Professor Garnier looked up from his computer at the meteorological department. The forecast wasn't good. He'd emailed his associates to warn them of the impending rainfall that would scupper the afternoon's activities and was now free to tuck into the sumptuous tea that he'd prepared which would now be surplus to requirement.
The rest of the Saturday 1st XI left the city for Farmborough as the breeze intensified and the sky darkened, but on arrival the threatening clouds hadn't delivered, the pitch looked good and Wrington 2nd XI were up for a game. Iggy won the toss for the eleventh time in a row and patted the rabbit's foot, four-leaf clover, horseshoe and lump of coal in his pocket. He'd only told people that he'd injured his Achilles tendon because they would have laughed at him if he'd told them that the real reason he couldn't run was because he had to carry all that lot around in his pocket.
Meanwhile, Garnier woke up and belched, frantically brushing stilton, pork pie and cake crumbs from his chest, muttering expletives as he looked out of the window and didn't see rain. Slipping on a half-eaten foie gras canape, he dashed out of the house and headed for the ground, running a supermarket delivery van off the road en-route and ransacking its contents for later.
The other ten Cowboys had by now taken the field with RT1 and AndyB spearheading the new ball attack. The newly adopted policy of returning the ball to the bowler as quickly as possible without any intermittent third party polishing, together with a speedy urgency between overs to beat the rain, contributed to a palpable eagerness, creating pressure on the batsmen from the start. Both bowlers plied their craft admirably with RT1 having early success from the top end when he took a sharp low return catch to dismiss the opposition skipper, then striking again to bowl the No.3. Tooley's remarkable outstretched effort at gully gave him his third victim and reduced Wrington to 6-3, round about the time that Garnier appeared and snuck onto the field.
From the other end, it was AndyB's turn to break through the opposition's crumbly batting and with the surviving opener looking on, he bowled one, two, three of the hapless Wringtones, possibly all in the same over. At 17-6 it was a little surreal - like viewing highlights on fast forward - this game that wasn't supposed to happen and still might not end if the spots of rain intensified and became prolonged, as forecast.
After RT1 and AndyB's devastating seven over spells of 3-10 and 3-19, Kalu and Tim took over in trying to remove the resistant No.2 and exposed tail. After a lot of swishing without connecting, the opener - and only batsman to make double figures - eventually tickled one through off Tim for Ollie to take a sharp low edge, while at the other end Kalu held a well-struck caught and bowled. At some point a batsman arrived at the crease carrying what appeared to be a child's toy, which some claimed to go by the name of a Mongoose, although it was neither a small carnivorous mammal nor, evidently, of any use for playing cricket. Kalu bowled the No.9 to conclude his five over spell with 2-21, making way for Garnier who bowled seven dot balls, the last of which the No.11 struck in the vicinity of AB, who casually plucked it out of the air with one hand to wrap things up: 61 all out in the 27th over.
Mindful of Garnier's legendary teas (and the rain that had come and gone but would surely pay a proper visit later) the opposition were keen to pause between innings but Iggy was having none of it and sent Ev and Tooley out to bat, just as another few spots of drizzle blotted the scorebook.
The long-lasting Wrington bat also opened the bowling but was no match for the Cowboys' opening pair, who struck fourteen from his first two overs, double that off the bowler from the other end. Tooley timed the ball impeccably, pulling, driving and cutting the ball to the boundary with heartening regularity, outscoring Ev who was nonetheless ever vigilant to every scoring opportunity, neither of them bothered by what came their way.
The light rain troubled no one apart from the scorer, for whom Iggy attempted to arrange an umbrella, producing instead a disemboweled octopus which like a kite he flew in the prevailing wind. A straight blow from Tooley sailed on the same wind over the boundary for six, the run rate now an unprecedented ten an over and a rare ten wicket victory almost in the bag. Of all the Cowboys, perhaps Garnier was the least delighted that the winning runs were struck in the seventh over, giving him less than the optimum time for throwing together a rain-affected tea. For that he has to lay the blame with Tooley for playing such a flawless and determined, if jug-avoiding, 46 not out from 23 balls as well as RT1 and AndyB's earlier three-fers.
The Cider Moment and Man of the Match awards quite probably went to Tooley for his gully catch and RT1 for his deadly opening spell and it is with regret, especially having written it down in the scorebook at the time, that your correspondent can not remember with certainty, susceptible as he is to post-match ale induced short term memory loss and the disintegration of the associated neural pathways forever.
Later, Ev's memory displayed no such signs of degeneration when he texted, "Last Saturday XI 10 wkt win was in Aug 09 vs WSM at Bristol CC ground. Jeffo and Grant knocked off 34 in 7 overs. I took 4 for 3, best of which was the old lady with her arm in plaster."
Scorecard
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