By James Morgan

If there’s one thing us Allstars are known for (except for our fine physiques and natural athleticism) it’s our courage under fire. Sanford threw everything at us yesterday afternoon, but our resilient tail heroically held on for the draw in what was almost a carbon copy of last year’s game.

It was a triumph for determination and stoicism under extreme duress. The Gods had been against us all day: we lost the toss and had to bowl in conditions that resembled a kiln; we had absolutely no luck in the field despite bowling tidily; and when we came to bat, our top order nicked a series of jaffas that either bounced unexpectedly or shot along the floor at shin height. We were not amused.

However, a wonderful rear guard action by Chris Gould, Chris Harrison, Gren Thompson, Vivek Seth and Jon ‘the impenetrable forward press’ Ryan, salvaged the draw.

Sanford must take a huge amount of credit for the way they played – but it wasn’t quite enough to take the spoils. After winning the toss, they posted an impressive 212-2 declared, off 36 overs. We bowled with discipline but just didn’t get the breaks. Gren in particular beat the bat on numerous occasions, but had all the luck of an Irishman whose four-leaf clover had been stolen by a particularly mischievous leprechaun.

However, as the pitch still seemed flat at tea, we fancied our chances of chasing the runs and claiming an unlikely victory. If only it were so. As seasoned Allstars know all too well, conceiving a winning strategy and actually putting it into effect are two different matters – and it wasn’t long until we found ourselves precariously placed at 53-4, and then 66-6.

Fortunately however, we had anticipated that plan A might not go exactly to plan, so we had packed the lower order with courageous blockers. Therefore, when the run chase faltered, we were happy to revert to plan B: go into ours shells and hang on for dear life! I’m happy to report that Operation Limpet was a complete success. We closed on 84-8 off 36overs). The immovable object, Jon Ryan, could have stayed in the middle all evening had the opposition not run out of overs and invited us down the pub.

Scorecard

Sanford CC v St Anne’s Allstars CC, Sunday 23rd May 2010
Urn Field, Guildford
Weather: sunny and very hot
Toss: Sanford
Format: time (second innings of one hour plus 20 overs)
Debuts: R. Sandess, A. Quantrall

Sanford

†B Bailey c Sandess b Quantrall 54
A Forbes not out 71
*J Morley c Quantrall b Duncan 30
A Banks not out 26

Extras (21w, 1nb, 7b, 2lb) 31

Total (36 overs) 212-2 dec

Fall: 1-102, 2-151
DNB: R Povey, J Quantrall, C Cooke, D Harrowell, D Field, L Cooper, D Smallpiece

Thompson 10-2-33-0
Ryan 6-0-34-0
Khalid 4-0-24-0
A Quantrall 7-0-43-1
Seth 5-0-32-0
Duncan 4-0-29-1

St Anne’s Allstars

R Sandess c Bailey b Field 1
A Quantrall c Cooke b Field 14
*JG Morgan c Bailey b Cooke 19
CR Gould b Cooper 15
H Khalid b Harrowell 0
J Hautot c 1st slip b Cooke 1
G Thompson lbw b Smallpiece 14
†C Harrison c Cooke b J Quantrall 6
J Ryan not out 0
V Seth not out 0

Extras (5w, 3nb, 5b, 1lb) 14

Total (36 overs) 84-8

Fall: 1-2, 2-29, 3-46, 4-53, 5-54, 6-66, 7-81, 8-84
DNB: GA Duncan

Field 7-1-21-2
Smallpiece 8-4-19-1
Cooke 8-4-9-2
Harrowell 4-0-11-1
Cooper 4-3-1-1
Morley 1-0-7-0
J Quantrall 4-3-6-1

Result: match drawn