At first glance, when a player who scores 1, takes no
wickets or catches is named man of the match it could be mistaken for poor
standard of cricket at Zoots. However, if you scratch beneath the surface there
were some decent performances this week for Zoots.
Having won the toss (I think) Zoots elected to bat first.
Not displaying the normal killer streak captain Matt make the commendable
decision to loan the opposition some fielders. Would this kindness come back to
haunt Zoots if match became nail-biting? You will find out later. With Captain
Grady turning up late Saf Akram and Paul Gilliver marched out to face the best
of Engineering. Despite some resilient blocking and missing both fell within 4
overs to the deadly inswing of the Engineering opener. In marched Captain “I
don’t do defensive” Grady and Simon Martin. Both set about putting some scores
on the board with some fine running between the wickets. Alas, Grady hit out
and departed for a short sharp sweet 15. In came Simon Baxter, the clone of
Simon Martin for this poor scorer, only distinguishable by the black stripe on
the former’s pads. Again, some fine shots that deserved better, plenty of
running and the 50 almost up before both fell in quick succession. With 5 down
a tail-guard action was required, and up stepped Dan Garson and Oskar
Brattstrom. Both titans of cricket vowed to set personal best scores for Zoots,
and both did with Oskar scoring a magnificent 2, with Dan chipping in with a
tidy 36 not out. Joined at the end by the ever energetic runner Ullasa the men
from Zoots scored a fine 108 off the 20 overs.
With a defendable target set the team from batsmen from
engineering took to the piece. With Stu and Ullasa opening the bowling
with pace chances appeared, although vital catches were dropped. Both openers
scored steadily and punished the bowlers at times, and despite regular bowling
changes and the best efforts of the Zoots bowlers, wickets were not earned.
Both openers retired, however, the second line of players were equally adept,
and engineering cruised to victory with 8 overs to spare.
The bright spirits of Zoots were battered but not defeated,
and a trip to the pub perked up the team as always. Same time next week gents.
by Paul Gilliver
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