We were under orders from JD, who was busy supping Kronenbourg at Lord’s with Timbob, to avenge our defeat by the Clapton Cornettos earlier in the season – a match in which the skipper had been triggered as a result of the opposition’s excessive appealing. (“I got confused,” the umpire had admitted.)

Things started well in our second outing against the Cornettos, with Luke de Noronha and Toby Chasseaud putting on an opening stand of about 100. Denoronha looked particularly dangerous as he smashed five fours (despite the slowest of outfields) and three sixes with his new blade at a strike rate of 208. Surely he has now dispelled any suggestions that he can’t bat at No 1.

First De Noronha and then Chasseaud retired upon reaching fifty and Nav Devesher, in at No 3, carried on where De Noronha had left off. Devesher would bring up his fifty off the last ball of the innings, with a four that was doubled to eight (a quirk of Last Man Stands) and meant that his strike rate (216) surpassed even De Noronha’s.

The Siddiqui brothers Rizwan and Mutz faired less well as they were both bowled for four and ten respectively. It was left to the young Hishaam, Riz’s son, to show them how to do it, as he calmly saw off a hat-trick ball (after both Jithin George and Harry Rix fell) before advancing down the  track to smite a four over long on. 

We finished on 184 for 4, which was a good tally given the long grass.

After the turnaround, our opening bowlers performed even better than our opening batsmen had. Rix was exceptional, his four overs, including two maidens (almost unheard of in LMS), going for only eight runs. George and Hishaam also generated good pace, though the scorecard doesn’t seem to have accurately identified them (see note below).

Chasseaud, fielding at deep midwicket, took a decent catch and then, upon being prompted by Riz to do so, ran the other batsman out by mistakenly throwing to wicketkeeper Mutz who relayed the ball to the bowler’s end. In LMS this is what’s known as a “double play” because if a batsman is caught out his partner can be run out if they have only run a single while the ball is airborne – they either need to not run at all, or run a two.

Let it be noted that this correspondent is not a fan of this rule. Quite a few LMS players seem unaware of its existence so it can cause plenty of confusion, as it did in this instance. I also think it creates bad habits which could be carried into weekend games if a batsman is encouraged not to run at all after playing an aerial shot.

Still, Riz absolutely loves it and was not in the mood to show the Cornettos any mercy. He would soon execute a double play all of his own when he took a tidy catch over his shoulder, running back off his own bowling, and then turned to throw the stumps down at his own end.

Somewhat confusingly, these double-play run outs seem to be listed as caught on the scorecard below.

It was getting very dark but we got through the overs and restricted the Cornettos to 112 for 6, thus allowing JD to sleep sure in the knowledge that revenge was his.

TC

SCORECARD:

Pacific innings (though unfortunately Hishaam is listed as Zain Gajia): https://www.lastmanstands.com/leagues/scorecard/1st-innings?fixtureid=325275

Clapton Cornettos innings (though I think unfortunately Jithin is listed as Zain and Hishaam is listed as Jithin): https://www.lastmanstands.com/leagues/scorecard/2nd-innings?fixtureid=325275