On a sunny August evening, Dodgers returned to Regent's Park for the second match of the season against Ad Hoc. Captain Ralph had already performed the toss by email, so we took the field shortly after 6pm with a little personnel assistance and set about our business.
Sometimes they all stick, and sometimes they don't. While our bowling was tight from the start, we passed up so many catching opportunities that even the Ad Hoc umpires began commenting on our lack of form. All three of their top order retired on 25*, while others continued to score convincingly throughout the innings. Special mention goes to Brendan for repeatedly putting his body on the line and thereby saving dozens of runs on the short cover boundary. Despite his heroics, we had allowed Ad Hoc to reach a total of 139 off their 20 overs; with the light fading fast, this was always going to be a tall order for us to chase down.
Harry succumbed to a snorter from Abbas in the first over, after which Jack and Tommy combined to push the run rate up to where it needed to be. Incoming bats Brendan and debutant Fred (playing his first ever game of cricket) were unable to hold up the opposition onslaught for long, while Mike Mc and Damian each retired unbeaten after some healthy running between the wickets - particularly admirable in Damian's case, as he was recovering from a double whammy of covid and food poisoning. By the time Ralph and Matt took over, the game was already beyond us, and before long we were lamenting our second defeat by Ad Hoc in the one season.
Man of the Match votes: Damian 4, Jack 2, Mike 2, Fred 2, Brendan 1
.jpg)
Comments