The final days of summer brought the largest audience for a cricket fixture in England this year (39 people and 7 dogs) with The Road facing off against the Paddington Rabbits in the wonderful surrounds of North London.
Incompetent tossing once more led to The Road being sent into bat on a bouncy but true deck aka AstroTurf. The trusty pair as always of Dan Sherman and Matt Small were sent to the crease to dazzle the onlooking crowd. Once settled, both openers got going and Small sped along to his 20s with several glorious boundaries but was undone for 22 (24). Sherman, having got himself in and seeing off the main opposition’s quick, put his body on the line and unfortunately took a blow to the elbow and retired hurt for 7 (24).
Clearly not amused by the opposition’s bodyline tactics, Richard Bibby entered and after paying his respects to the dark lord, he went about sentencing the bowling attack to a life (35 overs) of eternal pain.
Ignoring the disdain for humanity at the other end, Chris MacNicol quietly went about constructing his innings including a highly pleasing aerial glide to 3rd man for four.
C-Mac and Bibby completely took the game complexity away from the opposition. They compiled a partnership of 130 runs without looking like getting out and in the process p***ed off The Road’s lower order who wanted to cash in on others hard toil to take the glory.
Meanwhile Laxman Pillai, tired of the childish behaviour of certain lower order batsmen, began his stealth attempt to leave The Road by engaging in a conversation with the opposition over joining their net sessions. He was promptly re-recruited by The Road. Notice to all: much like the Firm, once you join The Road, you can never leave.
As the pair accelerated, with Bibby proving it is indeed possible for one batsmen to play both offside and legside, C-Mac pushed on to his highest score all-time for The Road before he finally fell for a calm and calculated 44 (67).
Captain Keats swiftly rejected Moany’s attempts for a promotion and took it upon himself to blast a quickfire 17 off 13 balls and fell after setting the big hitting tone for the back part of the innings. Bibby meanwhile continued to push on and into touching distance of a ton, taking a liking for whipping away anything on his pads and punishing anything in THE SLOT for four. An innings of pure class which was enjoyed by all (with the exception of the opposition).
As Bibby continued to put on a show for the crowd, Charlie Twyman, representing the Merrymen joined the party and after plodding along for 1 ball unleashed no less than 3 sixes in a row and a four to storm home with 24 off 8 and surely a strike rate record for The Road.
Oscar joined with one ball to spare and swiped unsuccessfully, and Bibby finished on 90 not out and for a moment looked briefly satisfied. Oscar raised his bat in celebration at his fantastic red-inker knock of 0* off 1 and Bibby, not wanting to steal the show, offered a polite nod as the innings came to a close.
Opening the bowling was the holy healer, Pete Sainthouse, and with him, fresh from hauling lumber on the West Coast Mainline, DR-56TU97, the diesel locomotive otherwise known as Chris Brown. After a testing spell by Sainthouse which included 500 plays and misses, DR-56TU97 got the breakthrough at the other end at the same end with a stump rattler and bellowed smoke in celebration.
As Sainthouse went to pray for the redemption of Bibby and CB was laid up for heavy repairs, the duo of Oscar and Small resumed their combo of previous weeks. Oscar fresh from the highs of his 0* began extracting bounce from the wicket but couldn’t crack through the partnership. Smalls deceived the batsmen in flight and a high aerial catch nearly dropped by Moany was rescued on the second grab to give the breakthrough to The Road. Moany grazed his knee in the process and proceeded to complain for the rest of the game.
Displeased with teams attempt to enlist a holy healer, Bibby was introduced and if scoring 92 93 94 90 wasn’t enough began blowing away the middle over with searing pace. For several minutes in his spell Bibby even began smiling, and the holy redemption was complete with 4 wickets including 3 bowled and 1 LBW with the batsmen at sea to the swing and pace. Small meanwhile the perfect foil bowled out his 7 over snaring 3 top order wickets including two stump rattlers in another brilliant spell.
A few overs from Moany were delivered as the game began to wind up. Sporting a new coat of paint, CB came back to finish the game off quickly with Sainthouse also returning. Due reward for Sainthouse came when a drawn edge glided to a light-footed Newlove at second slip who moved with grace and eloquence rarely witnessed at The Road to snaffle a fine slip catch and to prove the Terracotta Army is a thing of the past. Another wicket to Sainthouse closed out the innings.
A resounding victory for the Road with C-Mac kindly sharing his fly spray leaving team members feeling vibrant and refreshed.
Mandy of the match: Richard Bibbby
Embarrassing moment: Umpire raising the finger when the batter had been bowled.
Tantrum: CB for being disgruntled at Bibby’s successful performance
Champagne moment: Moany catch
Teas: Bring your own food you weirdos.
Author: James (Moany) Mahony