SCORECARD

Thrilling Finish Spoiled by Rain

Old Mo 186-7 (35 Overs), Old Doms 143-6 (26 Overs)

Bromsgrove’s sloping pitch together with a traditionally strong opposition batting line-up is one that requires a committed performance from all 11 players especially from the 5 front-line bowlers. When a combination of Work, Olympics, Holidays and no-shows reduce the team to 8, with only 3 recognised bowlers, 2 part-time bowlers and 1 unrecognisable bowler, the prospect is not a happy one.

A thunderstorm just before the start of the match, which prevented play on the main ground until 4.30, resulted in play being switched to the all-weather pitch. Monsieur Le Capitan called heads, the coin came down tails, but was then surprised with a sporting invitation from the Old Doms captain to bat first. With only 3 players in the pavilion at the scheduled start time – the rest sheltering from the rain and carefully nursing their beers – it was left to Mark Butcher and debutant Marcus Huxley to open the innings. With opening bowler Srini causing problems with his in-swingers down the slope, scoring was initially tricky, but Butcher soon capitalised on some loose deliveries to move rapidly onto 18. When Butcher was out LBW to Last, this brought Howarth to the wicket in the unaccustomed position of number 3, but this was to be a brief visit as Srini got one to nip back down the slope and take an inside edge onto the stumps.

Jim Frost was next to arrive and helped to see off the Doms best bowler by some margin, this allowed Rob Green to capitalise on some loose bowling - isn’t it fun when the batsman is fed a diet of full tosses, long hops and half-volleys – to move (relatively) swiftly to 27. By this stage Marcus Huxley was finding some fluency, with a couple of crunching cover drives, but was sadly out to a brilliant catch at extra-cover which the fielder did well to cling onto and avoid serious injury in the process. Rob Green fell next over to a cracking slip catch, to leave the score on 83-5 off 23 overs.

This only brought Ade Martin and Raj Singh to the wicket; Raj with his trademark off-drives and Ade with his trademark brutality accelerating the score, so much so that Hunt who had figures of 1-12 off his first 3 overs finished up with 1-67 off his 7 overs. 23 runs came off one over of particularly brutal hitting. When Ade fell on 48, with just a hint of jug-avoidance, Chisholm helped maintain the momentum with 25 off 18 balls, such that a competitive total of 185 off 35 overs was posted.

Tea was a veritable feast; the Old Doms can always be relied upon to feed their guests well. It was difficult to pull ourselves away from comfy chairs, Olympics on the telly, slices of Battenburg (or was it supposed to have had its name changed to Mountbatten?) and return to the fray.

Ade and Raj opened up the bowling and with Perry scoring freely the score moved on quickly, but when Simon Howarth took a smart catch at extra-cover remove this particularly dangerous batsman and the equally dangerous No. 3 was removed by one of the Sultan of Swing’s best , the unthinkable seemed possible. Srini struck some lusty blows to keep the momentum up for the Old Doms, but when Butcher having switched ends snapped him up caught and bowled, the unthinkable started to seem possible. Jim Frost weighed in with a wicket courtesy of Butcher’s catch and Raj capitalised on a suicidal call to secure a coolly taken run out.

Dark clouds were massing above though, and despite the best efforts of the bowlers, the resulting deluge ended the match, with the result very much in the balance.

A fabulous effort with outstanding commitment and spirit from only 8 players once again, which coupled with a sporting opposition (please note the compliments Mr Old Dom's reporter!) resulted in a most enjoyable match in the end, despite all the difficulties. Special praise has to be handed to guest fielder Will, just 7 years of age, who chased and threw in magnificently at fine leg.

Just what will Monsieur le Capitan be able to do with a full 11? You will have to wait till 2013 to find out!