Zoots take on Biochemistry

The zoots arrived at the King’s and Selwyn Sports ground full of confidence and ready for anything the Biochemists threw at them, even if it was a very hard leather ball. After a well-oiled fielding drill in which most time was spent searching in the hedge, the coin was tossed and the zoots would be donning the pads. And it was dons indeed who strode out (insert Bradman or Cambridge-related pun) in the shape of Jack and Ben. The opposition were quaking like an Eppendorf in a vortex, and they were right to, as the two openers set about carving the early bowling to all corners of the ground [mostly through point], setting zoots off to a flyer in a manner not seen since the heady days of Crick and Watson in the 50’s. Ben succumbed for a quick-made 15, but with “Waltzing matilda” Will Feeney arriving at the crease, the momentum was not be to stymied. The bowler questioned “is he ready?” as Feeney adopted his characteristic lumberjack posture. Was he ever, as followed a flurry of lusty blows. Such was the power of his hitting that day that some passers by thought that St Johns fireworks has commenced early.

Half way through the innings, zoots were tootling along at around 9 an over, being placed on 90ish for 2. After a piece of judgement Nasser Hussain would have been proud, Jack “Yes then Noed” Steve back to the pavilion. This made the former even more resolute to bring up his 50, his second in consecutive matches if you interested, and with the same kind of license afforded the writer of the match report [anon], he reached his half century with aplomb; magisterial, remarkable, extraordinary, what a man. In stepped Anthony, but he was no lamb to the slaughter, also adding a few quick runs before “giving the others a chance”. The final few overs were commandeered by the indomitable partnership of Matt and Simon- if Cambridge ever needs a wall built around the city they know who to ask. Never looking ruffled, a combination of featherweight nurdling and heavyweight hitting bringing the zoots total to a very repectable 149, with the yank Peter Woodford whooping and hollering from the boundaries edge (can’t take him anywhere).

With light dropping quicker than anticipated so close to the Solstice, the second innings commenced. Starting with a two-pronged attack of left arm seam, Anthony and Billy (a lingering rarity from Birdlife) tried to make inroads. The former was initially more successful than the latter against the aggressive intent being shown by the biochemists, but both were ultimately rewarded thanks to the athletic catching of Simon, plucking two beauties out of the air with go-go gadget arms to remove two good batters. If truth be told, I thought this may have broken the back of the biochemists, but spineless they were not, and they continued to plunder runs quickly despite a good show of fielding and keeping. Ben’s bowling may have been a factor; the runs were certainly continuous. Mercifully, the biffer had to retire for his fifty, and this let-up allowed a combination of Steve and Matt to tie down the middle part of the innings, leaving the game delicately poised for a tense finale. As the chiff chaff stopped singing (anyone else notice that) however, a spate of slogging brought the Biochemists to within 20 runs with 4 overs to spare. In fact the chiff chaff had probably died in disbelief when one of their batsman had not been given out caught behind or walked to an edge a prominent as the north face of the Eiger. A tight couple of overs against their tail followed with Matt and Jack bowling, setting it up for a barnstorming finale. But the tail wagged, and with the help of a diving catch from Jack (What was he thinking!) their destroyer in chief could return to bat again with a couple of overs to spare, and 138 runs on the board. 

The equation was as simple as Hamilton’s rule: 13 runs needed off two overs. In the inky dim, Matt managed to allow just six off of his over, leaving Jack to try and prevent 6 runs off his over to bring the glory to zoots. Two balls. Two Dots. Then a single, bringing the good batsman off strike. Another single. Thus the biochemists needed three for a draw and a four for a win. The fielders were pushed back against the boundary rope as a nervous Jack stumbled in for a final delivery, and sent down a reasonably straight one (miracles do happen). It was pushed to long off for one… a quick scamper for a second.. but the ball was back at the wicket to prevent a third. Zoots had won it, yielding a second win for the season by mid-June, which I am told is a rare as a Black-eared wheatear in Hampshire! The game was played in great spirits, with everyone chipping in with a valuable contribution, and I for one cannot wait to play again. Until next week… 

