Beg, Borrow, and Steal

by Joe ‘Spider’ Lewis

Beg, Borrow and Steal.

Those were not the names of the three new faces that stepped into the wombat side to make eleven men in the eleventh hour but it may as well have been! Fozan, Tanzeem and Ajaz all would have their moments in what would be an entertaining tussle with the Alpha Quashers.

With delays from discussions of picking up people, things and whether to bother with either, the bulk of wommies arrived at the ground greeted to the sight of the Quashers running through their organized drills.
The wommies followed this with their own morning drill. First a quick warm up greeting with the new players and the time honoured tradition of mispronouncing each other’s names. Then a quick dash to set up the ground, followed by a rapid positioning of the scorer’s table (that would result in the scorer using it back to front for the first 30 overs and wondering why the rubbish design would chafe his legs so). Finally, a quick realization that no bugger had brought the team kit and so required a quick call to Dino asking him to pretty please bring it over.

And now, cricket!

The weather was mostly overcast, however reports of a large typhoon making its way to Fuji put some doubt over the second innings. Bat first it is then!

Richie and Alex got underway with a controlled start. Richie led the way in terms of strike rate which allowed Alex the freedom to gradually play himself in. The batsmen  complimented each other with their styles as they marshalled some disciplined Quasher bowling. Alex showed more comfort against spin and Richie showed  aggression against the seamers, hitting five towering sixes, one of which was caught by Gurman Singh only to discover to his own dismay that his foot was on the rope. After a tense 15th over Richie was able to take us to the break with a single to bring up his 50. Wombats 79/0.

15.1 overs

Err…make that 79/1 as Richie was caught and bowled (50 off 49) by Y Wagh. In came skipper Ali who after getting his eye in for a couple overs soon took over Richie’s role to keep the scoreboard ticking as Patmore was probing the outfield, well in the process of finding his second boundary of the day. At around the 22nd over the Patmore Batting App had finished downloading and Patmore started to unleash an array of cricket shots.

By the 30 over break the wommies had only lost Ali, who took his Richie role a bit too far when he fell the exact same way (29 off 40). Wombats were still in the ascendence, sitting pretty at 165/2.

After losing the first 2 sessions the Quashers badly needed to counter, which they did.
Patmore was judged lbw (82 off 92) in the 33rd leaving the ground with an excellent strike rate considering his first boundary came in the 13th over. A prime example of “You can’t score runs in the pavilion”.

Rex swiftly followed with a Richie-stamped six and out. Then debutant Tanzeem for a golden duck, Bilal for a second ball duck after skying so high in the air that he was halfway back to us by the time the fielder caught it, soon to face the critique of his son. (“You out already? Wow! You were out there for a really short time!”)

This left the Wombats reeling as they slid from 186/2 to 196/6 and in sudden danger of a below par score. (“Only two balls!? You lasted only two!!!???”)

Thankfully the careful application of batting by Navin Jinasena and the eager cavalier batting of Muhammed Ajaz proved a perfect foil for each other. Navin played intelligently, reading the game situation and rotating the strike thereby negating the Quashers momentum and allowing Ajaz to establish himself. The Quashers themselves lost a little discipline giving away wides and contending with the misfortune of losing a fielder to injury.

Wombats finished their innings with a strong score of 247/6. An excellent 50 partnership from the back-for-a-holiday Navin (15 off 18) and debutant Ajaz (29 off 20).

The Quashers got underway and were immediately under the pump as their top order floundered under the opening bowling partnership of Navin and Ali. Skipper got things underway with the “six and out”, bowling dangerous Krishan with a cracking delivery in his first over. Navin then got the big one, trapping Quasher talisman Rohit Kesari lbw for 2 and then catching talented young opener Aditya off his own bowling with a full toss for 16. Ajaz, ever eager to be in the thick of the action, managed to bag Noor Ibrahim for 16 for 9 as he opted to (perhaps unwisely) try and score quickly to take the pressure off his team.

This left the Quashers in survival mode falling to 45/4 after 8 overs.

Last of the big batters Leo managed to marshal the Quashers to the break, mollifying the wombat momentum and building plenty of his own. Quashers 85/4 after 15.

The Wombats set out after the break looking to end the partnership that was keeping Quashers in the hunt. It took 7 balls until I bowled a filthy legside wide that the batsmen Rangasamy gracefully nicked through to Patmore’s gloves.

It was time for the last debutant Fozan to make his entrance, snaring two more wickets with his impressive line and length, aided by the “never to be outdone” Ajaz who plucked an absolute one handed worldie on the boundary to see off Gurman Singh (no foot on the rope, sorry mate!) Hassan took a solid catch in the deep off my bowling to leave Quashers staring down the barrel at 144/8 with only Leo still giving them a sniff of an unlikely victory.

In the last session Quashers showed they were more than game and backed their batsmen who started to score quickly and the Wombats started to show fatigue (maybe there is something in those morning drills after all?). In fact there was a small passage of play where the Quashers were mentally on top. It wasn’t until the 35th over that the Wombats rediscovered their spirit and started to put pressure back on the batsmen with Fozan and Tanzeem bowling excellently leading to Leo finally making a mistake to yield his wicket after an admirable (but probably cost me a Macca’s) innings of 71 off 78. The No.11 fell to a sharp stumping from Patmore to end the game with a 54 run win for the Wommies.

It was a great match against two well matched sides. Perhaps the deciding factor in the contest was the batting discipline of the Wommies, with batsmen figuring out their roles, knowing when to apply aggression and  when to rotate. The general attitude of the team was generally excellent and we hope to see Nazim, Ajaz, Tanzeem and Fozan back on the cricket ground in the near future.

Special shout out to the 12th boy Bilal’s son for his excellent support and keen observations.

And thank you to the typhoon for staying away (clearly a cricket fan), hopefully the typhoon can follow through with that performance and provide us with a working ground for next week’s cricket!

Come on the Wommies!

Catches

• Ajaz (the first of three catches). A stunning one hander on the deep cover boundary to remove the dangerous Gurman. Jaw dropping.

Dropped Catches

• Richie with a tough skier, made more difficult by lack of communication from surrounding fielders.

Quotes

• “I’d kill myself before living in this shithole”. A remark said aloud (by a young Caucasian who would prefer to remain anonymous) in the car upon finally arriving at Fuji when discussing what else Dino could be doing today.
• “You were out there for a really short time!” – Bilal son offers his commiserations to dad and his second ball duck.

Great Moments in Sport

• Opening stand and the closing stand. Intensity in the field.
• Navin and Ajaz’s 50 partnership made all the difference between the two sides.
• Ali somehow getting eleven boys on the park. One of the best all round fielding displays of recent times. Catches really do win matches.

Dummy Spits

• Patmore roared at the Wommies when the heads dropped a little in the 35th over…

Golden Thong Nominations

• Forgetting the team kit was a bit of a flop. Not sure who to point the finger at for that one.