was Zeeshan to get the barbecue going and sure enough Jono was the shrimp on the barbie, a miscommunication while a direct hit had him stranded halfway down the wicket. You'd have a harder job finding a calmer man in a crisis than Jack Jewson, the type of fellow you need when the ship is listing to one side and you need someone to tell you everything is going to be ok. Jack and Zeeshan steadied the HMS BICC through choppy waters, sneaking singles with the occasional boundary. With scoreboard pressure building Jack was bowled, trying to go big and next up was Shane to calm the BICC nerves and keep the scoreboard ticking over. To be fair to the Jaguars, they bowled well and either with luck or a well placed field the ball found the fielders more often than the boundary. As batsmen came and went the run rate became increasingly difficult to keep up with for BICC, the skipper was bowled going for glory for 7. Burhan came in and went for a quick 3, finally Mishmash finished on 11no and Shane 13no.
BICC 121/6 20 overs
Shane Lightley |
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