vs Cambridge Assessment

A few early rain showers on arrival at St Catz did little to dampen the spirits of Team Zoots, still enjoying the high that only a two match unbeaten streak can bring. News of the solid all-round performance against the physicists the week prior had spread like wildfire across Cambridgeshire, and our opposition were looking more than a little nervous before play*. In a cunning piece of psychological warfare we stepped up the intimidation with a superlative display of pre-match overthrow practise right outside the opposition dressing rooms. Suitably prepared, the Zoots won the toss and elected to field, another cunning decision that only increased the confusion and dismay in the opposition camp*. The opposition Captain (Thwaites) was joined by his Deputy (Linsden) at the crease. Matt ‘Skippy’ Chandler prepared to open the attack. The tension was palpable. A hushed silence fell.

What unfolded was an unprecedented game of cat and mouse that will be told and retold over the days, if not weeks to come*. Captain Thwaites and Deputy Linsden took a solid and traditional if somewhat dry approach to batting, namely scoring freely and not getting out. “Where’s the fun in that?” you rightly ask. Skippy Chandler countered with a good line and length and was unlucky not to remove Captain Thwaites with his bamboozling trademark slower ball. At the other end, Paul ‘Killiver’ Gilliver had the captain and his deputy swinging and missing courtesy of impressive late swing and deceptive pace, but to no avail. The invigilators’ score ticked ominously upwards, reaching 52 for no loss from 7 overs.

The first bowling change brought in The Surajitator who agitated the openers with sharp pace and well-concealed variation. At the other end, Silence of the Lamb, helped by an inspired leg side fielding change by Captain Snickers and an athletic forward diving catch by Gravy Train ‘Beef’ Grady, secured the valuable scalp of Deputy Linsden, who had scored an impressive 59. Captain Snickers sensed fear in the opposition, now floundering at 1 for 97 from 13, and in a decisive move brought himself and Benny 'Ball' Jarrett into the bowling attack. This proved to be yet another outstanding piece of captaincy as the new batsman edged a deceptive ball from the skipper and fell to a sharp catch by Benny Ball in the gully. The depth of bowling in the Zoots line-up no doubt surprised the opposition as the on-loan Dave ‘on-loan’ Sloan was brought into the attack. On-loan Sloan delivered a couple of tidy overs to close out the innings, frustrating Captain Thwaites and leaving Zoots with an eminently gettable 155 for victory.

Captain Snickers, always one step ahead of the opposition, sent in the opening pair of Butterfingers Rutter and the Gravy Train ‘Beef’ Grady, a move that perplexed the opposition who were expecting the now infamous Bambi/Bollywood opening pair. The move paid off. Rutterfingers and the Grady Train stormed to a well-executed 26 before Rutterfingers, adhering to the team strategy, sacrificed his wicket on 8, allowing the ferocious Bambi to take to the now demoralised opening bowlers*. Meanwhile, at the other end, Beef Grady played with characteristic flair, pulling and hooking his way to a quick-fire 17, before making way for Bollywood Kumar.

There is little doubt that in the years ahead, commentators and analysts looking back on this match will agree that this was the turning point in the game. At 2 for 36 off 6 overs, and requiring only a further 119 for victory, the Zoots were in the driving seat and the opposition were in disarray*. Unfortunately, the batting never quite settled under fairly relentless pressure from an accurate bowling attack. Bambi was out on 10 to a classic caught behind, and not long after Cap’n Snickers was also out caught for 6. Bollywood Kumar showed his usual tenacity to reach 28 including four stylish boundaries. On-loan Sloan (9), Silence (16) and Benny Ball (12) made modest contributions but never quite settled at the crease. Killiver Gilliver and Skippy Chandler saw out the remaining overs, each scoring a determined 3 not out, and taking the Zoots' total to a respectable 9 for 121 from 20 overs.

So, despite a dogged, fighting performance we fell some way short of the 155 required for victory, but nonetheless it was a solid team effort by the Zoots against last year's champions.

