15 September - St Lukes A v Old Rutlishians V (Friendly)

Hemant Joneja (Capt), Richard Somers, Saul Charlwood, John Breedon, James Somers, Mitsi Patel (wk/part), Gopi Desai, Dusty Ahmed, Dave Jones (wk/part), Tim Blatt, Bob Gaddes

A ‘strong(ish)’ St Lukes side were looking for revenge for a dismal performance against Old Ruts last year (all out 41). The sun was shining, the pitch looked fine and the skipper had won the toss - he elected to field which was a good strategy until realising that not all the team were present. After some frantic phone calls the errant members were finally located and directed to the right ground.

Some early success as Bob bowled Waterman around his legs with only 2 on the board and then Hemant induced Haria to edge a swinging delivery to the ever reliable TB at first slip (25-2). It was to be some time before any further success as Pfiefer (61) and Worley (71) put on a third wicket stand of 112 with some good straight driving and some lofted shots just falling short of fielders. Nevertheless, confidence was high although slightly blunted when Hemant was looking to switch Dusty from mid-off to wide mid-on - Dusty was bowling at the time. After switching the changes in terms of bowling, Bob was brought back and ‘bought’ the wicket of Pfiefer well caught in the deep by Mitsi. Bob also claimed the wicket of Mills well caught by wicketkeeper Dave and John B claimed his first wicket for St Lukes with Old Ruts at 156-5. Still time for Mitsi to take another fine deep catch this time of Tim Blatt as some late hitting took Old Ruts to their declaration at tea of 203-6 (44 overs). Of the bowlers Bob finished with 30-3 with Hemant (29-1), Tim (36-1) and John (16-1) claiming the other wickets.

After a fine tea, St Lukes took up the challenge knowing that it was important to keep the run rate high. Richard and Saul took the score to 55 before Saul was bowled. This brought in John B - who had a little side bet going with Ed that he would score a ton (I would have liked some of that Ed). But these two took the score to 97 before Richard was out scoring a fine 55. James and then Mitsi joined John but neither stayed long. John then succumbed for a fine 31 (1x6, 4x4) and Dusty followed soon after to put St Lukes at 135-6 and struggling. At this stage it looked as if the skipper had decided to play for the draw as he and Gopi played carefully to take the score to 144-6 with only 5 overs left (the 60 runs did not look gettable). However, this ignored the powers of Super-Hem who suddenly started to see the ball big and send it significant distances. With two overs remaining and still 35 needed all outcomes were still possible (although some more remote than others). The 39th over produced some fine hitting from Hemant and 20 runs - only another 15 needed off the final over - could it be done? It looked possible as Hemant took 2 and then 4 and then he and Gopi ran another 2 off a wide (what tension) - if you are still counting St Lukes needed another 6 runs to win. But it was not to be, another 4 scrambled runs still left St Lukes short - and so a DRAW was the result. Hemant finishing on 47 (2x6, 5x4) and Gopi on 16. Praise for Old Ruts and their efforts in the field - especially that old adversary ‘Lambo’ Lambert who finished with 51-5. And just to prove that it isn’t always the wicket takers that effect results - a fine couple of spells from Ollie Fox (8 overs for only 8 runs) really put the brakes on the run chase.

Man of the match - (thanks lads but you were not a great deal of help) I give it to Hemant for getting us so close and then deliberately playing for the draw!!