There's something bittersweet about the final cricket evening of the summer. The light is low, the grass is parched, but there's still a warmth that reminds you the season isn't quite over yet. Of course these melancholic overtones are perhaps matched by an anxiety about ending the season on a poor performance- nothing worse than spending a winter reflecting on a wicket badly conceded, at least to this author.
In place of our usual end-of-August fixture with Putney, we instead travelled to Dulwich to face Southbank. We did retain our quasi-Hundred rules though and agreed on 5-ball overs in the interests of finishing before sundown. The hosts began their batting somewhat tentatively. By which I mean they waited about a dozen deliveries before smashing a six. Opening bowlers Will and Niket did well to concede only 12 and 22 runs in their three overs each, respectively, before stepping aside for Satya and Fin. The early retirements of Southbank's opening pair helped our first change bowlers suppress the run rate a bit, and when Charlie came in at second change he finally found the breakthrough by bowling Mike McIntyre on a fuller delivery. He followed that up with an almost maiden over, quite impressive given the format, remarking that it 'took him all season to remember how to bowl'- better late than never I say! He shared his spell with Savan, who also bowled nicely in his three overs. Satya and Will returned for the final two overs, taking a well-deserved wicket each and also drying up the boundaries.
Southbank finished on 116 runs; plenty but not insurmountable. Sadly some drops in the deep from three of our best bowlers (Charlie, Satya, and Will), who are also some of our best fielders, did cost a few runs. Our strongest fielder was TQ, who worked hard sprinting around the outfield to save several would-be boundaries. We went into the chase with the sun still shining and some optimism regarding our chances of a win to remember.
Fran and Will walked out to the crease and quickly made the astro their playground by running every single and pushing every two. Throw in some classic Will punches around the ground, they'd raced away to score 36 runs within 25 balls- although at this moment of success Will was bowled by one of the Dean brothers for 19 (12). Fran nicked behind next ball, honourably walking off despite umpire Fin not hearing the noise, departing for 11 (14), and leaving two new batters to try and re-establish our position. Sadly Mike became the next victim in this collapse when he also flashed to gully on his first delivery. So a quick shift from 36-0 to 37-3 in only five balls, but there's still some batting to try and steer us home. Our oppo smelled blood, however, and sensed this was an opportunity to try and bury us- ten consecutive balls with only one scoring shot meant that the pressure was well and truly ramped up, and in an effort to accelerate again Satya was caught for 5 (8). TQ fell next, unlucky not to add any runs of his own, and now Niket and Brendan were left with a fairly daunting required rate to try and pull towards an increasingly unlikely comeback. Niket was less daunted in these efforts as he raced away and retired at 26* (15) in comfortably our best batting effort of the evening. One man does not a winning side make, however, and Brendan crawled to a 2 (11) innings that featured fleeting partnerships with Fin (3 runs off 7) and Charlie (bowled first ball). By the time Ralph and Savan took their guard, the result was a foregone conclusion, though they added 5 and 2 runs, respectively, to get us at least a little bit of pride along the way.
In the end Southbank won by a comfortable 28 runs. There's no denying they earned that margin, batting well and letting up little in their subsequent defence. Dodgers can at least be glad we got a good side together to see out August in style, enjoying a nice visible moon from the bar afterwards for our efforts.
Man of the match
Niket 7
Will 4
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