* This account may bear only passing resemblance to actual events

VS Cavendish Labs

A winning start to the season!!!! Believe it or Not!!!

The Zoots fresh from their victory over the MCC were ready to take to the hallowed grounds of Churchill college to take on the might of the Cavendish labs. After a couple days of worrying about the weather the Zoots turned up to a lovely day in the making. The Zoots were put in to bat and late- comers were given the honour of opening the batting. Cometh the hour cometh the heroes and cometh a little late come the openers.

In walked in Simon 'Bambi on ice' Martin and Tarun 'Bollywood' Kumar to face the music.The testing opening spell from Matt, an out and out fast bowler for the Cavs, had Bambi bouncing around the crease to protect himself. But a steady flow of boundaries from both ends had the Zoots going at around 8 runs an over in the first four. Introduction of spin was welcomed with a big six to cow corner by Mr Bolywood. The first wicket fell when Bambi was bowled by spinner Dave on thirty  two and the highlight of the innings was a beautiful straight drive over the bowlers head for four that brought the Zoots and the Cavs to their feet. In walked in Noel 'Butter oops Rutterfingers' and the steady flow of runs continued with lots of quick well judged singles. Aiming to increase the run rate Rutter was stumped of the bowling of Ned for 4. Stephen 'Gravy train' Grady was next up and the quick running continued. (INSERT ADVICE FOR ALL BATSMAN : No and go sound the same). Bollywood was the next to fall trying to protect his stumps from a ricochet of his bat and thus ended his innings of 80. The batsman ended up giving himself out and later finding out that a double hit is not out. (INSERT SECOND PIECE OF ADVICE FOR ALL CRICKETERS : Know the rules)
Alex Snickers Eggeman, our captain courageous was in next, to try and quicken the scoring and thats just what they did. A flurry of boundaries of the bat of the Gravy train(particulary a classy drive through the covers) had the Cavendish bowling completely demoralized. The Zoots had set a demanding target of 164 and were all ready to put pressure on the Cav batting.

It was a final hurrah for the highly succesful opening bowling pair for both the Zoots and Coton CC, Ullasa 'Lurch' Kodandaramaiah and Matt 'Skippie' Chandler. The pair bowled a demanding and accurate line and length and were amply backed in the field. Skippie got the first breakthrough with Jackson being caught by Bambi his first of three catches in the game each more impressive than the next. Constant pressure from the opening pair had the Cavs against the ropes and led to the introduction of Anthony 'Silence of the' Lamb. This left armer with a great delivery that comes into the bowler had the Cavs in all sorts of trouble. Ben 'Bennyball' Jarret bowled some leg spin a la Warnie from the other end. Anthony castled three of the Cav batsman while Bennyball took three more to leave the Cavs in tatters. Fading light and a lethal ball from our own Hannibal lecter had the Cavs request a change in pace. Some fabulous keeping by Matt Brookes who couldnt really see the ball and thus just got body and soul behind it and some fine efforts in the deep by Pierre 'Le SWATTEUR' Burdayet kept the pressure on the Cavs. At this point the Cavs were 8 down for 68. Rutter bowled tidily from one end while at the other Bollywood was taken to the cleaners by Dave who top scored for the Cavs with a well made 33. The Zoots won the game by 59 runs as the Cavs finished their innings on a 105 for eight.

A team performance by one and all had the Zoots come across the line in fine fashion.

vs Mixed Cambridge Conservationists

(Contributed by Benjamin Jarrett)

The start of a new cricket season. The smell of freshly cut grass and the gleaming red leather of a new cricket ball prefaced our first match of 2013 - a friendly with the MCC (no, not those). The fog of the morning drifted off during the day leaving a beautiful, if somewhat chilly, evening ahead.

