Conts exorcise Demons but Ulysses may pay ultimate price
by Pakistan Kebab correspondent, Shewroteuponit Returntosender (bada bada address unknown)
In their third game of the season the Conts arrived promptly at high noon in the
heat and humidity that Hughes is famous for. Their
opponents were the previous years champions the ever sledging Demons. Skipper
for the day Swifty called the wrong side and the Demons chose to have first
stick (to their detriment).
Promising up and coming Cont, Col McKenna, took the new pill and elected to bowl
with the wind at his back. McKenna bowled with superb line and length, finding
the edge of the bat on several occasions. Unfortunately none of these went to
hand...
In form bowler 'Buckets' Hudson took the new ball from the other end, and
pushing into a strong headwind (Fremantle Doctor style), Huddo again bowled
superbly, finding both the inside and outside edges of the bat and after
surviving a few chances, dismissed both openers. Flopp took over from L'il Col
and after starting well and bowling one of the danger batsmen did nothin so he
was dragged. Grandpa had a trundle from the northern end and troubled the Demons
batsmen leading up to the drinks break. At drinks the conts were well on top
having the opposition at 4-62 with both danger men out. After drinks the Demons
went to school a it and managed to drag their score up to 165 after their forty
overs with Wristy and Frenchy both chipping in for a wicket, Grandpa took two
(including one in a ferocious display of medium paced bowling). A couple of good
catches including two from Pads and one from Frenchy.
The highlight of the innings however was clearly keeper Ulysses appeal after
Grandpa bowled their Test Match left hander. The keeper let cry with an almighty
shout of Howzat (whilst managing to sidestep the middle peg that was cart
wheeling towards him). At this point the non striker handed out Captain Swifty
with a verbal lashing and requested that he calm his troops down as we
'...weren't playing for sheep stations'. Christensen will now have to face the
wrath of the Committee into fair play (the committee is made up primarily of
Demons cheats players)
The most memorable play of the day undoubtedly came at the change of innings
when four cheeky little buggers ran onto the field and nicked off with the
stumps and bails. Members of both sides gave chase, but alas the signs of to
many seasons of gruelling cricket showed and the little blokes got away.
The Conts opened with a new pairing of Wristy and Pads who looked glorious on
their way to a 43 run opening stand from just 9 overs. After McKay was well
caught in the gully, Ramrod strolled to the pitch and after building fences for
a while, belted his way to a well compiled half ton. Young wristy up the other
end was looking the goods with the bat before being caught for a well crafted 30
odd. This brought Grandpa to the crease and after playing a classy drive through
mid wicket, was C&B for 5. Christensen came in and sured up the innings with
Ramrod (who after reaching 50 spooned a catch off the youngest bloke on the
field). Country came in and belted a few boundaries before Christensen whacked a
huge six over mid wicket to bring up the winning runs.
A solid performance all around, topped off by another tremendous 'Buckets' BBQ.
Conts blow Whistles away
by Sri Lanka Observer correspondent, Ahwil BeFayed
Continuing the great start to season 2003 / 2004 the Contra Band managed to
scrape home in a tightly contested match. With some early showers the outfield
was slower than usual and the batsman had to work really hard for runs. Having
some boundary markers may have improved the score slightly ......
With huge pressure to follow up from the first round win, skipper Flopp won the
toss and going against tradition decided to have a bat first up. Having some
late withdrawals from the initial line up was the influence behind this decision
while Swifty frantically tried to find some mates to help us out at the last
minute.
Our two vastly experienced openers took to the crease and the pressure of big
expectations showed early with some mistimed drives and one thick edge by Murray
bringing a quick end to the partnership. Having to bat up the order unexpectedly
the captain strolled to the crease and settled in for some quality time in the
middle. With runs hard to come by and the pressure building Frenchy LeFebvre
skied one and gave the Whistleblowers some early catching practice. The debut of
Tony 'Baywatch' Haseloff looked promising early when he strolled to the crease
wearing all the appropriate equipment. With a bit of style and a lot of luck
Baywatch edged and mistimed his way to 26 before the luck ran out and he spooned
a simple catch shortly before drinks.
Dog Boy was next up and very confidently lined up middle stump before he smashed a couple of deliveries to the boundary for a quick fire 11 runs, unfortunately DB's short stay ended when he didn't quite middle another slash and was caught. Contry casually strolled to the crease lined up leg stump and was looking to get off the mark quickly. The Whistleblowers must have had some inside info into Contry's strength denying him any leg side slogs and bowling him on off stump for 3. This brought another victorious skipper to the crease and after completing his babysitting duties Bruce was keen to get the runs flowing. Turning singles into 2's and smashing a couple towards the boundary before he tried too hard and another catch had us in trouble at 6 for 130.
Trying to keep the momentum going the skipper managed to play right over the top
of a good length delivery and got clean bowled for 64. This brought the ever
reliable Swifty to the crease for his first dig of the season and what a
contribution it was ..... he spooned his only shot to cover for a simple catch.
Huddo was next to step up and with no mucking around he wanted to score runs,
unfortunately another good length delivery had him bowled early. All out in the
29th over for 141.
Defending 141 was never going to be an easy task but the new opening bowling
combination of Dog Boy and Huddo kept it tight and runs to a minimum before Dog
Boy broke through with a plumb LBW decision in the 9th over to have them at 1
for 13. This must have fired Huddo up because he nearly smashed the stumps with
his extra vigour and pace, clean bowling two of their batsman and they were
really in trouble at 3 for 15 off 10 overs.
