Bad track Belair Park
Belair Park, Dulwich, 5/8/2011
Viscount won by 3 runs
Viscount: 140 [S.Young 43]
Strongroom: 137-9 [H.Lojhan 42, T.Morrison 5-6]]
View the Scorecard
This game was spoilt by being played on an appalling surface – by far the worst strip I have ever seen in my lifetime! If I had to describe it…it looked like a neglected garden that has been cut with scissors, and then hit around with a sledgehammer. I lost the toss, and we initially started on a flattish looking artificial track (as that appeared less dangerous). However, Zorain got the ball to rise with such alarming pace and bounce that after 3 balls both sides agreed to stop before anyone got seriously hurt, and give the dreadful looking grass surface a try. The grass track was possibly less dangerous but far more erratic in bounce - 3-4 balls each over would misbehave hugely, with deliveries of the same length either shorting past the batsmen’s nose (and over the keeper’s head too – in fact that happened on many occasions) or scooting around his ankles. And that was that really! That set the tone for the entire game. At times I did think about calling it off, but it was a nice day, with good opposition, two full XIs, and we had traversed across the river and into South London…and so we decided to try playing cricket.
Zorain was mostly unplayable, but the openers picked off a few uncharacteristically short balls from Hem, and although the scoring rate was good, wickets also fell to loose shots, as Viscount followed a “get runs before you die” approach. However, middle order batsmen Young and Gatra demonstrated a change in tactics, and put on 64 runs in a sensible and battling stand. Joe started well, but when I changed his end he lost his trajectory slightly and went for more runs than normal. Sumer bowled brilliantly – running with more zest and zip, his leg-breaks incredibly turned about a metre each time, and bamboozled both batsmen and keeper repeatedly. He also slipped in some ‘wrong-uns’ which went the other way, and fully deserved his 2-25. Ujjal and Chris also bowled well, and we made a much better go of tightening up the lower order and finally removed them for 140. We fielded well overall, and Tom Henderson did really well behind the stumps on a day he will never forget.
Tea included fried chicken, pasta salad and a range of other stuff! It was good…and we knew 141 would be tough to chase on this incredible surface!
So, with our response, I was extra determined to preserve my wicket, and I also instructed Harry to do the same. In this task we were successful – in posting 88 runs for the first wicket in 29 overs. Harry [42] played beautifully – mixing solid defence whilst remaining attentive for the loose ball which he would languidly and stylish slap away when it arrived. I was less fluent though, and only managed 18 runs, in a dogged and unattractive innings…but I was focusing on the mission at hand. Viscount remained upbeat throughout, as they sensed a breakthrough was never far away, and the ball continued to behave bizarrely. The ball was taken on our gloves and body repeatedly; Harry also took one fierce smash on his grill from the dangerous Morrison, who bowled a short but ominous first spell. Finally Harry mistimed a drive to mid-off, then two balls later I misjudged a run to mid-on, and suddenly the last 10-overs scramble was upon us (50 required). However, Tim Morrison came back into the attack, and was nigh-impossible to deal with. Tall, with a relaxed run-up and high action, he was reminiscent of Ambrose as he bowled dead-eye-dick straight and at good pace, getting the ball to rise off a length horribly. He finished with figures of 8-4-6-5, including three stump-shattering yorkers. Even though I was the opposing captain, I really enjoyed watching his bowling! With 13 needed off two overs, the game was in the balance, but we were losing wickets steadily. Debutant Rich Brown smacked a couple of rare boundaries, but then lost his wicket, leaving Hem to get 4 off the last ball to win. He did well, but we fell just short. This was a truly bizarre game, and in many ways it wasn’t really cricket at all, in its recognisable sense, but we look forwards to playing Viscount again, as both our clashes so far have been entertaining and have gone to the final over.
Written By: J.Gower
|