The Zoots went into bat first on a very green, slingy pitch with little bounce to begin with. Simon and Ullasa opened the batting against Will whose balls were full and quick. Simon showed some promising strokes, but also the stumps; bowled in the first over. Ben came in at three and got in the swing of defending early on, seeing off the rest of the over. Ullasa at the other end scored freely on the leg side with some booming pull shots, whilst Ben saw out Will's final over. A pull gone awry, Ullasa was caught plumb LBW for 14, bringing on Anthony who quickened the scoring even more. He hastened to 25 and then retired. Acting Captain Matt came to the fray just in time to see the frustrated Ben charge down a nicely floated leggy, only to miss it by a foot and get stumped.

The cricket debutante Pierre came one starting a period of quick scoring a hard-run singles. Unfortunately, one wasn't run as hard as the rest with Pierre run out soon after joining Matt at the crease. Surjit and Paul in the lower order had excellent strike rates, hitting fours at times that demoralised the fielders. Special mention to the bludgeoning exploits of Will, whose 21 pushed our total towards the highly competitive 123 all out after 13.4 overs.

The sun was falling and the temperature dropped as the Zoots made their way onto the field; some shivering in overcoats, others basking in a lovely evening after so many rubbish ones. Crosby and George opened the batting for the MCC and proved a formidable opening pair, knocking up 26 and 24 respectively. The quick bowling from Matt (2-0-21-0) and Ullasa kept them at bay for some time, but embracing the pace, runs were scored consistently. Ullasa displayed his worth with excellent figures of 2-0-4-0, frustrating the batting team.

With the Zoot surfeit of medium-pacers Surjit (2-0-9-1) and Anthony (2-0-17-0) joined the fray, bowling quickly and always making the batsman earn their runs. Ben (2-0-14-1) came on for one over to loop up some leg breaks, changing the pace and increasing the over rate. By this time the runs had slowed through economical bowling and excellent fielding from all, including sprawling dives from wicket-keeper Mike to prevent byes. Simon (2-0-10-0) and Will (1-0-14-1) came on late - displaying out depth in bowling attack - to slow the play and mop up the tail. Paul had the huge responsibility to bowl the last over, and did so responsible and with menace. It's hard not to be afraid of bowling who warrants a four man slip cordon!

Excellent bowling and fielding stemmed the blistering start MCC made to their innings, leading to a victory by 19 runs.

Zootallurgy CC: 123-10

MCC CC: 104-

vs Cambridge Assessment

The chance of a match seemed a distant dream on Monday, but Mother Nature intervened to delay the incoming storm. Perhaps next time we can request she delay it for a couple more hours?. It was dry, but not warm, and the sky was full of clouds. Nine brave men gathered at St Catherine’s College sports ground to take on the mighty administrators, the Sir Humphrey Appleby and Bernard Wooley of the exams world.

A lost toss resulted in Zoots batting first, in conditions that were challenging for batting and soon to deteriorate. Out strode Simon and Alex to begin the onslaught. And an onslaught it was for two overs, until a grass-cutter took out Simon’s wickets. Despite swinging the bat as Conan the Barbarian would swing an axe, Alex followed soon, and Zoots were 2 down. Captain Matt valiantly blocked and ducked, but he was soon heading back to the pavilion.

To stem the collapse Zoots sent out TV’s Bill Amos, and new man Anthony. With playing styles taken directly from the Geoffrey Boycott Encyclopaedia of how not to get out, these wily soldiers proceeded to defy the Exam’s bowling attack, frustrating the opposition ball after ball. However, this could not last forever, and both departed in quick succession.

With just a few overs to go it fell to Ullasa “I only score on the leg side” and Paul “I only score on the off side” to pile on the runs. Such a deadly combination flummoxed the opposition, making the setting of a field nigh on impossible. Scoring freely on the skiddy wicket, Ullasa pulled and hooked his way to a fine 20no, whilst Paul managed a decent 11 despite falling over more times than the entire Spanish team did in Euro 2012. Zoots posted a defendable 72 off their 20 overs.

 

Opening the bowling for Zoology was Captain Matt, and although the increasingly heavy rain and puddles did not slow him down, he was unfortunate not to take a wicket. At the other end, Paul’s straight and slow bowling proved deadly, and two of the finest bureaucrats in East Anglia returned to the pavilion.

