The familiar pairing or is it coupling of Berger and Stead strode to the middle. Berger having administered personal tuition to Adam Gilchrist over the past fortnight, had nothing left to give after being handsomely struck in the ribs with the 2nd delivery of the day and watching the ball roll back onto the base of the stumps. CCC somewhat precarious at 1 for 1. Taking the risk that Stead wouldn't run me out and also banking on the fact that Grocer was not umpiring at the time, I decided to put the contest for the season batting average to rest and lead from the front. This paid off in a way until with the partnership worth exactly 100 (yes Gatsby, yet another 100 partnership myself for CCC [long live Stead and I can see myself opening more often]) I hit a ball high in the air to square leg.
The boundary at KGV is made up of a grassy bank on the school side with a gutter at its base, now covered by a grill, and railings at the top of the bank next to the footpath. The fielder took the catch, controlled the ball and threw it into the field of play, then fell over the line. Weathers, Grocer and those team members not umpiring, having a perfect view along the boundary saw the catcher step backwards onto the grill over the gutter when making the catch. Berger who was playing with his ribs at the material moment, saw nothing. Jet who never sees anything asked Berger. Mainlanders were celebrating as though they had just dismissed Mark Waugh. Berger looked at Jet and Jet looked at Berger - there was some eyebrow movement but nothing said - the finger went up. The silence on this dismissal from the boundary was deafening. I take this an enormous compliment that my team mates should see Stead's average under threat, otherwise I would cry. Grocer said it was all part of a game plan to get Nasir to the wicket because we needed 300 to win! I think on this occasion Grocer, master tactician that he is and consummate thinker about everything except cricket, was, on the balance of probabilities, correct in his assessment.
Nasir took 34 balls for his 60 while at the other end Stead made his ton in 80 balls and 123 n.o. in 89 balls.
Stead has made 523 runs since Xmas and been dismissed only once - a better average than Grocer, as international captain of the year during the seasons 1979 to 2000 (cumulative total).
Osama chipped in with 29 and Angry made 1 in 4 balls and blames himself for our loss, and quite rightly so!
CCC ended up with 270 for 4 off 33 - should have been enough.
2nd ball, Shah caught Jones bowled Weatherley, just like the old days, standing up. From then on it was tough going. Weathers finished with 2 for 47 off 8.
Adrian, Bruce, Jet, Sarah-the-pie-thrower Lee finished with 0 for 75 off his 9 and that will be something he remembers and treasures for the rest of his cricket career. Raymondo stemmed the tide for 5 overs but then the waters broke and there were incoming on Tin Kwan Do. Even the raw brutal pace of Osama couldn't hold Mainliners back as Tabarak Dar 91, Iqbal 54 and Imran 43 made the runs with 2 balls to spare in what turned out to be a pretty exciting, but for CCC and its 3 supporters, a disappointing result.
At all times CCC kept their heads up and fought it out to the last run, but there was just not enough petrol in the tank, and as we should, we blame Angry for that because he doesn't read his email.
Fortunately Lama beat Rahul and therefor Saracens which will bring us in at about 7th in the League as we collected 4 valuable points yesterday.
Well done lads, and now for the Cup - we might be long odds but with Grocer coming out of a fielding slump, you never know, we might just be a chance!
