Location – The Marl
Result – Won
Man of the Match – Jimmy
As the Canes arrived to do battle with the Casuals at the Marl in darkest Grangetown they were met with a grim sight, as it appeared that some of the natives had enjoyed a bonfire on the artificial strip – which had consequently been left with a large gaping charred hole in it. As there was also no boundary marked out it seemed that the game was in doubt as the elders on both sides solemnly discussed the situation – but it was then that Lewis showed that he’s more than just a pretty face as he disappeared into the next door Leisure Centre, and emerged with a gym mat which was used to cover the hole, as well as a set of markers which could be used to denote a boundary. Nice one Lew.
The game finally got under way, with bowling possible from the one end only. The Canes were looking for a good steady start after the batting calamity against the Mitres last time out – and Mr Evans was surely the man to provide it. But no – out bowled for a duck, and with Chris and Jaffa suffering the same fate against good accurate opening bowlers the Canes were teetering on the edge of the abyss at only 4 for 3 wickets. Disaster and humiliation loomed and it was looking like a case of deja vu yet again. However, with the opening pair finished Lewis and Jim turned the tide and the runs started to mount. They were able to bat with the freedom of knowing that Jaffa had received a life ban from umpiring after his aberrations in the Mitres match. After he’d expressed how much he hated umpiring, and hadn’t wanted to do the job anyway, there was some speculation that his performance in that game may have owed more to calculation than mere incompetence as Mike D told the tale of how, as a kid, young Jaffa had managed to get out of washing-up duties by ‘accidently’ dropping and breaking various items of crockery. Hmm.
The runs continued to come, despite a break in play when a couple of Jaffa’s relatives strolled across the pitch on a social visit – and quite charming and delightful they were too. Comparisons were made with the Queen’s traditional visits to Lords to meet and greet the teams – but that was really too much of a leap of the imagination (and would have been even with the help of the mind-expanding substances that they seemed to have partaken of). Lewis finally fell to a steepling catch on the boundary, but Jim showed ‘what might have been’ agains the Mitres as he progessed to an excellent 50 odd before being unluckily stumped (or was it run out?) via the wicket-keeper’s pads. Griff and Clive kept up the momentum and the Cane’s finished on a decent score of 128 for 6.
With a healthy total to defend Griff set the field to generally allow the singles but defend the boundaries. The wisdom of his thinking was shown as many hard-hit shots were kept to singles after being intercepted by the men on the ropes – and surely those doubters who’ve previously cast aspersions on his claims to being a tactical genius will now be eating their words? Though Casuals certainly gave it their best shot, good accurate bowling throughout meant that there were few easy runs on offer and they were eventually all out in the last over for 102. COB showed that there may be life after Greg with a solid performance behind the stumps (which included a fine juggling catch), there was an excellent catch from Normy off Jeremy’s bowling, 2 wickets in 2 balls for Imran – though he just failed to ‘do a Clive’, and Lewis showed his comittment by sustaining a very painful looking injury while trying to prevent a boundary. He could barely walk after removing the scab from a recent footballing injury. This is a worry with the big cup final against the Centurions coming up on Monday, but he said he’d be OK – it’s only a bit of skin and he’s got plenty left.
An excellent all-round performance after last week’s disappointment – leading to a notable double over the Casuals, and a most enjoyable game after the unpromising start. But the question now must be, will the no-shows – Greg, who decided to work late (boo) and Nathan, who was at rugby training (boo, boo, and thrice boo) – be able to reclaim their places in the team for the glamour cup game next week? You may think not – though if they promise to buy Griff a pint then I wouldn’t surprised to see them back. Every man has his price after all?
Man of the Match? Well, it has to be Jim really – though Lewis runs him a close second.
Danny
