When one thinks about summer, for those graced by the pleasures of the NELCL, the truest sign of summer is a rendezvous with the ever-chaotic, ever-enjoyable Royal Sovereign at London Fields.
Even on an early Autumn afternoon in September this holds true and with a reduced playing and supporting crowd, RS still showed why this afternoon is always a special afternoon in every team's calendar.
But, alas as Shakespeare once wrote, summers lease hath all too short a date, and so there was no poetic end to this day - cricketing-fracticide there was, however. Why this happened we’ll never know, but what happened is stored in the annuls of insta-history. Perhaps drama such as this was inevitable, as the day began with heightened tension and 'table-gate’ - where Pacific’s older-guard tried to offer up the only dry table in the park to a young, ‘pretty’ lady who had a party to set up.
Much to the annoyance of the younger generation, not wooed by the charms of this party-planner, who staunchly defended the unassailable rights of first come-first serve. Ultimately pacific won out and with boombox in tow, supporters lining the tree-side of London Fields, RS took to the wicket bat in arm to begin setting Pacific a target.
JK, stepping up once more to the captaincy role, began his opening spell on what turned out to be a classic September Hackney wicket. Aran took the uphill end and both openers took early wickets as the ball thudded into the damp wicket - popping off a spongey patch on a length or skidding through to reinforce the ‘play it straight ‘ mantra. Soon Dan had a go, showing off his toes through his depleted boots and once again making the case for opening the bowling. Prasham also threw some down, scuttling in to bewitch and confound the defensive RS batters.
Despite wickets falling regularly, RS built a total, with Delroy leading the charge and putting Rowan into the trees. Aran got the critical wicket but by then RS had scraped their way to 144 all out.
Thankfully, table-gate meant the pacificos could gather their strength over sandwiches sat upright on the table and not the damp ground.
Refreshed, Mutz kicked off with a slog to mid-on which was shockingly dropped by Delroy. Mutz then knocked one up the air, and again it was dropped before Tristan did the same to yield another drop. Two more balls went down before mutz departed, with Jack joining Tristan. Runs suddenly dried up, with the wicket slowing the scoring down and RS’s openers bowling a tidy line until Jack departed, followed by Ben who managed two straight drives before the chop came out and was undone by RS’s emerging man of of the match, Delroy, took his wicket.
Faisal didn’t manage to add much to the score and Dhruv was undone by one that he couldn’t do anything about, except use all of his bat - which brought Judas, or rowan to the crease. Some may wonder what happened to these brothers to result in such a dastardly and malign action, but history has clearly taken its toll, and Rowan made his choice. Following yet another drop from RS at mid-wicket, Rowan set off. Half way down the wicket, he realised the drop had happened, and then, and only then, did he call his brother through. Being the older brother and caring deeply for his younger sibling and his potential embarrassment at being caught halfway down, and despite the reality of the situation, Tristan obliged. Running through and ending in a dive, he was out - recorded in posterity by mysidecricket. But at least he protected his younger brother. With Tristan gone, Rowan had what he wanted and scored the winning runs.
Another win for Pacific, but perhaps more importantly another great day with Royal Sovereign. We hope they’ll be back next year
