By Neale Adams

They came and saw and so very nearly conquered…..

Like Commander Adama leading the Battlestar Galactica, Felix Allen led a rag-tag team of St Anne’s Allstars in search of a victory, having already found the earth bound match venue against West XI in suburban Greenford.

The Allstars team sheet had been decimated by those on holiday, injuries, and the marriage of James Hindle to his fiancee, whom we can only hope was a lot more feminine and attractive than the person the groom was seen dancing with in a video posted on the internet prior to the wedding.

Neverless, the Allstars’ ‘Super 8’, plus two players donated by the opposition took to the field with Haroon Khalid leading the bowling attack. For Haroon it was a day of what should have been and not what was, as his accurate bowling deserved a greater reward. (Some dropped catches similar to those by India in the recent third test did not help his cause).

Assisting Haroon was Jimmy Scott whose namesake bore witness to his Scottish flare and slower pace that was eventually to deceive the opposition and claim the first scalp, as the batsman played onto his own stumps in an early over.

TG took over from Haroon turning in some very impressive figures of three for 12 runs during his spell of seven overs.

Paul Nicol replaced Jimmy – and, like Haroon, should have had more wickets to his name. Confident bowling – despite not having bowled for some time – saw the Crazy Horse miss the stumps by millimetres on several occasions. Eventually a good ball bowled was returned by the batsman to the bowlers hands, giving Nicol his just deserts.

Despite the Allstars fielding remaining tight, the West XI batsman decided to dig in and make runs to increase their tally.

Two attempted catches of note were made by Kieran Toohey and Felix, from balls that left the oppo’s bat at blistering speed.The fielders were brave just to get to the ball, let alone get their hands in the way. In the skippers case, blood was drawn from his fingers such was the speed of the leather through the air.

Kieran and Clarence Marshall helped to clear up some of the West XI tail enders, leaving the opposition on 161 for 7 at the end of their 35 overs.

And the Allstars dared to dream of a victory…

TG and Clarence opened the Allstars batting, both facing the West XI opening bowler who was, to say the least, fast and accurate. If Felix was Adama then TG must have been Lt Starbuck for his cheeky batting that saw several shots placed beautifully over the slips. Kieran replaced Clarence after he was bowled out, and Paul Nicol replaced TG who was returned to the locker room having notched up a healthy 38.

Kieran and Paul continued the good works of the openers until Nicol tried to hit one over mid-off – but the ball fell short and into the hands of an awaiting fielder.

The Allstars’ middle order helped to lift the score to over 100, and again the sniff of victory began to fill the senses. But excitement got the better of a team that had dared to dream the dream…..the Commander was run out without even facing a ball.

The dream disappeared for good as the lower order batsmen, including the two kindly donated by the West XI entered the arena, but were soon sent home by the bowlers. The Allstars total of 137 all out was sadly not enough to match the target set by the West XI.

Despite the result – and the Olympic bike road race practice causing havoc on the roads in south west London forcing a late start – a good fun day was had by all.

And Commander Adama continued his fine leadership after the game by leading the rag tag fleet on their next quest – to find a pub.

By Maxie Allen

A day of fluctuating fortunes, and emotions to suit. Despair turned to hope, then to frustration.

The pitch – this was a park ground – ensured the cricket remained lively throughout. Deceptively slow, its bounce was wildly erratic. Many balls reared up off a length; others shot through at ankle height.

Two weeks previously, against Sanford, we’d begun the match in disastrous fashion – subsiding to 4-3. Never again, we pledged. And we were true to our word. This time, we were 5-4.

First, James Hindle missed a straight one, which kept a little low, before Felix fenced a throat ball to square leg. Andy Reid then lost his middle stump, and as the chaos intensified the inevitable happened: a run out. Simon Begley was the victim, after protracted confusion between him and James Morgan over a putative single to square leg. It was impossible to determine whose fault it was – just one of those things, really. But Scratch wasn’t best pleased. I’m glad I wasn’t his kit bag.

By this point, it had begun to rain – quite heavily, and would continue to drizzle for most of the match. In view of the scoreline it hardly seemed sporting of us to come off, and the fielders, understandably, wished to continue. I was umpiring, and as I stood there, getting drenched, with my side 5-4, I kind of wondered what the point of it all was.

Fortunately, Morgsy and TG slowly began to restore order. How many runs they added together I can’t tell you precisely, as the scorebook ended up in the wrong bag, but their promising partnership ended prematurely when Morgsy, after unfurling a couple of fine cut shots, clipped one off the middle of his bat into the hands of mid-wicket, who took a good catch. An unlucky dismissal.

By now we were contemplating total humiliation, but after Quokkas brought on their gentler bowlers, we gradually edged our way towards a workable score. TG, in perhaps his finest ever Allstars innings, was superb – judiciously mixing attack with defence and playing back, and very late, to negate the vagaries of the pitch. From memory, he made 42.

