Carib Beer XI vs St Peters Dad,

Battersea Park, Wednesday 15th July 2020

The Carib Beer XI season belatedly began on a dreary July summer's evening at Battersea Park. The previous matches this season of course all being cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With the Carib match only officially given the go ahead around a week in advance, thanks to the view of a cricket ball being a "vector of disease", there was a mad scramble from the Caribs to mobilise. This mainly entailed trying to track down the kit bags and debate which items of kit could be shared and which could not. Eventually thanks to some heroic efforts of Carib Goochie and Carib Adam (to be presented the Haigh Cross, medal of the highest order, only awarded in times of pandemic) and the late appearance of Carib wicketkeeper Bowen we had enough kit to have a game. Hand sanitizers at the ready we were prepared as we could be, with nobody having had any net practice whatsoever.

We were due to have a full team of 11 players, but unfortunately our 2 ringers failed to appear, hopefully they are staying safe. However, the St Peters dad team, clearly also very keen to return to the cricket field were able to lend us a player, so Simon joined our ranks for the evening as a last-minute ringer.

With our full complement of 10 players the coin-flip took place, of course Carib skipper and best batsman Mr Haigh promptly lost the toss and we were asked to bat. Unusually the Carib team being all present were able to take the field immediately and the opening pair of Caribs Rishi and Bowen were kept waiting for some time whilst the St Peters dad team assembled. Eventually the local team took to the field with only 7 players and needed to borrow 4 players from us to supplement their fielding numbers, although in fairness one of these was their own player Ringer for the day Simon.

Carib Rishi got the team off to a flyer with a quick-fire 25 from only 12 balls, including 2 sixes and 3 fours. Meanwhile at the other end Carib Bowen was also scoring quickly with some boundaries of his own, albeit taking advantage of a dropped catch, before departing for a well-made 13. Due to the earlier mentioned kit issues the Caribs found themselves with only 2 pairs of pads that could be shared around the team. This meant that Carib Holmes batting lower down the order than normal at 3, had to spend some time putting his kit on whilst the rest of us stood around waiting. Eventually, so bored at waiting for these endless kit handovers the St Peters dad team kindly lent us a pair of pads.

Finally, once Carib Holmes had managed to squeeze his lockdown no-haircut look into his batting helmet he was able to take the field. The lack of urgency in taking the field was then to prove at odds with his play on the field as Alex took advantage of the truer bounce of the artificial surface to rid himself of the tag of the "dot ball king" and powered his way to 28 at a strike rate of 133.

Meanwhile in the Carib dugout preparing for his own innings was Carib Horn, so entered in the scorebook once he reminded scorer Haigh of his full name. Tom attracted the attention of one of our many spectators, a four-legged friend, who took a liking to Tom's scent. As the owner remarked to Tom, "you must have a strong attraction to female dogs".

Following the flying start our run rate was checked a little by some good bowling from the dads and also some of their youngsters, Carib Pearce unfortunately picked out a fielder with a well struck shot. Then there was a bizarre dismissal of Carib Adam that led to a checking of the laws of the game post-match. The law in question according to the Lords website being:

33.3 Making a catch: The act of making a catch shall start from the time when the ball first comes into contact with a fielder's person and shall end when a fielder obtains complete control over both the ball and his/her own movement.

Adam was dismissed with a high skyer towards the man at deep long-on. The St Peters dad fielder took the catch and Carib scorers Moss and Haigh dutifully started to check who the bowler was to write the name in the scorebook, only to then look up a couple of seconds later to find the fielders looking bemused and saying the catch had been dropped. It seemed that the St Peters dad fielder (dad Lewis) after taking the catch then somehow also put the ball down. Confusion reigned but Carib Adam resolved the problem by promptly walking off the field, perhaps according to the laws of the game this might have been debatable, but was certainly keeping within the spirit of the games played between the Caribs and the St Peters dad teams.

Carib Horn was now at the crease, keenly supported by his new canine friend and the large crowd (for the Caribs) of about 30 people. Clearly the average Brit, starved of some live sport in recent months has led them to watching cricket in their local parks. Tom had brought most of his own kit fully complying with Covid regulations, but with the use of shared helmets not allowed Tom took to the middle without one. This led to cries of "Protect the NHS" as Tom had to deal with a multitude of beamers, fortunately there was not a lot of pace behind these and no need to visit St Thomas'. Tom was mainly able to help the beamers on their way to the fine leg boundary for four runs.

Carib Tom was joined at the crease by Carib Haigh, captain and best batsman. After a period of rebuilding a very handy partnership developed, with some trademark shots through the covers for four from Martin.

Having received a large amount of stick from his own team mates in the form of ironic cheers every time he successfully fielded a ball, St Peters dad Lewis was given the opportunity to make amends with a bowl. He duly obliged with a fine caught & bowled to dislodge Carib Tom. Thus following the famous cricketing mantra of "you never drop anything off your own bowling".

