Jul, 2013 – Gold And Diamonds At Fuji As Sharks Self Destruct

JCL2 Sharks vs Hokushinetsu Hawks 
Fuji 1, 28.07.13 by Anton Lloyd-Williams

The build up to this match had been a bit of a pickle for the Sharks as from a squad of 36 players they had managed to confirm just 8 names on the team sheet by Thursday evening. The bugle was sounded, the conches blown, the bonfires lit and two more Sharks, Ryan and Mairaj, cancelled their plans to join the Shark Express on its way to Fuji. Chris T’s eldest boy, Marcus, 12, was drafted in, the idea being to throw him in at the deep end. 2nd eldest son, Ashley, 10, also signed on as 12th man.

So we were a dirty dozen. A motley assortment of youth and age, experience and innocence, skill and …shall we say…potential! : Chris T, Marcus T, Ashley T, Dave L, Mairaj, Ryan, Eiro, Sumon, Anton, Adit, Sean and Vicky.

Well, if the build up was odd, the actual match was truly bizarre. Sharks won the toss and elected to field before things got too hot. The Fuji 1 pitch was in pretty good nick, the outfield close cropped but a little soft with the exploding jungle fringing the ground almost impenetrable.

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Bowling
Hawks 8/203 after 40 overs

S. Khan and Laing came out for the Hawks, Umpire Shackleford scanned the field and Adit got us underway, with an odd over. 4 wides set the alarm bells ringing for the bowling side but then most of the other balls were lbw shouts as Khan’s pads got a good work out. The square leg umpire started getting involved as well calling no balls at will and had to be reminded by a bemused Umpire that such judgments would be requested as and when needed.

Roll on over 2. Things got stranger. The Umpire announced Mairaj as left arm over. Khan needed more than that. He wanted to know if he was facing spin or medium pace! A now even more bemused Umpire reminded the batsman that he was not at liberty to say. Mairaj bowled his medium paced spinners to pretty decent effect finding the pad but drifting wide.

The sparring continued; lbw shouts were turned down, thick edges here and there brought scampered singles. Sean and Eiro got to the ball quickly to keep the scorebook quiet as the tension rose. It was Anton who got the breakthrough in the 7th over with a looper that trapped Khan plum lbw.

Ryan ramped up the pressure at the other end, mainly on himself though, as the ball slipped from his hand and went at nose height straight into, well, the nose of new batsman McGarva. He shrugged it off pretty well but ordered a helmet for good measure. Ryan got his first warning and then completed the set a few overs later with another one that slipped out of the fingers and cleared the batsman by a good metre. Umpire Shackleford had no choice but to suggest that Ryan find some other way to make himself useful.

In the meantime Dave L took a comfortable catch off Anton at mid-off to keep the wickets falling. After drinks, Sumon sent his spinners down to Shearer who was patient with the good balls and merciless with the bad ones. He got himself tangled up in one that spat up off the pitch though and Chris T caught the ball behind. Appeals, a little half-hearted, went up. Was there a bit of glove, a bit of bat, a bit of both or a lot of nothing? Tricky one to call. Shearer asked Chris T if he’d caught it cleanly. Getting the nod, he walked. Good sportsmanship from the veteran campaigner.

Walsh marched in and then out again following a superbly deft run out from Adit at gully, but McGarva and new bat J. Khan settled in for a lengthy knock.

Marcus T tossed down his carefully flighted leggies, earning the admiration of the tent where his proud mum was doing the scoring. His first ball was a foot-fault no ball. The resulting free hit was a dot ball. Great stuff. He lost his line a couple of times and got deep-sixed but always recovered well to keep the batsmen honest. They knuckled down to put on just over 50 runs until more calm and collected work in the field from Sumon found McGarva in no man’s land and he was run out.

This brought Hawks skipper Mee to the crease. No stranger to centuries, Mee would have to be sent back quickly or the Sharks would be left climbing a mountain. Adit found his edge with a beautiful lifter but the ball was shelled at point. Lollback took his turn at Mee who looked to attack the wrong ball, pulling at one that was too full which left his stumps requiring urgent attention.

Hawks were intent to blast their way through the final overs and they did so effectively. J. Khan had been playing golf shots all afternoon but swung at one too many and was trapped LBW by Mairaj. However, Kowal showed off his own version of the “Steinhardt Uberhoick” and swatted stuff all over the park. It was ugly and brutal and effective. He was dropped a few times, found the boundary more than a few times and generally frustrated the bowlers till he was run out last ball.

Hokushinestu Hawks finished up on a handy looking 203 for 8 wickets. 32 wides and 5 no balls told a familiar story but all of the bowlers had their moments.

Dave L and Chris T took the catches and Adit, Sumon and Chris T were credited with a run out a piece.

Batting
Sharks 133 all out off 32 overs

After lunch it was Dave Lollback and Sumon who were asked to lead the fight back and things got off to cracking start when Sumon cut a Mee loosener for 4 very first ball. That was the high point of the Sharks innings. From ball 2 the wheels started making odd squeaking noises and it wasn’t long before they fell off. The rot started as early as ball 5..
Sumon pushed one out to the covers and inexplicably started running, calling the run about halfway down the deck. Lollback stood no chance as the ball beat him to the strikers end by about a metre. He continued his canter all the way back to the hutch where he entertained everyone with light chat, I’ve no doubt. Nothing sparkling about that diamond duck.

