On the Thursday before the game, Pacific had 7 players available, a ground booked, and no opposition listed. That this game took place at all, is in itself a testament to the tenacity and perspicacity of those who love cricket, who'll do anything to get the game on, and avoid another Saturday of childcare if they have even the half chance of a damn opportunity to do so - so help them God.
After a bit of scrabbling around, an XI was formed, with particular thanks to stalwart Jack Mendel for recruiting Matt, as the team also welcomed Murali Pavan as our second debutant of the day, supplied to us by the opposition - a decision they would later come to regret... Opposition was provided by Alexandra Park CC's 3 XI, folllowing a dedicated stalking of the Fixture List and jumping all over Simon as soon as their ad went up. They're a club who's helped us out by hosting when we lost a fixture a few years ago, so it was nice to be able to return the favour (and not pay Islington Council for a ground we werent using).
On approach to the ground, I was slightly discombobulated to recieve a phone call from Mario, the Wray Crescent Park keeper (who will be a recurring character in todays match report). He informed me that there was, and I quote - "some fuckers with sun loungers and TV cameras filming where you guys usually sit". Reader, I was intrigued. Arriving sweaty at the ground in 27 degree heat, I was indeed faced with a film crew doing some sort of a music video, and a slightly bemused 5 or 6 of the oppo whod'd turned up early watching. That Wray Crescent is such a cultural icon to attract such visitors shouldnt be a suprise, although I wish they'd liased with Better about who had actually booked the field - because it wrankles a bit that it can be used for commercial purposes without a fee, and the footballers can play for free, but when its the only cricket ground in Islington being used for cricket... well, I digress. They were informed in no uncertain terms that cricket would be happening now, and their expensive equipment was very much at risk. They decided to film elsewhere.
Anyway, we lost the toss, which was a bad one to lose, because it was very hot, and were asked to have a bowl. I never mind bowling first at Wray, because the oppo often don't know it's where bowlers averages come to die and you should pretty much just smash everything from ball 1. But I digress. Seb and debutant Murali were asked to open the bowling, and Seb immediately found his line and length. Some slightly questionable decisions on LBWs and front foot no balls confounded his search for a wicket, but his 5 overs for only 12 runs gave us great start and restricted the septugenarian opener to playing and missing reguarly. At the other end, Murali took an over or two to find his rythm, but was very threatening when he clocked where to pitch it on the Wray astro. His 2 wickets were well deserved, including the dangerous opener Melzer. After the opening salvo, double leg spin came into the attack, and whilst RLG picked up a snick behind to a good take from Zafar, Jack was not so lucky, coming up against the formidable Ullam (down from the 1sts, bowling 75mph rockets, struggling with controlling his swing says the skipper - can bat a bit too...) and getting some considerable tap, despite hitting good areas. One of those taps was so considerable, it went over the Wray netting, and collided with the windscreen of someones car. There was a sort of gentle thunking noise, and then, a few moments later, a very irate gentleman. Re-enter Mario! The very irate gentleman informed Mario, and a few of the fielders, that he would be very interested in knowing who had done that to his car, and would rather like a quiet word with them about who was going to pay for it. Mario then informed the cricketers that this was supposed to be a gentle game, and we were supposed to be hitting it gently. I think all the Pacificos (particuarly Jack) agreed that it would be better if Ullam wasn't hitting it quite so hard, and quite so out of the middle of the bat, but the polite thing to do seemed to be to nod and humour Mario, who was, to be fair, dealing with the very irate gentleman. He continued to deal as a middleman between the very irate gentleman and myself all the way through to mid Monday, when I managed to get esteemed club founder and secretary Pete Hollman to deal with it, as I didn't really know anything about insurance claims, and who'd actually be liable if he's got a heated windscreen so it cant be fixed at the roadside and needs to be towed to a garage and his insurance won't give him a courtesy car if he's not at fault or something, and he can't get to work on Monday. But I digress.
Anyway, after we decided enough was enough with the leg spin, we did the sensible thing and turned to good old off spin, which was more effective than usual. Ulllam was removed via a good catch from Dan, and then wickets started to tumble. After taking two good catches, the other off Jack, Dan was rewarded with a return to his favoured position of change bowler. And he did not dissapoint, with exemplary figures of 4-1-6-2 showing why he's tailor made for that role. I swear there wasn't a dry eye in the house, watching his redemption arc from middling batter to bowling all rounder come to fruition. I fully expect 20th Century Fox to option the film rights in the next year or two. Matt came on to take a debut wicket, and we mopped up the tail without too much fuss to leave the target at 180.
Harry and Zaf opened the reply, and started strongly, though neither will be entirely satisfied with their scores. Still, they provided a platform, and when Riz came to the crease, he exploited it. Matt looked to play positively on his debut, and was perhaps undone by it, but Rowan stuck around with the the Sunday captain, and took us to a comfortable position. Unfortunately some sort of horrible muscle tweak prevented Riz from continuing, and he retired with his average intact after a classy 50. Dan the bowler came on to see us home, and Seb got a deserved cameo with the bat after a selfless bowling peformance.
Unfortuantely, as the Champions League final of Arsenal v PSG kicked off at 5pm, we were unable to take the oppo for a drink after the game, although they kindly invited us to their clubhouse. Several Pacificos opted for a few tinnies in the dying sun at Wray, and enjoyed a post game net. It was a good game at short notice, played in excellent spirit throughout, and though the exclamations of dismay from the very irate gentleman, and subsequent pleading phonecalls from a Mario stuck in the middle will live long in my memory, overall it was a lot of fun. And what more can you ask for from a Saturday's cricket. But I digress...
TG
