I will tell you in advance that CCC won. I was looking for the common denominator for this amazing run of post seasonal-festivity success. It is not Berger, Lever, Weatherman, Doc, JoanZee or Fothers - it could be Stead, but he has only scored 2 centuries in the 4 wins (plus 2 red ink 70s, not particularly appreciated). That made me look for who is now missing that may have held the team back for the last 25 years and I came to the crushing conclusion that the only change this year is the complete absence of the only undefeated CCC domestic skipper, the Lumbersaurus. So there you have it - Jack Lumber contributes more in absentia to CCC's victories than he did as player, coach, treasurer, umpire, supporter, kitman and orange boy.
Won the toss, natch. Jet wasn't at the ground so fielding without the express half of the opening attack, was not an option. Actually, in truth, that sort of logic was never applied. We had Stead and the opposition didn't, so we'll bat.
Uncle Gregory Egan returned for a 2nd week, after spending the past week with big Kev. It would be fair to say that Greg was no longer the fresh faced kid we met 8 days previously and now looked decidedly worse for wear. Getting his contribution over and done with was all I could hope for. It is not often that you see a batsman move from A grade style to D grade slogger in the space of 30 balls, but it was a salutary lesson to all young cricketers - too much piss really doesn't help your batting. To his credit, Greg scored at nearly a run a ball and was happy to head for the pavilion and a lie down with his 26 runs in the book and the score at 54. Mark was batting elegantly and was joined by Brett Wines, on loan from Melbourne via his Dad. He accumulated a crafty 25 while Stead kept the total moving to 126 in the 21st over.
Who would you recognize from Kai Tak - Alan Burge, maybe Tim Fitzsimmons, maybe Brett Morely and maybe Eric Morris - the rest were ringers and posed some danger as their collective age was only about 100.
Fothers at one end, 6 overs 1 for 15. Jet-Bruce_Sarah at the other 0 for 34 off 8 were doing pretty well considering Kai Tak were 1 for 118 off 21 overs but hopefully they didn't have a Nasir secreted in their midst.
It was then that CCC fell apart - this phase of the game was led by Clive-Alan-Grocer at short mid-wicket. Not having stopped a ball cleanly all game, he now proceeded to withdraw his hand as the ball came towards him, saying "I am not going to be injured on your account, Joan". I chastised him, I encouraged him - he blamed the sun in his eyes! He dropped a straight forward chance - one, I'm certain that will not be described in the graphic detail to which we have become accustomed in the top floor bar. I conservatively estimate that Grocer's incompetence cost us somewhere between 30 and 50 runs in the dying stages of the game. He was determined to make 267 as difficult to defend as possible. This attitude soon caught on. Nasir caught a high one and then deliberately threw it away. Stead was hit on the foot by a ball on the full when he was fielding at deep mid-wicket and adopted Grocer's sun excuse. Meanwhile on the other side of the field Dad was throwing his body desperately over the ball without making contact and having to retrieve the ball from the road. It was pitiful.
As it was, 267 was too much for Kai Tak even with the help of CCC. They did manage 239 for 4, with Ray Muller taking a wicket and Roger Nissim collecting 2.
We don't beat Kai Tak often so it was a satisfying victory and even more so on account of the enjoyment gleaned by the whole team from watching Grocer drop a regulation!
Next week the Berger and Weatherman are back which will make it even harder to win but Nasir said he is 80% sure of playing - not unless you lift your game and score at 2 runs per ball! Only fair, don't you think?
