PCC slumped to a humbling defeat at the hands of Crossbats at White Hart Lane, on one of the poorer grounds even by the standards of late-September NTP cricket. It turns out the football ground is not the only s******* in N17. 

Pacific's innings started in promising fashion, as veteran opener J.Thornton blocked or left the first three or so balls. Unfortunately, as Crossbats' keeper fumbled one down leg side later in the same over, JT's opening partner Alex called for a quick bye and ran himself out by some distance. Good intent. Alas, as the scorecard shows, this set the tone for what was largely a farcical PCC batting performance, with the only bright spots being BB's 50 comprising blocks and slogs, Manav's dogged supporting innings, and an entertaining cameo from Toby Jarvis.  Perhaps the long grass and difficulty of scoring runs along the ground got into our better batsmen's heads, whereas it didn't make any difference to those with a more unorthodox and aggressive approach. 

There were optimistic mutterings at tea to the effect that 90 was "a good score on this", but of course it wasn't. The artificial track suited Crossbats' aggresive no. 3 down to the ground, who almost single-handedly made light work of the chase despite giving a chance or two at the beginning of his innings. 

The champagne moment came courtesy of Toby J and Nick Epstein, who smashed into each other going for the same catch off Toby's bowling, sending Toby tumbling. Fortunately Eppy held the catch and did not sustain serious injuries. 

Alan from Crossbats remarked after the match:  

"It was unfortunate and certainly on our side the most unorthodox batsman succeeded where the stroke players were forced into shots they don’t normally employ and failed."

"If you are talking to the council it might help to point out that the long grass hid the less controllable failings of huge chasms which made it dangerous to field on."