Network Rail - 20th June 2007 - Regents Park

Our third match of the season was against some new opposition, an occasion that we decided to mark by falling to the heaviest defeat in our history. As the various Carib Members and associate ringers began to arrive at the Park, the opposition, Network Rail, were all already there, changed and on the pitch throwing various cricket balls to each other and "Warming up". However, their claims that this was somewhat out of character failed to convince, given what to come, however, only an optimist would believe that it was because of our formidable reputation as tough opponents, given that we have so far failed to win a match this year. This was further confirmed by the fact that not only did several of them possess their own jumpers, some even had the embroidered crests of actual cricket teams prominently displayed in conspicuous positions. The evening began to look up, however, when it was discovered that several of the Networkers were already opening cans of cheap lager, and the match was instantly re-categorised as a category II game, before Martin arrived, by our Club Secretary, Phil Cordey. And so, on a beautiful warm evening, albeit with a strong wind blowing from stump to stump (which was eventually to force us to concede defeat and leave the bails off the stumps during the match), our Captain and Team Chairman Martin Haigh went out to the middle to conduct the toss. Unfortunately, Martin's recently acquired Nasser Hussain like inability to call correctly again prevailed, and we were asked to field first by the opposition captain, although not before Martin had officially welcomed our two newest members to the Team, Michael Lee and Andy Bowen, by having photographs taken of them shaking his hand in gratitude.

For the first time this year, our Tour Manager Andy Weaver turned up for a match, as did big hitting Glen Rayner and New Member Michael Lee. We were without the services of dependable line and length bowler Rob White, Statistician and occasional nurdler Rob Berry and new member Steve Turner. Special mention should be made of injury prone Richard Harris, whose ability to sustain injuries reached new heights today as he was injured walking through the park to the game when attempting to kick a small plastic ball with one of his feet. His subsequent demonstration of committment to the team by limping around the pitch from his favoured third man position, to his equally favoured long leg position was admirable. Mr Haigh suggested that Richard should try and limit himself to just the one injury per game in future, although whether he will heed Mr Haigh's request remains to be seen.

And so we took to the field hoping for a strong bowling performance, with Carib Rogerson and Vice Captain Willis opening the bowling. The first over saw the Network Rail's opener Stepney lob a simple catch back to Carib Rogerson, only for him to spill the chance, West Indies style, back onto the strip. Luckily, Mr Stepney repeated the same shot 3 balls later, and this time, the veteran opening bowler hung on to the chance, to claim an early wicket and leave the visitors a wicket down without scoring. From the other end, Carib Willis attempted to bowl up the hill and into the wind, a much tougher proposition in the conditions, and numbers 2 and 3 settled into a confortable routine of stealing smart singles and pushing the odd four, as the supposed "Minor Counties Pitch" began to exhibit some decidely uneven bounce, with NR Dollin falling to a Willis delivery that barely bounced, for a solid 15. Ringer Miller then joined the attack and bowling down hill, exacted some sharp bounce to keep the NR scoring rate under control for now, and snaring the wicket of NR Amar in the process. Mr Cordey came on to bowl his usual array of wides and unplayable no-balls, and one delivery was to cause some controversy. With the bails safely back in the kit bag due to the Regents Park tradewinds, a Cordey half tracker was alleged by New Member Bowen, and keen wicketkeeper, to have struck the leg stump on its way through. His subsequent appeal was dismissed by the team and umpire as some Monty like eagerness, however, after a few moments indecision, he again voiced his belief to the umpire that the batsman was out. After a brief discussion with the sportsmanlike Batsman, NR Maitaga took him at his word and began to trudge off the field, with only New Member Bowen convinced of the true trajectory of the ball, and the Caribs in possesion of a seemingly bonus wicket.

However, the Network Rail batsmen were never really tested by the Carib bowlers, although for the large part, this was of generally high quality and they were never able to seriously accellerate, due to the indifferent nature of the pitch. With the final overs approaching, Captain and Leader Martin Haigh threw the ball to Carib Rogerson to complete his final overs, by bowling uphill and into the wind yet again, although by this time, the Networt Rail score was approaching 100. His final over was to see the fall of two wickets, the first, a sharp slip catch by Carib Weaver, who had finally shown up for a match, while the second, a pea roller, that prevented Network Rail Taps from dispatching his second ball into the elephant enclosure, as he had almost managed with his first. In all, it was a solid batting performance against a tight Carib bowling attack, albeit on a somewhat dodgy pitch, but just how bad the pitch was would become painfully apparent to us when we began our innings, and we came to realise that a score of 109 was in fact a very difficult target, under the circumstances.

