vs Friends, SL (Div 2) Match # 4
Dandelions, dropped catches, dubious LBWs and the unstoppable Friends train
It was a beautiful May afternoon in Oslo: sunny, windy, and absolutely ideal for cricket — assuming, of course, that your definition of an ideal cricket pitch is half dandelion meadow, half sandpit.
The Aliens arrived with ten men, meaning the warm-up consisted largely of not fielding, followed by a decision to simply go and bat instead.
Things got off to a promising start when the goal had to be moved.
Benan, in an effort to extract every last second of suspense from the afternoon, took his time shifting it — with the added bonus of trapping Damon’s leg in the process. A strong contender for “warmup assassination attempt of the season”.
Aliens Batting
Marcus and Avra strode out to open, with Marcus clearly deciding that the best way to deal with the swinging conditions was to swing first and ask questions later.
Unfortunately, on the one occasion the ball didn’t swing, Marcus nicked it to slip.
1 down.
Dennis came in and began the slow process of rebuilding the innings. The bowling was tight, the line was good, the length was consistent, and Dennis looked increasingly comfortable in the middle. His fielding was equally tidy, although his batting would eventually provide considerably more entertainment.
Avra then succumbed to a particularly jumpy delivery, nicking through to the keeper.
Damo joined Dennis, and with the score sitting at 14/2 after seven overs, the Aliens began the long stabilisation process.
Dennis survived one scare when a catch at point went down — the ball seemingly finding a way through the fielder’s hands before briefly reconsidering its life choices.
It didn’t save him for long.
A pull shot produced a one-handed catch, and Dennis was on his way.
Pratik, having only just arrived following his late call-up, was sent straight into the firing line. He was then given out LBW in a decision that could generously be described as confident.
The ball appeared to be heading somewhere around the car park.
Harry came in looking to inject some life into the innings and duly gave it a blast, before eventually picking out a man in the deep.
At this point, Matt was sent in with the very specific job description of run when possible, block when necessary, and generally keep things moving.
Unfortunately, he eventually hopped into no-man’s-land and was stumped.
Milton arrived with considerably less interest in blocking.
Damon reached his fifty, while Milton provided one of the stranger sights of the afternoon: running between the wickets without a bat in his hand.
At 105/6 after 25 overs, the Aliens were beginning to build something respectable.
Then came the Milton show.
A moonball was launched high into the Oslo sky and somehow found its way through the basket — twice, thanks in part to a slight communication issue between the fielders.
Milton then pulled one for six, while Damon went across the wicket and found the boundary for four.
The bowler followed this with a generously donated wide.
129/6 after 28.
Milton’s entertaining stay eventually came to an end when a loopy edge found its way to the keeper.
Sudesh arrived and immediately demonstrated excellent intent, going over cover for two from his first ball.
He then middled a drive straight back at the bowler.
Caught and bowled.
Benan was next in, and quickly found himself in a spot of bother after being hit in the box. Rather than allowing this to interrupt his rhythm, Benan responded by dancing around the ball, presumably in the hope of confusing both bowler and square-leg umpire.
An appeal from square leg followed.
Then, with the innings approaching its conclusion, Benan launched one for six.
The Aliens finished on a respectable:
143/8 off 30 overs
And so, with a slow outfield, a competitive total and the sun still shining, the Aliens headed out to defend.
Perhaps the decision not to practice fielding earlier was going to prove prophetic.
Friends Chase
Dennis and Sudesh opened the bowling and immediately settled into a fine rhythm of dots and extras — a combination that would become something of a recurring theme.
Dennis then produced the first breakthrough, taking a caught-and-bowled in delightfully casual fashion.
28/1 after 5 overs.
Harry came into the attack for Sudesh and made a neat start, before Benan took over from Dennis and promptly returned excellent figures of:
4 overs — 0 maidens — 13 runs — 1 wicket.
Despite the tidy spells, however, the extras column was beginning to creep upwards.
By 12 overs, Friends were scoring at just over six an over.
The Aliens needed something special.
Enter Lendle and Damon, who proceeded to unleash their respective spin masterclasses.
Damon, in particular, seemed to discover something quite unexpected.
Having apparently spent his cricketing career believing his best figures would come from his usual pace-style bowling, Damon hesitantly accepted the possibility that perhaps spin bowling was actually his thing.
He promptly demonstrated this by producing a peach for a wicket.
Then, in his very next over, he picked up two more — one bowled and one LBW.
Suddenly, the scoreboard read:
91/4 off 16 overs
Game on.
Lendle then found his groove and began turning the screw on the incoming batsmen.
After a lengthy interruption caused by the scoring app crashing, Lendle returned to his mark.
He then trotted in.
And aborted.
The batsmen, already impatient after the delay, were forced to wait just a little bit longer.
Whether intentional or not, this appeared to be some form of advanced psychological warfare.
It worked.
Wicket next ball.
They don’t call Lendle “the dead-ball specialist” Pascal Zacharias for nothing.
Unfortunately, the Aliens’ other contribution to the Friends innings was somewhat less impressive.
The Seven Dropped Catches™.
No names will be mentioned.
But if you were there, you know.
Some were difficult. Some were very difficult.
And some were, frankly, the sort of chances that make you briefly question whether the cricket ball has somehow become invisible.
The Friends kept being given opportunities to stay in the game, and — rather inconveniently — they kept taking advantage of them.
As the innings progressed, sensible batting consisting largely of singles and twos began to make the target look increasingly inevitable.
The Aliens continued to chip away with late wickets, but by then the Friends train was already gathering too much momentum.
Eventually, Friends reached:
144/6 off 27.2 overs
They had done it.
When all was said and done…
A thoroughly entertaining game, but one that ultimately slipped away from the Aliens.
143 was a perfectly defendable score on a slow field, and the bowlers did enough at various stages to put the game firmly within reach.
But cricket has a nasty habit of punishing teams that give the opposition seven lives.
Between the dropped catches and the increasingly generous collection of extras, the Friends were given just enough opportunities to keep their chase alive — and eventually the target became inevitable.
Still, there were plenty of positives: some excellent bowling spells, Damon discovering a potential second career as a spin bowler, Lendle mastering the psychological art of the aborted delivery, and Benan proving that getting hit in the box is no reason to stop dancing.
The Aliens head back to the drawing board, where the priorities are clear:
Catch the ball.
Appeal for LBWs.
Reduce the extras.
And perhaps, just perhaps, practice fielding before the next match.
The season is far from over.
The Aliens will bounce back. 🛸🏏