With a stroke of genius the skipper made a bowling change and brought on the
Harrison combination to get some more quick fire wickets. It worked well with
Jnr Harrison bowling a good line and length from one end and Senior mixing it up
well from the other it wasn't long before the whistleblowers succumbed to the
pressure. Two wickets in one over from Murray with the bowled Dad caught Son
wicket a highlight. Bruce did well to get his glove in the way and keep his eyes
closed for a sharp caught behind and they were in real trouble at 5 for 24. With
the Harrison combination continuing and another 2 clean bowled wickets for
Murray they were 7 for 28 and Murray had the sharp figures of 4/4. After drinks
the Conts seemed to relax a little and the Whistleblowers made a great fight
back. A turning point was when 'Too Honest' Dog Boy juggled a catch out on the
boundary, cheers went up around the ground as that was their danger batsman out,
but no he had to admit that he caught the ball over the boundary and called it
6........ this gave the Whistleblowers the added confidence they needed as they
proceeded to smash the bowlers all over the ground before Misty finally broke
through and clean bowled their skipper. 9 for 107 and the game was all but in
the bag for the Conts. Frenchy LeFebvre finished up the innings in the 39th over
when a top edge brought Bruce back into the game with his second catch of the
day.
Great effort by the Contra Band, who have now proven that they can defend a
total just as well as they can chase a total!
Conts off to winning start
by India Times correspondent, Sanshu Krusha
In a tremendous start to the 2003/04 season, the Contra Band defeated last
year's grand finalists, Spear Britney, with 7 balls to spare in their
rain-affected game today.
Cappie Christensen won the toss and asked the visitors to bat first under cloudy
conditions well suited to the Cont's seamers. Rewarding the great form shown
during the pre-season Bowral tour, Cappie gave the new ball honours to Pete "The
Fountain" Snowdon, who kept the batsmen guessing with a great variety of line
and length. SB's cowboy openers played havoc with the Fountain and Steamtrain
Hudson early on, before the Fountain broke through the openers with a good
running catch being taken by Ramrod Ramaswamy at mid-on. Steamtrain knocked out
the leg stump of the other cowboy, before another wicket to the Fountain and two
more plus a runout to Steamtrain saw SB in trouble at 6 for not too many runs.
The Fountain (2/32 off 6 overs) and Steamtrain (3/34 off 6 overs) laid the
platform for the victory, ripping through the SB top order. The Fountain is
still ruing his chance for a third wicket when Shawy letting a seemingly
straightforward chance drop out of his gloves. Frenchy LeFebvre and Lil'
Col McKenna took up where the opening bowlers left off, though Frenchy showed he
was short of a run, getting tonked for 27 off his 4 overs.
Frenchy's one wicket came from a reflex catch from Cappie who, reading the
batsman, placed himself at short mid-off. Lil' Col bowled without luck, but kept
the screws on the SB line-up allowing only 14 runs off his 6 overs.
SB went to drinks at the 15-over mark at 6-76, with Cappie pleading for the
Conts to keep them down to around 125. SB's runs came from Slogger, whose leg
side slog produced some memorable shots. Ramrod and Murray Harrison kept the
ball outside the off-stump to Slogger most the time, though both fell victim to
his leg-side obsession. Ramrod (0/17 off 5 overs) and Murray
(1/19 off 3 overs) will be better for the experience at this level of cricket.
On an unusual day for the Conts, they only dropped one catch but held on to 6
others in a spectacular fielding display, particularly by Pads and Andy. At the
end of the 30 overs, SB had managed 8 / 145.
The experienced opening pairing of Frenchy and Murray got the Cont's run chase
underway under threatening skies. Frenchy showed that he was their for a good
time, not a long time, slogging the SB bowlers before being bowled, neck and
crop. With Pads' arrival at the crease, the heavens opened for the first time,
with the players electing to play on through the
torrent. Pads brought the finesse the team has been sorely lacking, before
a slower wet ball saw him going the slog and being caught at mid-off.
Ramrod and Murray put together an excellent partnership, accentuated by Ramrod's
over-covers slog and Murray's leg-side tickle. At the 15-over mark, the Conts
were cruising to victory at 2 - 80. Some helpful advice from Cappie during the
break saw both Murray (47) and Ramrod (28) throwing their wickets away shortly
after the break, to have the Conts at 4-100ish.
Andy joined the Fountain at the crease, only to have Andy throw his shoulder out
attempting a slog. The Fountain was particularly subdued, which this
correspondent puts down to change in batting technique that he has adapted
during the recent pathetic Indoor Conts season. Unlike Bowral where the Fountain
cleaned up on a wet deck, he was bowled going for a slog with 20-odd runs for
victory, and Lil' Col went cheaply with an attempted slog.
Steamtrain and Sam "Country Boy" Roberts both went the slog, with Country have
the greater effect. Steamtrain was out, leaving it to the Cont's reliable combo
of Cappie and Country to post the winning runs. With his customary barehanded
batting technique, Country ended with a quick fire 20 not out.
It was a terrific first-up win by the Conts over last year's grand finalists in
difficult conditions. After the game Cappie remarked:
" It was a terrific first-up win by the Conts over last year's grand finalists.
Unfortunately, Spiral and Swifty will be returning in the next few games, so
we'll really have to lift our game to keep winning. I'd like to make special
mention to the players that filled in for this game, and I'd play with them
again. At this stage, due to various personal pressures, I'm announcing that I'm
stepping down from the captaincy whist I have the 100% success rate. Flop will
be captain for the second game, and I will give him all my support".