Pacific 104 for 6 off 40 overs
UCS 105 for 5 off 33 overs
(40-over match)

We did well to get on a game on. We had originally been due to play against JMC CC at Wray Crescent but on Wednesday received an email from them saying that seven of their team had been watching the England v Scotland Euro 2020 match in a pub the previous Friday and had been notified by the track-and-trace app that someone in the boozer had tested positive and they must therefore all isolate. Bloody Covid strikes again!

So Timbob posted an ad on The Fixture List website looking for a game and luck would have it that his old outfit, UCS Old Boys, were searching for an opposition. The change of venue didn't help availability and we turned up at UCS on Saturday with a side composed largely of Sam Farnham ring-ins (the affable Chris Browne, the paceman Max Mortiboys and the one and only Alex Gasic) and put in a decent effort.

After UCS won the toss and inserted us we didn't get off to the best of starts, with openers Jasbir Basi and Toby Chasseaud both going cheaply to the swing and pace of Gangun Virk (who would finish with the impressive figures of 4 for 15 off 8). Toby got a peach that pitched on middle and clipped the off bail. He was later heard to comment that he wouldn't have bothered getting out of bed had he known that was going to happen. Jas was also bowled, by a quick full one.

Farnham stuck around a while for a nuggety 12, which would turn out to be the second highest score of the innings. John Deighan was caught at gully to a ball that bounced a bit more. 

The young Jedi, Kaleem Luthra, top-scored with 48, which would have been more in better conditions. Runs weren't easy to come by on the slowish pitch with a long, slow outfield. Browne hung around a while but failed to get off the mark as UCS kept things tight. After the match, drinkers in West Hampstead high street would be impressed by his kit arrangement. Currently moored on a narrow boat in Broxbourne (where we often used to play, funnily enough), Browne has apparently become expert at packing as one has to be organised in the confines of a boat. So he has taken to strapping his batting pads to the frame of his bicycle and, if memory serves this correspondent correctly, tying his helmet to his backpack. 

But the most colourful character in this tale is the ultra competitive Gasic, who wasn't going to give his wicket away without a fight. Video evidence would later suggest that early in his innings he had trodden on his own stumps, though when UCS pointed out that he'd done so, Gasic, cool as a cucumber, replied that the (non-existent) wind had blown the bails off and they somewhat charitably let him continue. Later, Browne would be recalled to the crease to act as a runner for Gasic, who somehow managed to bat for about 10 overs for his 11 before, much to his disgust (and dissent), he was adjudged LBW by UCS umpire Andrew.  

The Jedi Luthra, meanwhile, somehow managed to channel the Force to keep his concentration amid all the chaos and confusion. Jithin George added some valuable late-order runs. Luthra skied one in the final over when heroically hitting out but thankfully the point fielder didn't fancy it so he finished unbeaten, with his whites characteristically dirtied after three times diving to make his ground.

After tea (not provided), it was Pacific's turn to bowl. George steamed in and continued to impress in his first season for us. He would later take two catches in the field, the second of them a juggled effort that he did well to hang on to as his circus skills saw him collide with the running batsman Murya. 

At the other end, Mortiboys generated serious pace with his tall, slender frame. Like Michael Holding, he has a high, graceful action and was able to hurry the batsmen. At one point, he was on a hat-trick. At another point, he played human pinball, hitting the UCS stalwart Doran on the wrist with a full-bunger which then bounced up into Chasseaud's chin at slip. Thankfully both lived to tell the tale, to the relief of an apologetic Mortiboys. But otherwise his bowling had been fantastic, and in the field he almost executed a run out with a quick pick-up and throw. He finished with figures of 3 for 20 off eight.

The also economical Timbob Garrett picked up a wicket, while Colin Pollard twirled away at the other end with his offies. 

After playing himself in, UCS wicketkeeper-batsman Sher began to punish any loose balls and to take the game away from us with his 41 before being LBW to Mortiboys. Farnham, Deighan and Chasseaud (in his first bowl since 2019) turned their arms over at the end but by then the game was up.

Still, it had been a pleasant enough afternoon out, even if the outfield was too slow, and all credit to Timbob and Sam for getting the game on.
TC