HAT-TRICK AT YCAC

by Jamie Payne

On Sunday, July 19th, Wombats converged on the Yokohama Cricket and Athletics Club to play the Indian Engineers in the shortened T20 format of the game. Surprisingly, the weather forecast wasn’t for rain or a typhoon – conditions we have become accustomed to when playing at YCAC – but was for 34 degrees and sunshine. (By the way, special thanks to Kooly and Ev who, under the blistering heat, umpired the morning game and played for the Wombats in the afternoon game.)

With their new floppies out and dangling in the soft Yokohama breeze, the lads began arriving at the ground around midday; among them was Gordo who was playing his first game for the club. Not long after that, the captains got together and, after winning the toss, the Indian Engineers elected to bat first.

The bowling attack was opened by Big Yuz and the Hof. Carrying an injury that he had picked up in the Chiba game, Yuzzy’s first over was a little expensive, however, determined not to let yet another victory slip through Wombat fingers, the big man fired up for his second over and found the near perfect line and length that he had the week before.

At the fifth over mark, Tommy and Kyal were introduced into the attack. Both bowled their maximum four overs with impeccable precision and finished with figures of one wicket for 15 runs (economy of 3.75) and one wicket for 18 runs (economy of 4.50), respectively. I should mention here that, in addition to the accurate bowling (arguably the best bowling we have seen this season), the fielding was exceptional. Catches were caught (with the exception of Tommy’s drop-turn-half-volley-dummy spit) and boundaries were blocked.

Later in the innings, Kram and Gordo were asked by the skipper if they’d like to contribute a couple of overs. Kram, as he’s been doing all season, bowled a lovely line and length that restricted the batsmen to singles only. He finished with no wicket for 12 runs off three overs. As for Gordo, well, he took six wickets, including the first hat trick in Wombats history. He completely dismantled the Engineers’ middle and lower order. The Engineers finished with a total of 113 runs.

Given a required run rate of just 5.65 and the short boundary of the YCAC ground, the obvious way to win the match was to go for it, and that’s exactly what Ev and Gordo – the two opening batsmen for the Wombats – did. As he does so often, Ev wasn’t going to let any deliveries go to waste and, very quickly (after about his second ball), tossed away his block shot. He knocked a quick 14 runs from nine deliveries before getting bowled out. Gordo looked as if he had been playing for the Wommies all season, knocking plenty of ones and twos and a couple of fours. He finished on 24 runs off 27 deliveries.

The Shaz – as he’s been all season – was once again very reliable with the bat. He blasted 34 runs from 36 deliveries. The lads were five wickets for 100 runs at this point and, as you might expect, the lager was already flowing. Coming in at number six, Skipper Patmore wrapped up the match in the 17th over knocking a quick 27.

The boys assembled at Hub Sakuragicho post-match where highlights, tekitonis and happy hour drinks were enjoyed by all.

Special thanks to all the mums, wives, girlfriends and kids who showed up to cheer on the Wombats.

Bernie

Quotes

• Koolhof: “are you the captain?”
  Indian Tigers player: “no”
  Koolhof: “ah, you all look the same”

Catches

• Ev – safe hands at mid-on to start the fall of wickets
• Patmore’s catch breaking a decent partnership
• Tom’s catch to dismiss Prashant
• Lukey’s one handed grab down below, behind the stumps

Dropped Catches

• Tom’s one handed try to look cool

Great Moments in Sport

• Gordo’s 6-fa and first ever hat-trick for the Wombats

Dummy Spit

• Tom dropping the catch & kicking the ball from deep cover to mid-on for an overthrow