Opening the batting for the Caribs was our very own Aussie Ringer Greg Rowlands, along with vice captain Barry Willis. The Network bowling attack began well, with Ringer Rowlands batting out an uncharacteristic maiden first up. At the other end, Carib Willis managed to last four balls before losing his off stump to Network Taps for a single run. Carib Weaver joined Ringer Rowlands at the crease and the scoreboard continued to tick over slowly. Hoping for a big innings from our Aussie Ringer and at least a couple from our Tour Manager, we willed the pair on, but in the sixth over, with the score barely into double figures, our Aussie Ringer was again decieved by a straight one and bowled by NR Rolton. Mr Weaver was then joined at the crease by our Captain, best batsman and Team Manger, Martin Haigh. Again, expecting big things from our big hitter to give us a chance of victory, we hoped for another of Martin's characteristic captain's innings that have done us proud on so many past occassions. However, thinking that Martin's ignoble dismissal for 5 in the first match of the season was as bad as it got, we were to witness an even worse shock today. Martin called for a run, changed his mind, ran anyway, and was then sent back by Mr Weaver, himself half way down the pitch. A frantic scramble ensued as the sad inevitable scenario played out and our Captain Martin Haigh was run out, to the utter disbelief of the Carib Batsman waiting on the boundary.

As had happened against the formidable opponents of the Treasury two weeks ago, the shock of losing our captain so early in his innings saw team morale plummet as the spectre of another loss began to take shape. With Martin at the crease, we always felt we had a chance, but with him gone, our chance of victory evaporated. Ringer Miller lasted two balls, and Middle Order big hitter Glen Rayner was bowled first ball, with the score still not out of the 20s. With plenty of overs left, Caribs Rogerson and Cordey attempted to bat out at least half our overs. Carib Cordey again extracted his solid defensive shots out of the back of the locker to frustrate the Network bowlers, his 12 ball 5 being a textbook display of solid defensive play, until his attacking nature got the better of him too, and he was bowled. New Member and keen wicketkeeper Andy Bowen also didn't stay long, registering the Carib batting line up's second golden duck of the match. Richard Harris, with vice captain Willis as runner on account of his previous vicious encounter with a passing child's small inflatable plastic ball, lasted all of two balls. Last man in was new member and official umpire Michael Lee who seemed to have found the right approach to batting on the uneven surface, namely missing by six feet every ball that wasn't directly aimed at the stumps. It was a strategy that was to see Michael survive a full 20 balls for a hard fought nought, before a miscalculation saw him hit one of the deliveries, ending the Carib innings for a paltry 43, the lowest score in our colourful history, and possibly our most embarassing defeat.

Usually, the form in such situations is to look to take positives from the game, but after seeing our Captain fall in single figures for the second time in three games, registering two golden ducks, and no-one exceeding 9 on the scorecard, there were very few positives to be found, other than the fact that the game had proven to be a thoroughly enjoyable evening played in glorious weather against a very friendly team who took our failures with good humour. The additional time afforded in the pub after the game also helped to make up some of the hurt of the loss. Our bowling was generally good, and we conceded only two wides in 20 overs of bowling, and surely, "it can't get any worse" is a positive of sorts.

Andy Bowen, one third of our Newest Members.	Michael Lee, another of our New Members, and official umpire.	Martin, inconsolable, after his disastrous run out for 1 run.	Martin, playing his only scoring shot of his innings, just prior to his disastrous run out for 1	Mr Weaver lining up for a big shot (whether he hit it is not recorded)
Carib Batsmen watching the wicket procession from the bounday edge (Mssrs Haigh, Willis, Bowen and Miller)	Mr Gooch practising a little used defensive shot on the bounday edge. It was to enjoy a less than auspicious debut out in the middle some minutes later.	Carib Peter, official Club Scorer, records the fall of another Carib wicket.	Martin losing yet another toss to opposition Captain Fowles.	Martin and Opposition Captain Mr Fowles, shaking hands after the toss.
Andy Bowen, thanking Martin for the chance to represent the Carib Beer XI as a full member.	Martin, welcoming New Member Michael Lee to the Team, officially.	Martin, explaining the various acroutrements used in "Cricket" to one of our Ringers.		Martin, enjoying post match pint with friends.

*Balls faced in brackets
** Name not correct