An acceptable total was transformed into a good one by the arrival at the crease of Sam MacDonald, batting in the unusual position of number nine. Playing at his most Chris Gayle-esque, Sam unleashed a remarkable range of attacking, clean-hitting strokes, savagely dispatching the bowlers to all parts. He took 24 off a single over, and added 50 for the ninth wicket with The Rocket, who batted commendably. By the time Sam was last out, for about 75, we’d reached 179 off 33.3 overs – a noteworthy recovery.

As we walked back onto the field for the start of Quokkas’ innings, the rain stepped up a gear. TG, Gren, and Chadders, all bowled very well – and although their batsmen looked very sharp, the combination of Gren’s pace and the wetness of the pitch – whose bounce was now more variable than ever – led to two wickets, both bowled.

But by now it was bucketing down, and there was no choice but to abandon play and shake hands on a draw. A shame really, as with Quokkas 32-2 off 9, chasing 180, I fancied our chances.

We then retired, sopping wet, to the ‘other’ Sun Inn – the Richmond one – which for cosy atmosphere more than made up for the dirtiest pub carpets I have ever seen.

Location:Old Deer Park, Richmond

By Neale Adams

Yesterday’s game against my cousin Ewan’s team BA Corinthians was just as close-run as last year’s game.  We made 137, Rob Jackson top-scoring with a courageous 35 despite being hit in the face by an accidental beamer.  Tony and Gus Grant both bowled excellent opening spells as we got off to a good start with the ball, but we couldn’t break the 8th wicket stand who took Corinthians to victory.

Once again Tristan did a splendid job organising the tour – many thanks from all the tourists!

By Tristan Hadd0w-Allen

Sanford v St Anne’s Allstars, Sunday 22nd May, Pirbright

According to urban legend, Vegas casinos employ people who emit bad luck. They just have to sit next to a big winner, or brush them on the shoulder, and a winning streak turns to dust, fortune turns to ruins. If there’s any truth in it, James Morgan may have found a new career. Not since The Charge of the Light Brigade have the words ‘I’ve got a good feeling about this’ caused such foreboding. Every good Allstar knows that when Morgsy, bless him, thinks we’re on to a winner, disaster cannot be far away.

So it was that he increased the likelihood of disaster by bringing his family and newborn son to watch him captain the Allstars against old rivals Sanford at their new home in Pirbright. The day was sunny, although very windy, and the pitch looked hard and golden, surrounded by short boundaries. There must be hundreds of runs in that pitch…surely?

Morgsy won the toss and elected to bat. It was what everyone wanted…for about fifteen seconds. Sanford opener Cooke, young and with a bit of pace, quickly changed everyone’s minds. Third ball leapt viciously off a length and struck Venay on the arm, ricocheting over gully. The next couple of overs proved the pitch was going to be a fearsome opponent. No one fancied a bat any more. And then it began….

The slower Quantrell, from the other end, had Andy Reid caught for a duck. 3-1, and without a run off the bat. THA went in first drop. First ball was a big wide, just off the edge of the strip, and very late he decided to have a flash at it. He was probably the only batsman with the reach to hit it, and managed to scythe it to gully, the local football team’s star goalkeeper, and probably the only fielder who would have caught it. On another day it would have been 4, today it was out and the Allstars were 3-2. Cooke got another ball to rise sharply at Venay who topped edged a catch to the keeper. 4-3, all out for ducks.

Time for a captain’s innings. Quantrell got another one to shoot through low at Morgsy, LBW for 4. Four down now, but at least we were nearing double figures. Cooke came off after three lively overs and the bowling eased a little. MacDonald and Halladay began the fightback, slowly at first, then rushing towards their fifties. Sam was eventually out LBW to another shooter for 50, then Dave was caught hitting out for 51. The rest of the innings was over in the blink of an eye, no one reaching double figures, although notable for Sir Viv Seth striking his first four. He may well have hit several more, but Morgsy said ‘Vivek’s looking good’ and he was clean bowled next
ball, and we were all out on the strike of tea for 142.

Could it be enough? Could it? Just possibly, if we bowled really tightly and took our chances. Chadders got us started in the style we meant to continue, bowling five huge wides on the trot. Seven off the first over and not one of them off the bat. Oh dear. Haroon opened well from the other end, looked sharp and getting the ball to cut back off the seam to clean bowl Banks. The pitch was still causing problems, but mainly for stand in keeper THA. Runs flowed happily from wides, byes, and edges.

Rarely did we manage to put it on the spot and let the pitch do the work for us. Vivek came on and bowled the other opener, Broadside, then had Bailey caught and bowled. Suddenly we looked like we had a sniff. Sadly, we were wrong. Quantrell hit a chancy fifty supported by 26 from Young and they knocked off the runs pretty comfortably, our attack failing to threaten again

After the horror start we got off to, we did well to make a game of it, and plaudits go to Sam and Dave for fifties which were probably worth hundreds. Hopefully lessons were learnt and a sharper Allstars will greet our next opponents.