30th May, 2021 | Palm Tree | Highgate Wood, Nth London
Palm Tree 99 (24.4) defeated ACME Cricket 90 (29.1)
Heartbreak in Highgate
ACME won the toss and chose to bowl.
There was some moisture still in the pitch, the weather was set to be sunny all day and it was reasoned we may get some help from the pitch before it dried out as the day progressed. In the end, It was definitely a day where ball-trumped-bat, though this had little to with the pitch and a lot to do with good bowling and some questionable shot-selection.
ACME had arrived with strong front-line seam attack; Mastersons (Sr & Jr), Mashkoor and Brown, a wicket-taking spinner in Prest, and able options if required in Faruqi, Sarma and Kandasamy. It seemed wasteful not to make immediate use of them.
Masterson Jr took the new ball and bowled with both pace and movement through the air and off the seam, making him a handful for both batsmen and keeper. Having turned up and professed to being "somewhat under the weather" the first over served as a form of detox, leaking 12 runs, through a mixture of edges and extras, much as the excesses of the previous evening worked their way out of him.
Excessive as this seemed for a first over, this proved to be the last of the easy runs for Palm Tree. Mashkoor from the other end was his usual, acurate self from the start. When Louis returned for his second over, he found his line and rhythm and was unlucky to have two very strong LBW shouts turned down.
At this point, there was some general resignation that it would be 'that sort of game'; One where the opposition had decided that LBW was off the table. It happens, you make a mental note for when it's your turn to umpire and you get on with the game.
It was therefore with no small amount of surprise that in the next over, when a Mashkoor beauty caught opener Treasure (8) on the pads dead in front and we all went up (as much for tradition than expectation), that the umpire raised his finger. 22/1 (4th over)
Mashkoor and Masterson (Jr), continued to bowl well in tandem. Mashkoor, the tighter of the two, but Louis beat the bat on multiple occasions and continued to look dangerous. Mashkoor's tight bowling soon paid off when Palm Tree number 3, Kamath (3), tried to force proceedings off the wrong ball, only to loft to Kandasamy at Mid-on, who safely took the catch. 38/2 (8th Over)
It was Mashkoor again, causing trouble for the Palm Tree batting in his next over; Almost a repeat of the first wicket, trapping Karunakaran (1) in front, and again the umpire could find no reason not to raise the finger. 42/3 (10th Over)
The next seven overs passed uneventfully; first, Prest and Brown, then Brown and Masterson (Sr) bowled well without reward. Stabbins and Robin for Palm Tree slowly accumulated, without ever seeming entirely comfortable.
The breakthrough eventually came for Brown in his 5th over, and somewhat like London busses, came in multiples; Stabbins (7) missed a straight one and was bowled, only for Waite (0) to chip a simple return catch 4 balls later. 69/5 (17th Over)
Masterson Sr, not to be outdone, decieved Robins (41) next over taking him on the toe of his boot for a deserved LBW. 75/6 (19th Over).
Drinks were called at the halfway mark and a bouyant ACME retired to the boundary to refresh. Obviously we were a little too bouyant, as Palm Tree felt obligated to point out that "this was drinks, not tea" as we approached the ten minute mark. Obviously they had somewhere else to be.
ACME bowlers did not disappoint, and within 5 overs, the innings was over. Masterson Sr bagged his 3rd (Hooper-Greenhill (5) in the first over back. Two wickets fell in the next over; Brown bowling Camillieri (2) and a run-out of Cromarty (0) resulting from an excellent Bonney-James throw, and the final fell when Faruqi bowled Crego (0).
Optimism was abundant at tea, though ACME's own oracle Tom Brown was heard to mutter something about "it's a game of two halves" or
After such a detailed breakdown of the ACME bowling effort, it's hard to follow up with the batting. 40 overs to score 100 runs. Time was certainly on our side and there was next to no pressue.
Palm Tree opened up with a ying / yang bowling attack of Stabbins (fast / straight) and Crego (Slow and.... slow). However ACME did not come down in the last shower and this is an approach we've used successfully ourselves (recollections of Early taking 2 wickets in his first over at the same ground in 2017 always makes me smile), so mentally at least, this should have presented little in the way of challenges. Also.... 2.5 an over, so no pressure to do anything but wait for the inevitable bad ball.
Still, it was not to be. An in-form Sarma (0) was undone first ball by a fiendish delivery from Stabbins; According to conflicting reports it swung both in and out, pitched and went both ways, or possibly swung one way and went the other off the seam, while also being a yorker. Either way, unplayable and resulted in splattered stumps. 1/1 (1 Over)
Bonney-James, after a watchful two overs, was overcome by his baser instincts and threw everything at an inoccuous delivery that had the one redeeming feature of being straight. Unfortunately he (Bonney-James (1)) missed and was bowled by Crego. 3/2 (3.1 Overs)
This brought together D'Silva, fresh from runs the previous day, and Hoskin who has also had a good season. Both knocked it around positively and the run rate climbed before D'Silva (11) played across the line to Stabbins and lost off stump. 23/3 (6.4 Overs)
Kandasamy, newly promoted to #4, was given strict instructions on arrival at the crease; Get forward, defend, don't get out, and to his credit he did this admirably, showing off the benefit of recent work in the mid-week nets.
He and Hoskin applied themselves studiously to a simple method; Defend the good ones, take singles, punish the bad balls, which worked well, until Hoskin (24) was adjudged LBW to Stabbins 45/4 (10.5 Overs).
Kandasamy and Mashkoor took the score score to 55 before Haris (6) missed one from Stabbins that clipped of stump, and in the next over Bahyr, who had done so well keeping out the good balls, managed to drag a wide ball from Crego back onto his stumps on it's second bounce; a deflating end to an otherwise resolute innings. 59/6 (15.3 Overs).
Masterson Jr and Faruqi paired up next, and put on 20 runs before Faruqi retired hurt, having injured himself running. This brought toghether father-son duo for what was destined to be a fairytale ending. 20 runs needed, 3 wickets in hand.
Sadly it was not to be. After a wonderfully responsible innings, Masterson Jr (12) was bowled by the leg-spin of Waitec with 18 runs still required. 82-7 (23.5 Overs)
Masterson Sr (4) held out with Prest before miscueing a shot off Camillieri (86-8 (26.2 Overs), then Prest and Brown eked out 4 more runs before Prest fell, again to Camallieri (90-9 (28.5 Overs)), resulting in the injured Faruqi bravely returning to bat.
Knowing that running was all but impossible, with 10 runs needed, Brown (1) took the only option and swung. Unfortunately the spin of Waite eluded him and ACME were all out;.
Once again, ACME had been undone in Highgate. Disappointing, sure. Our batting, usually reliable, had let us down, but the bowling and fielding performance was something to behold. We have a rematch at Westcott in August, and failing that, there's always next May.
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