It was another hot, hot Thursday evening and River Park was so dusty and tawny and dry that you might almost have thought yourself in the Sahel. Hippos wallowing in Nuns Stream. Gazelles grazing on Devil’s Island. Fish eagles lurking in the branches of the weeping willows.
Or alternatively you could have been concentrating on your fielding – because The Arbour got off to an aggressively positive start, scoring sixty runs in their six opening overs off Ted Talks (1 for 21) and The Bard (0 for 39). Ted claimed one wicket in the fifth over, but we did not strike again until the twelfth – a superb reaction catch by the President, diving in the slips. The Bard and Ted would be the first to admit that they gave away too many runs in extras, but our first-change bowlers skilfully wrested back control. LT (0 for 33) was unlucky not to be rewarded, bowling a good line and length,and with decent pace too, while the Skipper (1 for 23) took canny advantage of a dusty wicket to stifle the runs and entice that slip catch.
It was our second change bowlers who did the best work, though. The Pope (0 for 13) bowled intelligently and economically, while Rishi (4 for 18), coming up the hill, frankly went on the rampage. He had seemed unusually nonchalant in the field, but as soon as the ball was put in his hand he transformed. His first ball was a furious yorker, his second repeated the feat and he went on to claim two more wickets in his three overs, including one excellent caught-and-bowled. As they say in Sri Lanka, “the whiteness of the crane appears only when it flies.” And Rishi flew.
When it came to our innings, and Rishi opened the batting, it was the balls that flew. We needed 149 to win, or almost seven and a half an over. What seemed at first moderately challenging began to look almost too easy, as Rishi (26, retired not out) alternated dots and boundaries, and retiredafter facing just ten deliveries. Flipper (25, retired not out), also opening, was the perfect foil, carefully and skilfully rotating the strike, using his feet and hands well, and deservedly carrying his bat. OC (13) came in at three firing on all cylinders, scoring off every one of the first four balls he faced before being caught – just failing to clear mid-on with a lofted drive.
Thus ended the first phase of our innings. In the second, our run-rate dipped – and credit should absolutely be given to some good defensive bowling by The Arbour. The Pope (23), The Skipper (4), The President (5) and The Bard (8 not out) all batted well but the only Racqueteer who really hit his stride and hit the boundaries we began to rather urgently need was Ted Talks (25 not out). Coming in at seven, his hope-lifting innings included two splendid sixes, including an early one created by an outrageous ramp shot. That is a first for our team, surely, and a definite feather in Ted’s green Racqueteerscap.
We reached the end of our overs just ten runs short, departing as clouds – clouds! at last! – gathered over River Park and as the humble village-folk of Hyde came out to enjoy the cool of the evening. Over the now-empty cricket pitch came the drifting sounds of an African dusk: goat bells gently clanked,the Mourning Doves purred and the Scops owl began its cool, crepuscular churr.
The Racqueteers Cricket Club 