Match Report vs Huskies CC Sept 20th 2020

You’re not in Kansas anymore Monica by James Fry

After several months of living the Kansas City dream which included an unlimited supply of Tomahawk steaks and free and easy babysitters, Club Captain James Newman returned for the fag end of the Cavs strange but immensely enjoyable Covid 2020 season. With Raghu pursuing his minor league cricket dreams on minimum wage (thanks Ravi Rao) the team welcomed back one of their star batsman.

Huskies were at the ground an hour before the Cavs and warming up like it was a play- off game. Maybe that is the root cause of their constant choking in play-off matches? They wasted no time in taking “covid couch corner” from the Cavs which left us with an unfamiliar view from the boundary.

Old Skip needs to review his coin tossing technique as for the 3rd week in a row the opposition Captain correctly called “Heads” and the Cavs were sent to the field.

Newman and Lord Veda were put to work against a Huskies batting attack that had plenty of pedigree. The Cavs plan was simple, Newman and Lord Veda would gut the top order and Yash, AK et al would feast off the low order pig trough.

Newman and Veda would hold up the first part of the plan as they bowled with some guile and venom to to reduce Huskies to 51 for 4 courtesy of another excellent catch from our Aussie club pro and Chief Curry Financier David Barlow as he ran backwards under a spinning, high ball to carefully hold the catch before tumbling into a heap and cracking his head on the ground in the process. Nary a concussion protocol in sight for the plucky Darwinian. Mohit also held an easy catch at mid-on with Mark Wright offering better odds on the drop.

With our tails up and the opening bowlers having completed their spells we turned to the second part of the plan. Yash Patel and AK Memon came on to winkle out 2-3 more wickets and put the Cavs in firm control. Unfortunately a barrage of wides and long hops gave the Huskies duo a buffet to feast on and feast they did. The pair added 140 for the 5th wicket with no amount of bowling changes producing the cherished wicket as Big Yash (Rama) went for one very large over. Finally Dhruv was called upon to steady the ship and his chucking offies should have done the trick as a slog to long on should have been held by the dependable hands of Newman. Instead he doubled down on a drop by then letting another go through his legs for a boundary. He later revealed a back spasm had caused him to not go down properly on the ball. $2 lack of conditioning in KC.

Mohit came back into the attack and he and Dhruv steadied the innings as the Huskie ended up 225 for 7. It could have been much worse.

It was clear the Cavs would need an explosive start. Newman and Dhruv were sent to the wicket with orders to build a big platform. Newman posed for photos that showcased his jaunty confidence. Sadly the photo shoot lasted longer than his innings as he hit a first ball, full toss back to the bowler who caught it somewhat unconvincingly off his wrist. Newman stood and surveyed the scene in disbelief before heading back to the hutch where a tender organic carrot awaited him.

Undeterred Dhruv began to bludgeon some lofted drives and the Cavs raced to 36 for 1, helped by some hard hitting from Uji through the leg side. Uji was undone by an excellent catch as a hard hit ball was excellently caught at short mid-on. This precipitated something of a trademark Cavs collapse as Dhruv was bowled all ends up and Lord Veda, Yash and Mohit all departed rather meekly to leave the Cavs in utter distress at 51-6.

Barlow, finding himself with an unusual amount of overs to bat attempted to “push on” with Old Skip as the pair added a cautious 4 runs off the next 30 balls. Barlow departed at 58 for 7 and AK and Old Skip started to “accelerate”. AK hit an excellent square cut out of the screws but the athletic fielder held an unbelievable one handed catch.

It was left to the old heads of Fry, Rama and Wright to put a soupcon of lipstick on the very ugly pig as they batted out the afternoon with the kind of batting application missing in the top order Fry 24n.o off 60 balls and Wright Sr an explosive 9 off 6 balls for a strike rate of 150!

Beers and many highly deserved fines were dispensed including Fry getting fined for a pair of very bright pink underwear but Mark pointed out that at least he was wearing underwear this week. . A guest appearance from Mr and Mrs Erasmus brought some added joy to the day. There will be better cricket played next season by all but it was another great day capped off by another fire breathing curry at Raagini.

Amicitia et Victoria