Certainly the hottest day of our cricketing year greeted us, for our visit to the picturesque and historic Garrison Ground, to face the ever-competitive St Cross CC.
The skipper walked back somewhat dejectedly after losing the toss (again!) to find ourselves inevitably, given the overwhelming heat, in the field. We were delighted to welcome debutant Prav (0 for 30) who bowled his allocation of 8 overs, with accuracy and swing, straight through from the Hospital end of the ground. Meanwhile, at the other end Rishi, bowling with his customary pace and aggression (returning an impressive 5 for 36), and the ever-lively Tom Talks (0 for 26) kept the wraps on the scoring of the St Cross top order.
Despite the extreme heat, and with one of the St Cross batsman reaching a tenacious century, we stuck to our task in the field with Head of Salmon taking a scalp and The President picking up two good wickets (including a fine stumping) to keep the opposition to 210 in their two and a half hour innings.
An excellent tea (thank you Mike!) was enjoyed in the much needed shade of the trees, as we gathered ourselves for our reply.
The St Cross attack was fast and aggressive though not the most accurate and despite the early loss of the (sadly under the weather) Bard (3), both Sepia (18) and the Skipper (10) steadied the ship as the scoreboard ticked along nicely; extras helping too and eventually making up 75 of our chasing total! With some great stroke play from Rishi (43) and good battling innings from The President (11) and Jules (7) we kept in touch with the run rate as the excitement mounted…
We were not to be disappointed! With the arrival of Will (24 not out) – who’d also kept wicket so well in the heat – and the ever-positive Tom T (20 not out) the stylish boundaries flowed. They saw us home to victory with an over to spare! A great win and a most satisfying all-round team performance. Well played The Racqueteers!
It was terrific to be supported by a lovely group of family and friends, and a particular pleasure to meet and welcome Sepia’s dear dad David to a Racqueteers game. We move on to our remaining matches in September in very good spirits.
The Racqueteers Cricket Club 