 An over of sublime variation from Ullasa was punished by the opposition, who were closing in on victory. A change of bowling brought Anthony L. on, and a deceptively quick low full toss was edged and finely caught by the Zoots own Jonty Rhodes, diving to his right at Gully. Zoots were on a roll, could an unlikely victory be gained? Alas no, as a few quick singles and a 4 by the home captain brought the match to an end. Some fine individual performances did not bring a victory, but many positives can be taken from this match played in the rain.

..vs Biochemistry

or

Definitive proof that 11 > 9

In a desperate attempt to somehow make the connection between biochemistry and a cricket match report I have descended to reading Wikipedia on my smart-phone on the 5.15 to Kings Cross. I can’t find anything even slightly tenable so will just go for an embellished round-up with some elementary maths. Apologies to any biochemists (and to be honest, anyone) reading this.

The now traditional desperate plea for players on a Wednesday morning was valiantly answered to produce a full team of cricketing experts… for the biochemistry team, who were able to field a full 11 for the first time this season! Unfortunately for the colossi of Zootallurgy CC we numbered only 9.

Matt took the approach that with fewer fielders their batsmen would be more likely to get out playing shots and decided to field first. Tidy opening spells from Captain Matt and Ullassa saw the opposition at an almost run-a-ball 37-1 off six overs with their handy looking opener done in flight by a Chandler slow ball (imagine Steve Harmison’s at Edgbaston in 2005 only 10 times slower). Paul and Alex were the change bowlers, each keeping a decent off-side line to rid the opposition of a batsman caught by Anthony at gully (so far so good for the fielding plan). However the Biochemistry number 3 played himself in and began to accelerate the scoring on his way to 60*: 7-an-over, 9-an-over even 14-an-over (off Anthony who in fairness bowled 4 other excellent overs including a maiden) all left us looking at a large total.

Unfortunately a fielding plan inviting the hit, invites hits and with gaps in the field we were successfully hut (? my past tenses escape me), ending a solid bowling performance at 147-4.

The other shortcoming of having 9 players is that you can only afford to lose 8 wickets. Not normally a problem in a 20 over match but that was not taking the 11 demon bowlers biochemistry brought along into account. The handy opening batsman (Maneesh) turned out to be an equally handy, if not handier, opening bowler getting prodigious swing off a 2 step run-up. It was his cat-like reflexes that brought a sharp c&b to dispense with Alex from the unfamiliar position of number 2 batsman, ending a quick-fire 11.

Simon (ignoring Matt’s unintended emasculation via email) showed he still had some fight and rained a couple of lovely blows on the other opening bowler (on his way to 15) including his obligatory straight 6, unfortunately followed up by his undoing from a gem (from Maneesh) that he admits he couldn’t have stopped had he seen the delivery in advance.

Paul fell foul of the increasingly spirited biochemistry attack, bowled by the change bowlers for 1 and was soon followed by Bill (5), Mike (0) and Oskar (0) – Paul is now 2-1 behind in his running battle with Oskar on batting scores. All four were undone by a combination of excellent line, length, turn, superb close fielding and scoreboard pressure.

Thankfully, to save our blushes, the tail wagged and Ullassa matched his bowling prowess with some excellent (if massively leg-side biased) swings of his bat (finishing 39*), the highlight being a steepling hook shot into the arms of Maneesh at deep backward square leg (where else) who toppled over the boundary rope to return a second 6 of the innings. So one-sided (on-sided?) was Ullassas play, that against a slow right-armer even KP would have been impressed with the footwork to run around several deliveries well outside off, only to miss the attempted on-side slogs (nearly getting out on 2 occasions). Anthony played a cautious innings for 6 and Matt saw the last few deliveries for an average-enhancing 2*, leaving us a few short at 86-7.

The run-chase never quite got going, but against a full side with some pretty fearsome bowling and fielding talent on show there was no disgrace in coming up second-best on this occasion. More worrying was that upon leaving the changing rooms we found our position as ‘winners-of-the-party’ under threat by their entire team sat in the club-room enjoying a cold beverage. C’mon guys get with the programme!

