A case study in how to lose a match.
This league fixture against Rob's lot went relatively smoothly in the field as the seamers all bowled good spells - the fielding went from sublime (Carl's catch of a steepler at mid off and run out) to the ridiculous (although there was some consolation watching the highlights of India's efforts on the same day). The most tragi-comic moment was our non-fielding debutant of a midwicket waving a hand at a dolly and missing it, mid on failing to pick it up and then Nuggsy, charging in from cow corner, did so and scored a direct hit with his throw as the batsmen attempted a second only to find the square leg umpire not looking in the right direction (possibly laughing too much at the drop?) - spirit of cricket only works for batsmen (Bell). Aroon bowled a tad short but collected his 100th wicket for the club so a big well done to him (and for buying a jug). Jon Brown again kept very well (very harsh byes). Chigwell made 202/8 off their 45 overs - Rob got 49 opening.
A poor tea (although ice creams were good) was slowly munched.
The batting also went well. Ahmed and Carl batted well and set a good platform for Webley, with his usual artistry, and Parkinson who seemed to be strolling to victory as they both hit fifties. However the emergence of the flying ants and the loss of a ball in the river seemed to change all that. Jon and Sam both perished to ambitious cover drives against a newly swinging ball, Smithy was too busy on the phone (although when he did deign to bat he got a damn good ball first up from Rob) and overpromoted tail panicked as the non-fielding debutant proved to have a fine forward defensive but no scoring shots. Two run outs off successive balls where kamikaze pilots had a better chance of surviving than the batsmen rounded off the choke of all chokes.
Well done to Rob's lot - they clung in there and kept their heads whilst we imploded - and on a nice sunny day cricket was the winner (although as at the test not the fielding team when it came to the spirit)
