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Somehow it got arranged – a last match of a very short season. Eight were planned but this would only be the fourth that actually happened. Even though it was arranged at the last minute and even though it took place so late in the year, the Gods were with us and the day dawned bright and sunny. And stayed that way.
Our opponents were a newly formed outfit calling themselves the Akademie Bourgogne Cricket (ABC) even though they all are Sri Lankans living in Paris. A long story which I won’t go into here. Suffice to say that they were all young, fit, had previously played under a different name in the French First Division (apparently winning it in 2005) and had more then a little ability. Only eight of them did turn up but it was enough.
Because, at the start, we too were severely under strength it was decided to let the ABC bat first – they lent us two fielders to help out until our late-comers arrived. Spencer (good to see you, Spence) and Nitin (yes, Nitin joined us for the day and very welcome he was too) opened the bowling and did so well in their first 6 overs that they restricted our opponents to just 21 for one. Things were looking good! David D also bowled beautifully giving very little away in his first spell but unfortunately for him and the following bowlers a number of catches were put down and this allowed the ABC to pile on the runs. Giving away 24 wides didn’t help either but it must be said some of these were very harshly adjudged. As said, these guys were fairly handy and some horribly good straight hitting saw us retrieving many a ball at both ends but, with one exception, none of them scored more then 24. Our catching had improved. All told, four good ones were held with the best of these being the veritable skier taken by David D on the long off boundary. At the ‘death’, Nitin and Spencer bowled as well as they had started so that even though opener Sankar was still there with a 100 against his name, the last four overs yielded 3 maidens and just 2 runs. The ABC accumulated 200 for 5 in their 30 overs – a big total but, if all went well, not insurmountable some thought.
It was not to be. As expected, openers Martin (good to see you too, Martin) and Francois didn’t last long against some very hostile new ball bowling and when Nitin edged one through to the slips after only a single, leaving us on 8 for 2, the writing was very much on the wall. However, Krishna and David D put up an exceptional rear-guard action and averted a collapse, something we’re rather good at! Collapsing, I mean. David was finally bowled but Krishna carried his bat through to the end improving his season’s statistics enormously with his 23 not out. He was helped by Richard P who struck a few lusty blows on his way to a season high of 18 and Spencer, who was just getting going when he played at one across the line and was comprehensively bowled. We totalled 86 for 6 in our 30 overs but, I think, the important thing was that we managed to hang on in there and not be skittled over. As Krishna said, it was great to be able to bat against some good, steady bowling for a change. The defeat can definitely be called ‘honourable’.
As usual, thanks are due to all who made the effort to turn up, to those who made an extra effort and helped with setting up and putting away and to those who provided such a spread at mid-innings tea. It was a more then pleasant end to the season and we hope to have more matches, maybe even a season-starting (training) week-end next year, against this really nice bunch of “Bourguignons”.
Next rendezvous for the MCC – our AGM. Watch this space.
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