2 June 2007 – St Lukes A v Presidents XI (35 overs a side)

It didn’t bode well that on arriving at the ground (Haydens Rec) only half the opposition had arrived, the dressing rooms were locked and the pitch had been marked out at 20 yards (for Juniors) instead of 22.  But hey, the sun was shining. 

Mitsi was elected captain for the day and promptly lost the toss – Roy agreeing to field for the opposition who were still short at the start.  It proved a bad toss to lose, the pitch was erratic (high or no bounce and some sideways movement) and the outfield uneven.  St Lukes were quickly 23-4 with only Kirthi digging in – and that on one good leg (he having strained his calf muscle early on).  But this gave Jon the chance for some exercise as runner. The three different crease marking at one end proved somewhat confusing and St Lukes ‘lost’ a number of short runs through using the wrong one.  Shoks joined Kirthi for a useful fifth wicket stand of 38 (of which Shocks made 25 including two ‘big’ sixes) before he managed to find the only decent fielder on the on-side with a full blooded cut.  Roy (now a batsman) added some late resistance and put on another 22 with Kirthi before the latter was out.  The tail wagged but not much, taking the final score on to 101.  St Lukes again failing to make use of all the possible overs.

Presidents in reply, and now aware of the pitch, decided to get well forward and throw the bat.  St Lukes bowled tightly but without catches going to hand.  Shoks got an early breakthrough and Bob added a second wicket when Jon took a skyer.  Mitsi was unable to keep wicket (fingers still bruised from Skoks the week before) and so Roy took on the gloves – taking multi-tasking to an extreme.  Gopi bowled well taking as many wickets as runs with the bat (3) and for only 22 runs.  Presidents were always in control but one note of controversy arose when a clear ‘run out’ was not given – again, some confusion over which was the crease marking – but St Lukes took it well.  The skipper brought himself on intending to make the final breakthrough but instead conceded the winning runs. 

Overall, an entertaining game on an appalling pitch (that’s why we moved from it many years ago) with St Lukes coming out of it with a ‘could do better’ report.  Man of the match – that Man of Many Talents, Roy.