In conclusion 86-7 < 147-4 and 9 < 11…

vs. Sanger

Match report: Zootallargy v/s Sanger, 26 June, Queens College Sports Ground

The day before the game 5 players had signed up and Matt sensibly sent out a mail saying we might need a few more to make a game out of it. I was about to head to the streets looking out for subcontinental faces, but a couple of my Indian friends (Satish & Mahanth) called in the nick of time to say they could play. Meanwhile Antony, our new Zoology recruit, chatted up a couple of random blokes who had heard about the game called cricket (Tom and Ani) and signed them up, bringing the team total to 10. We reached Queens ground with grey skies threatening to rain and hearts filled with sadness at the loss of Simon Baxter. Matt won the toss and cleverly opted to field first, knowing that batting has always been Zootallurgy's strength. As luck would have it, it started raining just before the scheduled start of play. Not knowing who was playing for which team, we got around to socializing with friends and foes alike to while away time. The rains eased by about 6:17, Tom bowled a few on the pitch, and having confirmed they bounced above knee height, a 16-over-aside game was decided upon. Perhaps Captain Matt Chandler's crystal ball told him something about events to unfold, for he had changed into The Official Zoology Captain's Vest, sponsored by Ramraj Banian Co, in tune with their motto.

With sawdust liberally sprinked on the pitch in places where I normally never place my foot, I opened the show gingerly from the road-opposite end, beginning with a full toss that was dispatched for a couple. The new ball now looked like it had been rescued from drowning. After some heavy duty wiping, I decided to use the pitch the next ball, and banged it in short, which went 2 meters above the batsman. As the next ball was hooked away to the boudary with ease, the ominous signs of erratic bowling brought an audible hush to the field. Luckily things improved with the tighter second over Matt bowled from the road end. Beating the bat with some good deliveries now and then, and mixing them up with rank bad short balls, I managed to prise out the freely scoring opener who was caught behind deftly by our debutant wicket-keeper Alex Eggeman. He was replaced (not Alex, the batsman) by a Herschelle Gibbs look-alike. What with the wet ball and slippery run-ups, the bowling was less tidy than usual, but Matt was the better of the two openers and ended up with 4-0-22-0, whereas I got 4-0-28ish-1. The opposition were 54-1 at the halfway stage.

FACT 1: The throw from mid off to try and run Herschelle Gibbs out was hurled in at 103.96 mph. Having valiantly stopped it with my heel and nonchalantly continued discharging my cricketing duties for the rest of the day, I feel considerably more stupid the next morning limping around like the three-legged camel in children's movies.

Matt played by the rules and refused to let me bowl after my quota of 4 overs. In came debutant Antony as replacement. His left-arm bowling was fiercely quick, but otherwise in similar vein to that of mine wrt mixing up full tosses, bouncers, peaches, plums, etc. Antony later informed me he was out of practice; with a little of this in his arsenal, he will surely serve Zootallurgy well. Welcome Antony! The batsmen respectfully defended or got beaten by the good ones and dispatched the crap ones, as they had been doing the whole day. If we thought Antony was quick, Tom was even quicker, much more accurate and was by far the best bowler of the day. He ripped out wickets at regular intervals, clean bowling his first three victims.

FACT 2: We all know Matt Chandler is retiring at the end of the season to join the circus. He did treat us to his juggling skills before finally taking a catch to give Tom his fourth wicket.

Simon Martin took a stunning low catch in the deep for Tom's fifth wicket to end the opposition innings at 105. Tom got 5 for 15 or so, not sure what Antony got. Extras and overthrows were quite a few, none of which detracts from Eggeman's fine performance behind the stumps, though.

