“It’s in the bag.”
No, Radcox wasn’t being uncharacteristically over-confident about the imminent match against South Nutfield 3rd XI. He’d spotted the strutting alpha crow who’d stolen his sandwich at the same venue the week before, so had securely sealed his lunch in a zipped bag, away from the self-assured corvid who was already lurking. Chirag wasn’t as careful, however, and the crow took his crisps. Unfortunately for Chirag, that mugging was a sign of things to come, and he was to have worse luck on this warm sunny Saturday.
After losing the toss, captain Mackay was delighted to be asked to bat first on the astro wicket in the grounds of Ewell Castle School, and he sent in the experimental pairing of Stupples and Newcomen to get the scoreboard ticking over. The pair duly obliged, both consistently finding the boundary. Perhaps it was fitting that within the grounds of one of Ewell’s finest private schools, three youngsters with surnames Bongers, Woodhead and Mills were bullied relentlessly, their bowling unable to break through Hill’s openers as the runs accumulated. Enter mature student Prasad, whose two-step run-up disguised a quicker and more probing attack. With his second ball he claimed the scalp of Newcomen who fell for an impressive 26, bringing Mackay to the crease. After an atypical start of 8 dot balls, Mackay got off the mark with a maximum, and there would be 9 more of them in what proved to be a swashbuckling innings of 114 off 79 – surely an innings worthy of any victory? It wasn’t to be – Prasad’s miserly 8 overs (2 wickets for 4 runs) probably won the match for South Nutfield.
Stupples and Mackay worked well together, showing they had vanquished the previous week’s confusion that led to a run-out, though Stupples would eventually fall for a useful 29. There was excitement when Chirag joined Mackay for what could have been the most entertaining partnership since Flintoff and Peitersen in 2005. Regrettably, the crowd were denied the show they’d paid to see. The black crow stealing Chirag’s crisps earlier in the day foreshadowed the bird of a different colour, specifically, a golden duck. Chirag went after an “absolutely crap ball” outside off and dinked it into gully’s hands. It was down to Rolfe junior to pick things up and his impressive first-ball boundary was a promising start, though he would soon be back in the hutch after contributing 5 and becoming Prasad’s second victim.
Prem was the incoming bat, supporting Mackay well and holding up one end for a while before mixing a series of boundaries with some sensible running (yep, you read that right, Prem – sensible – running), adding 22 before falling in the 36th over. Mackay’s impressive century came soon after, and instead of playing safe and carrying his bat, he decided to go after every ball to claw back some of the runs lost to Prasad’s lean spell – he was caught out in the 39th over. Radcox and Jones junior saw out the rest of the innings, each helping themselves to a 6, and setting South Nutfield a target of 229 for the win.
The short tea break proved to be the first real challenge for Park Hill this season. Jones senior had to log onto his laptop pitch-side to defend his employer from Putin’s latest cyber attack, and Newcomen bowed out to fulfil a prior engagement shopping for linen slacks for his upcoming trip to Kenya. Were it not for Rolfe senior agreeing to take to the field in cut-off camo shorts and a borrowed team shirt, Hill would have been 2 down in the field, and thanks must go to the generous South Nutfield for allowing Hill to use a sub fielder. With the makeshift field in place, Jones junior opened down the hill while the metronomic Smith was as miserly as ever from the other end, conceding only 10 from his first 5 overs before being found out later on and unusually for the Horsham stalwart, ending with a nought-fer. It was Bawn who found the breakthrough, luring the opener to nick to Stupples behind the stumps. At this point, with 78 runs on the board and in the 15th over, South Nutfield had made a steady start to the pursuit, tracking slightly behind the run rate but with wickets in hand. After patching up the security on his employer’s servers, Jones senior returned to the field and soon entered the attack – his tidy spell also keeping the scoring in check though he too was unable to find wickets. From the other end, Mackay was successful… well, sort of… The umpire’s finger went up, but Hill had failed to read the small-print in the Surrey Downs League rule book. It clearly states that if the batsman decides he isn’t out, the umpire must change his mind so the batter can remain. It was difficult for the batsman to enforce this “rule” a second time a few balls later though – an aggressive change of pace from Mackay sent the spring stumps cartwheeling across the astro, and this time the batter, out of excuses, had to walk.
Prem’s first two overs of the season will prove to be useful looseners for him hopefully, though they were equally useful to the oppo who helped themselves to 23 runs from them. The run rate picked up from this point on and South Nutfield needed 67 off the final 10 overs. Mackay picked up a further 3 wickets, stifling the fightback somewhat to usher in a thrilling denouement.
With 2 needed for victory off the final ball, and with Jones senior bowling, opposition youngster Billy the Kid found the mid-wicket boundary, and it was handshakes all round. The opposition captain announced Mackay as man of the match for is 114 runs and 4 wickets, but it was scant consolation, Mackay would have preferred the victory. With 2 played, Park Hill sit mid-table in 5th.
Fielder of the day: saviour Rolfe senior.
Up the Hill!
Park Hill Cricket Club 