Ryan, having the game of his life so far, came in for the last ball of the over and the last one of his innings, nibbling at a good length ball outside off, his edge found first slip. Ornithologists would have been delighted to see so many rare ducks on one afternoon. By now the Hawks were circling as Vicky came in to steady the ship with the Sharks in peril at two down with one over gone. That said, the required run rate had been achieved so it wasn’t all doom and gloom.

Vicky and Sumon played sensibly, collecting the singles in an unhurried fashion. Wides also helped the scoreboard to tick over and it looked as though the initial storm had been weathered until Sumon got ambitious on a shortish delivery and found Shearer’s hands at point.

What followed next was….well, you’ll have to find your own adjective because I’ve seldom seen anything like it. Anton came to the middleand played himself in, leaving the good ones, having a go at the bad ones and generally coping until called through for a suicidal single by Vicky. The ball came in lazily from square leg and Anton was run out. Not grounding his bat didn’t help his cause but he knew he was a goner halfway down the track.

Mairaj was in and out next ball, poking one back to the safe hands of Mee at mid off. Sean was next on the chopping block. He got bat on ball a few times and looked OK until Vicky pulled his party piece again and called him through for the single that never existed. Run out by a country mile.

Chris T in next. Surely some thunderous Thurgate thumping would put the cat amongst the hawks. It was Vicky doing most of the thumping though. With his eye in, he milked all of the bowlers over the top of mid off and mid on, mixing it up with the occasional pull that sent the search parties into the jungle looking for balls.

Chris T looked to get in on the act but instead turned a rank full toss into a dolly for Mee who made no mistake. This brought his eldest son Marcus to the middle. Of course, the question on everyone’s lips was how the youngster would fare against 6ft Aussies steaming in, looking for easy wickets to brighten their averages. The answer was “very well thank you”. He treated the third ball he faced with a textbook pull to the boundary. Glorious shot. Although Marcus proved he was more than adept at facing the music, Vicky was happier to take most of the strike himself, amassing 4s off the now tiring bowlers, some of whom were observing Ramadan and had not had a drop of water all day!! Both batsmen dealt pretty well with the useful looking spinner Suleiman who showed off his full bag of tricks.

Marcus continued to thrive while Vicky smashed his half century off 60 balls. However, poor judgment between the wickets proved costly against when Marcus was called through for the second run but was left stranded about 2 feet outside the crease. A plucky innings came to an end and he was applauded from the field by both sets of players.

Adit was in next and he is no mug with the bat. It was felt that if Vicky could keep blasting, Adit could get in and score quickly off the wilting bowlers. Vicky had other ideas though and saw that cheeky single that wasn’t there again. Adit was not too happy about being run out as there were plenty of runs to be had with calm and collected batting.

It was the 20th over. With Vicky now running out of partners as fast as, well… he could run them out, he opened his shoulders even more and looked to smash everything. Eiro, at the other end was not expected to last long and the players in the hutch started packing up. They were finished long before Eiro was. He gamely held out till the 32nd over, blocking anything that came on to the stumps and blocking quite a lot that didn’t as well. He even sneaked a couple of runs through fine leg to compound the Hawks frustrations. They surrounded the bat making him difficult to see on occasion but he understood his job well and did it.

All this time Vicky kept blasting away, only taking the single from the 4th ball. The Hawks fielders played their part by dropping him 5 or 6 times. This valiant rearguard action ended when Vicky sent one high up over Laing who kept hold of the ball well. Eiro kept his wicket intact and Vicky added 85 to his stats in another awesome display of fluid, powerful strokes . Unfortunately he couldn’t quite pick up his 5fer of run outs!

So, 5 run outs, our best batsman out for a diamond, two goldens, our youngest player outscoring his dad, our best bowler ending up top scorer and our least experienced player ending up not out after seeing off 12 overs. Very odd game indeed. Sharks all out for 133.

It’s all too easy to point the finger at where it went wrong. Everyone played their part in this farce. It takes two to engineer calamities between the wickets and the Sharks can add running and calling to their “to do” list.

Despite the result both sides enjoyed the game which was played in a reasonably light hearted manner with good sportsmanship on both sides. Many thanks to Hokushinetsu for the game. A very nice bunch of punters indeed and a welcome addition to the JCL.

Also, thanks to Umpire Shackleford who was unflustered and consistent throughout, Scorer Yukiko Thurgate who did a fine job, cameraman Graham Pearson and 12th man Ashley Thurgate who was solid in the field.

Next match for the 2nd XI will be against Paddy’s in Sano. Will they run out winners there? Who knows.topodреклама в интернете сайтабюджет продвижения сайтаанонимайзер одноклассники бесплатно входчехол для macbookденьги в долг срочно брестonline casinowoman escortroyal meritGenting onlineболгария путевки майрадиатор вертикальный цена