Our esteemed leader, newly appointed to the MCC Estates committee, which he was keen to tell all and sundry about, retired not out before too long leaving tail enders Caribs Moss and Nitin to try and score some quick runs.

Quick runs are not really the speciality of Carib Moss, though he was supported by an early boundary through the legs of the short midwicket fielder. As the Caribs were about to find out the outfield was fairly bumpy making ground fielding very tricky. From the final ball of the innings Carib Moss decided he was running no matter what and charged down from the non-strikers end, in Carib Willis style away from the danger end, thus to protect his infinite batting average for the season. Carib Nitin had unfortunately hit the ball straight to mid-on and was so run out. However, the Caribs had scored 155, and were confident this was a defendable total, as it proved in the 2019 match vs St Peters dad.

The Caribs took to the field with cries of Stay Alert and hope in the air of a rare win. The opening bowlers for the Caribs were Nitin and Adam who both bowled well without any luck in their opening spells, but keeping the St Peters dad well behind the run rate at this stage. The Caribs resident Kiwi Callum was on as first change and took the opening wicket with a ball well caught by Carib Horn above his head.

However, this was from far the best bit of fielding to come from the Carib man. The ball was hit to the long boundary, way out at deep third man, and the St Peters dad pair attempted a second run. Carib Horn swooped in, picked up the ball, and with a laser like throw, Ben Stokes style, hit the bottom of middle stump on the full, from a good 40 - 50 yards away. A most spectacular run out, which was duly celebrated with air high fives as is the way in current times.

Whilst all of this was occurring St Peters dad Dan was umpiring. Maybe he knew he would be coming in at number 5, so he spent the early overs of the innings gulping away at some cans, which was looked on longingly by some of the Carib team. About 3 overs into the innings Dan headed off the field, presumably to start getting padded up, but instead he returned straight away clutching another can. A good rate indeed. This level of preparation very much in the spirit of the Carib Beer XI and was proved fully justified as he powered his way to a not out 25+ score. His batting partner asked him if he needed further refreshment to keep him going mid-innings. Martin - please take note of the enabling abilities of a few cans before batting.

Another incident of note with a St Peters dad umpire also involved our skipper Martin. Following the fall of a wicket the non-striker asked the standard question "How many balls left in the over please, umpire?" Before the umpire had chance to respond Carib skipper Martin chirped up from mid-on: "2 balls to go". A split-second later the umpire gave the same response. Martin then remembered he wasn't both fielding captain and umpire, perhaps the promotion to the MCC sub-committee has already gone to his head.

Back on the field of play the St Peters dad middle order were taking a liking to the Carib bowling. After the initial wicket flurry the next 3 dads all retired not out. Carib Horn sadly was unable to keep his good day in the field with him dropping a couple of very high well struck skyers. Also Caribs Pearce, Rishi & Haigh (best batsmen, skipper and permanent umpire) were unable to stem the tide with their bowling. Ringer Simon initially struggled to find his length with some beamers the order of the day before ending with some respectable figures.

In an attempt to stem the flow, the Caribs brought both their opening bowlers back on. Carib Adam was straight back into the grove and the sight of the middle stump cartwheeling back was a sight to warm the heart of any fast bowler. Carib Nitin was less fortunate with some good balls unrewarded and was also the victim of probably the shot of the match where he was dispatched for six straight back over his head from a very quick delivery by dad Lewis. He did not look happy…

With our best bowlers bowled out and 8 runs to defend from three overs, Carib Moss was brought on, bruised from dealing with balls being hammered at him at cover, leading to a bruised finger and some generally poor fielding, partially saved by one spectacular stop in the style of an ageing 40+ goalkeeper from League Two. It has to be said the Carib fielding was assisted by the youngsters sent on to make the numbers, generously donated by the St Peters dad team, or maybe the dads were too busy necking cans and sent their kids onto the field to have some peace. Shout out to George, Harry and Georgia for their able assistance.

Incredibly Carib Moss' first 3 deliveries were all right on the money leading to dot balls, despite the usual "flighted" deliveries. The rest of the over was some scrambled 2s, with the dads needing just 2 from the final 2 overs. Carib Pearce was left with too little to defend and St Peters dads were home with 10 balls to spare.

Another good match and good showing from the Caribs despite the defeat. The dads generously offered to share with us their post-match food and drink, whilst unbelievably Carib skipper Martin tried to round up some Caribs for a trip to the pub. With most of the Carib team having driven to the ground due to the need to avoid public transport where possible there were no takers. Definitely the first time ever that the only taker for the pub following a game was Martin. A great game overall and possibly a second game could happen in the following week if both teams can mobilise once more.

Carib Beer XI Lose by 7 Wickets

Scorecard