This was the return of a fixture last played in the early 90s in Raynes Park. There had been 5 encounters having won the 1st, 3 draws & losing the most recent circa 1995.
It was a bright afternoon but with a freezing wind sweeping across the open plain that is the CSSC ground. The afternoon got off to a bad start with the loss of the toss by skipper Gleadow, two players late due to trains out of action and Faisal arriving despite having not been picked. The skip persuaded his obliging and good natured opposite number to allow Pacific to play with a supersub as there were now 12.
The first ten overs were sheer chaos as the skip failed to lead his team and even almost provoked a walk out by one of his players. However, Faisal ran out a suicidal opener and Brown and Alexander bowled fine opening spells with a ball that was swinging a mile in the breeze.
Change bowlers Rees and Fuller were accurate and kept the opposition to 60/1 off 18. Faisal removed their skipper with his first ball, a fine bouncer, and then bowled very well. Gleadow and Korgaonkar however could not back that up although both suffered from dropped catches. Alexander bowled a devastating spell at the end and he richly deserved his five-for and was unlucky as Rees's drop prevented him for claiming the best bowling performance of the season so far.
The Pacific reply got off to a very slow start and was only 18/2 off 10 overs. In a moment of huge controversy Mohamed survived a run out appeal where Rees failed to be in position to adjudge properly amongst a flurry of flying bats, fielders and ball. (although this reporter cannot know if it was the right decision).
At 36/4 the position was ropey but Tempany soon asserted himself crashing five sixes including three in a row of Oldfield's first three balls that all crossed the far boundary of the neighbouring pitch. Rees provided excellent support as Tempany raced to 50 off 23 balls. Perera, who bowled brilliantly, bowled Tempany off an inside edge to give CYPOS? hope. With Rees bowled and Faisal struggling (note to skippers he wants to face quicker bowling) the game looked to be slipping away.
However, Alexander blasted a quick 14 and Fuller marshalled the tail to take Pacific home off the penultimate ball.
A great game and thanks to the four hardy supporters who braved the wind to cheer us on. Tempany was brilliant on his keeping debut (the byes were down to the wind and dropped chance was very hard) and he firmly established himself as captaincy material by showing real leadership. Thanks to the oppo who were very friendly (apart from the possibly justified angry fielder who was denied two run outs) and accommodating of our need to operate a supersub (and the skip's inability to communicate his intentions regarding who was in that role).
Past notables:- Darryl Roberts bowled the 20th most economical spell (& his 4th) on 4th August 1991. 7-5-4-2.
Top of the slowest individual scoring Jonathan Hardisty 1 in 46 balls o 19th June 1993. This is also the joint highest number of balls faced before getting off the mark with 44. Unlikely to be beaten you'd like to think.