Opening the innings with the calm, composed, and technically sound Ani, Simon seemed to want to end our innings inside 5 overs. The first couple of overs from their opening bowlers were tight, with no looseners and hardly a bad delivery. But the looseners arrived belatedly in the third over and Simon took full toll by smashing 6 4 2 4 1 4 in the next deliveries he faced. I have been told the bat he used has a lot of dead spots, but Simon surely had a horrendous time finding them. The six he hit was his second in as many games, and the only ones I have seen on this ground. His knock of 32 from 19 balls was ended by a fine yorker from the opposition captain (or was it one of those dead spots?). Ani by that time had kept him good company and had got out to one that kept low. Mahanth replaced Ani and got a few useful runs, but skied one only to find the single person in the opposition team selected for fielding skills - Herschelle Gibbs.... who looked good enough in the field to catch it with two fingers.

Meanwhile, Satish had come in after Simon's exit, joined shortly after by one of the all time cricketing greats as far as Sweden is concerned. As the big and mean looking Oskar Brattström took guard (outside offstump, I believe), fielders subconciously dropped deeper. Oskar hammered the ball around, but by some quirk of fate never managed to clear either short extra cover or silly mid off. As the first two overs of his tonking didn't cause too much perceptible damage, fielders slowly got bolder and came in. The scorers were on the edge of their seats by now. Eventually Oskar decided he had gotten his eye in, and deftly edged one wide of the keeper to record one of the highest scores by a Sandinavian in the league (although Oskar himself holds the record with a two). He was soon done in by an unplayable beaut - medium pace, keeping straight and bouncing as expected.

Satish looked unflustered from the beginning, rarely getting beaten and kept the score board ticking with some singles. Alex Eggeman, our new keeper-batsman joined him.

FACT 3: Satish ran a single after hitting one down the ground and was called back for a second. Figuring there was plenty of time to get back, he decided to figure skate to his end. The pitch was deceptively flat, and he lost balance midway to land on his ass with a loud thud. The eagle-eyed Eggeman quickly realised the urgency of the situation and suggested he get back on his feet and get back to where he came from. Satish was lightning quick to recover, but alas his attempts to skate back to safety were nullified by another big thud and a direct throw. Moral of the story: Unlike everything else in cricket, a run is called so for a good reason (its not a 'point' as Oskar perseveres to convince us), and other modes of transport egs. walk, skate, crawl, roll, etc are less efficient.

Tom, the all-rounder, joined Alex and they had a productive partnership, keeping the asking rate at around 7. Alex scored freely and made 20 off 15. Things started heating up once Alex decided to get back to the comfort of the pavilion and Antony joined. The light was fading fast, but luckily the pace of their bowlers was fading too. The run rate needed was just a little over run-a-ball, with yours truly and Captain Chandler aka Captain Ramraj aka John Lott padded up. The captain's calm facial composure belied his nerves evidenced by the rhythmic staccatto of his spikes on the floor. The scoreboard was duly updated by Oskar/me after every ball, between balls and before every ball, but the batsman apparently didnt bother looking - they knew exactly what was needed. 20 needed off 3 overs turned to 6 needed off the last over, with Antony on strike. The first ball was a dought. The captain's foot-tapping got quicker.... The second was dispatched behind square leg for four to loud cheering (mainly from our side). And the match was won with three balls to spare afer a two off the next one.

What a game! The first victory of the season. As Eggeman said later in the pub, in keeping with our time-honoured tradition of winning a game every season (at least since I joined), we can now put victory behind us and concentrate on enjoying the remaining games without pressure. To summarize the match, our bowling was a little wayward, but overall pretty decent. The fielding was of good standards throughout and almost all catches were taken, with or without juggling stunts depending on the fielder's career aspirations. Eggeman's keeping was tight, and exceptional for a debutant. All batsman contributed to the score, but the final nerve-wracking partnership between Tom & Antony, the fantastic 32 by Simon, the quickfire 20 by Eggeman and of course the electifying bowling by man-of-the-match Tom were the highlights. Thanks to all our guest stars - Tom, Ani, Satish and Mahanth. If its one thing we have learned, it is that Zoology is unbeatable as long as less than half the team is Zoology-based.

ullasa