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Venue - The Bank of England, Roehampton
An absolutely glorius day greeted crossbats as the arrived in the picturesque settings of The Bank
of England's home patch at Roehampton.
Various members of the team had some difficulty locating the grounds and were desperately trying
to contact anyone with vehicular access to come to their aid as tempertures soared past 25 degrees.
As anticipated, Dunbar was coerced into a timed match and it was crossbats who were sent in to bat.
Spiro, feeling the effects of exhaustion and dehydration was quickly dispatched by the lightning
quick opening bowler, claiming he had played the wrong line and had been beaten by
a brilliant ball...
Tillson, keen to make ammends for his previous weeks duck went about his business with a purpose, hitting
some solid 4's and 6's to get the run rate ticking over. Wright had joined Tillson after Spiro's demise and looked
calm and confident at the crease. The pair began to look in control before Tillson was dismissed for a
galant 39.
Wright, joined by Winch, continued to build his innings, picking up singles by dropping the ball into the leg side on at least
half a dozen occasions with a view of turning the strike and keeping the run rate moving.
As the runs built, so to did Wrights aggressive approach to the match, becoming ever more expansive, picking off boundaries
at will and looking far more like the Alistair Wright of old.
And it appeared to be at his utter surprise when the cheer rose up from the other crossbats members, with Wright having passed fifty.
It only took a moment to sink in......Wright, realising this was not a fantastical dream, began to hop and dance around on the spot,
raising his bat to an invisible crowd that only he could see.....this was Wrights finest moment for crossbats in some time and
he was going to enjoy every bit of it.
Meanwhile, the reliable Winch looked in some discomfort as Wright had been pushing him hard for the quick singles.
It wasn't too long before Winch was uncharacteristically bowled and returned to the pavillion having posted his
most modest total of the season.
This bought Carter to the crease in the unfamiliar position of number 5. He joined Wright who was looking to get
on with things.
Unfortunately, Wright's innings came to a close when he was undone by a slow double bouncer, but his contribution had not gone unoticed and
he finished with a valuable 58.
Nichols joined Carter at the crease with instructions from Captain Dunbar to start pushing it along with a view of declaring in
another 10-12 overs. Carter, try as he might was unable to get going and thick edged one to a safe pair of hands at deep gully.
Dunbar, armed with the final overs game plan, joined Nichols at the crease.
His intent was made clear from ball 1 and Dunbar fancied finishing the innings with a flourish. Nichols however, had other ideas.
Nichols, knowing full well that Dunbar was a chronic strike hog and that he would not likely get to face many balls, thought 'to hell with
him' and started dropping the ball into the off side and took great pleasure in watching the 'burly' Dunbar 'scamper' for unlikely singles......and sure enough, with
Dunbar having only posted 4 runs, Nichols cunning plan of attack was bought to fruition as Dunbar was found a yard short of his
ground and adjudged run out.
And so the middle order collapse was in full swing once more. Nicholls didn't last much longer, also posting 4. Fraser stuck around for a couple
of boundaries before being dismissed for 13 - and When Van Vuuren played a horror shot to be bowled, Dunbar, wanting to keep some pride and dignity
intact, made a sporting declaration at 173/9, giving the opposition approximately 45 overs to get the runs.
The Bank of England tea is one of the highlights of the season, with it's sit down service and fine array of cakes, scones and other very English delights.
Full to the gills, the crossbats waddled back to the ground, having been unable to stop themselves from gorging at the interval.
Dunbar and Fraser took the ball after tea and it only took two deliveries before a fired up Dunbar sent the ball crashing into off stump for the
first breakthrough. And it wasn't long before Fraser joined the party, claiming a wicket of his own, leaving the Bank in a little trouble, with 2 down and not
many on the board.
A moment of Winch brilliance saw Dunbar pick up his second, the batsmen edging one past the keeper, only for it to be snaffled, one handed by agile Winch at first slip. Bank, 3/15.
After some further tight bowling, Dunbar and Fraser were replaced by Jones and Reeve respectively, with Reeve having immediate effect, taking the
top of off stump sending the Bank into further trouble. Jones wasn't going to miss out a claimed one for himself moments later, leaving the crossbats
feeling excited and the Bank in demise at 49/5.
Somewhere from this point onwards, the game changed and no matter what the crossbats did, they could not breakthrough.
There were some strange moments to boot, with Spiro, still feeling the effects of his long walk from Barnes Station, constantly changing
sides of the field, mid over, his only explanation being his self induced confusion with the game of cricket!
With the batsmen beginning to dominate it was Reeve who finally made the much needed breakthrough, enticing the young batsmen to hit on the up, but he found the safe hands of Van Vuuren at mid off and gave crossbats the renewed hope of victory.
A wylie old fox joined the existing slugger at the crease and the pair began to dominate once more. Dunbar, feeling compelled to offer his team something further, bought himself back on for a second spell. First ball into the wylie old fox was a full bunger, about waist high that had the old fella skipping and cursing a bit. Second ball compounded the batsmens frustration, when Dunbar again delivered a full bunger, this time hitting the right wrist of the batsmen, sending him into a fury and with apologies not forthcoming, the atmosphere was icy......
The Old fox however had a cunning game plan and with a fired up Dunbar not quite finding his spot, the fox dabbed at the ball and it turned out
he had a better edge than U2 and was picking up streaky boundaries at will and was very chirpy in letting Dunbar know about it.
As Dunbar lost all control and wanted to bowl beamers at kenny rogers, he had the presence of mind to drag himself, but the damage was done.
Van Vuuren, who had patiently waited all day for a bowl, came on and had immediate affect, picking up the big hitting batsmen at the other
end. But it was to little to late and as the sun set over Roehampton, it also set on any chance of a crossbats victory. With the last rights read, the game
was completed and crossbats suffered their second loss of the season by 3 wickets.
Although they had been beaten, spirits were still up and it was a few beers with the oppo, with all shenanigans forgotten, then off to the
pub where various points of view on the match were discussed. Curry was on the menu and as the lads made their way to the local
establishment, it all became too much for captain Dunbar, who stealthly made his way to a cab, unable to digest any more theories on where it
all went so wrong, let alone a vindaloo!
Next week, it's the return fixture with Morden and crossbats will be looking to get back to winning ways.