Intra-club Friendly
Lets play : the internal affair – first game of the season!
Finally cricket! The wait had been long. With no form of cricketing activity, or for that matter, any sporting activity for almost 1 year had gotten even the sanest of us grumpy, let alone our “grumpy-for-36-years” skipper´s situation. The COVID-19 pandemic had wrecked havoc, forcing an unprecedented global shut-down. All forms of sporting activities or active living around the world had been put on hold. Major sporting events had been cancelled or postponed. Things looked doom and gloom. But with the entry of vaccines, things slowly looked hopeful. Kudos to the brain and muscle behind the vaccines. All of us got our first shot, the only shot some of us gonna have all season ;)
Our club president, Damon’s email on opening of cricket season was met with great enthusiasm. Soon Tuesday trainings at Ekeberg and Saturday trainings at Asker pumped up in full swing. The transfer market was abuzz with activity. We welcomed our new signings for the season, Anshul, Rasel, Peter, Paul and Ankush with closed hands (covid protocol) (I know that was a bad one :P). Ankush’s was an epic last minute deal, better than Ashley Cole’s move from Arsenal to Chelsea.
Our first game of the season was an internal affair. 8 each a team. Team 1 captained by Dennis was a bowling heavy side whereas Team 2 captained by Damon was a batting heavy unit, boasting the evergreen Will Barton, who can bat with pomp even in sleep. Dennis won the toss and after a team discussion, decided to bat first. Thinking being, lets tire them out :P Jokes aside, we thought, we´d be better off defending than chasing.
Anshul and Sudesh went into open for Team 1 with Arif and Damon sharing the new ball for Team 2. Anshul looked assured at the crease and played some crisp drives on his way to 41. Sudesh caught up soon with the scoring rate after starting off slowly. The partnership yielded 57 runs at run-a-ball rate but team 1 had to up the ante if they had any hope of reaching 140. Dennis the skipper struck his first two balls for four and got trapped in front by the chef. One of the highlight of the day was Branny boy’s “home run”, sweeping Marcus over the long leg boundary but the cunning old fox had the better of him next ball, castled! Lamps and “Spanish hostel (Boxy’s SH)” made sure Team 1 got to a defendable score. Pick of the bowler for team 2 was everyone, all 8 doing their bit.
There was never a silver lining in SH’s cricketing career. Mediocre bowler, bowling pies at best but that afternoon it felt as if he belonged. Dreamy delivery to one of the best bats in Norway first up – pitched on leg, swung and seamed away to get the edge that flew to the 2nd slip fielder Branson’s lap. Loved it absolut!! That pumped up the whole team and team 1 was flying, picking up wickets at regular intervals. Marcus and Sunil got run out, trying to run cheeky singles though the latter looked million dollar while he was out there. Introduction of Rasel and Sudesh into the attack saw the squeeze on the scoring rate with the former pricing out Alan for his debut wicket and then Arif, both caught easily by Lamps. Maloney scored a quickfire 14, hitting a monstrous maximum on the way but succumbed to the mounting pressure, bowled by a Sudesh special. Shahabaz and Pradeesh looked to take the game to the end, but a non-existent second, led to the downfall of Pradeesh. With just the last man Paul in, Baz looked to hoick Dennis down the ground only to be caught at mid-off by Branson and Dennis wrapped up the innings by bowling out Paul. Team 1 beat Team 2 by 18 runs and it was a moment to savour for Team 1, being superbly led by Dennis.
I guess, it was the first time in last 7 years that we’ve had 16 Alien members on the field together. It was all smiles after the game, with SH contemplating retirement.
Covid-safe team photo.