AEAT / Delta Rail - 25th June 2007 - Regents Park

After last week's disastrous loss to Network Rail, our third of the season, including the sensational dismissal of our Captain Martin Haigh for a single run, the Carib boys were seriously short on confidence going into this match. However, though our long history, the AEAT have yet to register a victory against us, so we hoped that maybe today would see the fortunes of the Carib Beer XI reversed and see us back to our winning ways, somewhat belatedly, given that we have now passed the half way stage of the season and failed to register a single victory. However, as usual against these opponents, the match was categorised as a category II game, meaning beer is allowed, and we all expected an enjoyable evening, the cold and overcast conditions notwithstanding.

The Carib Beer XI again called on the services of two Bank of England Ringers, Lamyman and Worthy and were pleased to welcome back the delightful Hannah Jennings to bolster the boundary fielding and regale us with tales of her exploits involving various England cricketers in the pub after the game. Of the Carib regulars, we were again without the services of our somewhat injury prone Richard Harris, still recovering from a confrontation with a small child's plastic ball. A spell in the US with the renowned sports injury specialist is now surely on the cards if a full and hopefully long term recovery is to be forthcoming in time for the start of 2008 season, and if the Carib Beer XI funds can support it.

With the toss taken, the Carib Beer XI batted first with our Captain and Best Batsman Martin Haigh opening with Hard Hitting Northerner Phil Cordey. Previous recipient of an offer of full Carib Beer membership (although now apparently declined), Martin Fuller, opened the bowling with AEAT Brown. For a change, the Carib top order made good progress and we were well into the sixth over, after a double bowling change, before the first wicket fell, Carib Cordey for a decent run a ball 17. Ringer Lamyman, a half decent sportsman, then joined Martin Haigh at the crease, and the scoreboard continued to tick over with the prospect of a useful total beckoning.

As usual, our Captain and leader Martin Haigh, leading from the front, eventually reached 25 and was forced to retire bringing newly promoted Heavy Scoring Middle Order Wacker Glen Rayner to the crease. Although he began circumspectly, he was soon seeing the ball like a football and began to climb into the AEAT Bowling attack, dispatching two leg stump half volleys high over the packed leg side field for four. However before long, with the score now on 75, and with plenty of overs left, Hard Hitting Glen left his crease and hammered a ball straight to a fielder and was sadly caught out to bring his 14 ball innings to an end for a career best 11. The emergence of this powerful middle order hitter will further strengthen the Carib Beer XI batting line up in future and is surely a lesson to all those emerging cricketers out there looking to realise their potential, of the benefits of patience, dedication and self-belief.

Ringer Lamyman, junior partner in the Lamyman Gooch partnership, was bowled by AEAT Fuller (previously invited to join the Caribs and occasional Carib Ringer) soon after and Carib Berry joined Ringer Worthy at the crease. Unfortunately, after the Mr Gooch fireworks, the Carib Beer Innings slowed noticeably. Although Carib Berry remained at the crease for a full 13 balls, he was only able to add 4 to the score, perhaps feeling the burden of expectation placed on his shoulders after his run a ball 16 against the Bank of England. Ringer Jarod, again daring to wear his whites and bring his own bat, departed for a disappointing 2 and Carib Rogerson again failed to replicate the form he has shown during our occasional net sessions at the Oval, departing for 3 after being bowled by a ball that bounced four times before hitting the stumps.

This left reliable Boe White and New Member and Occasional Wicketkeeper Bowen to see off the last two overs and push our score as far over the 100 mark as possible. Although we were to eventually reach a respectable 109 from our 20 overs, we all felt we should have pushed on further, especially considering the start provided by our Captain Martin Haigh and the treatment meted out to the bowlers by Middle Order stalwart Glen Rayner. Nevertheless, we also felt that the score should be enough to see us home to victory, provided we bowled well and held on to our catches in the field.

Our bowling attack this week was spearheaded by Tour Manager Andy Weaver and Line and Length bowler Rob White. Martin Fuller (recipient of an invite to join the Carib Beer XI) opened the batting with AEAT Heslop. Almost immediately, our Tour Manager struck and had AEAT Fuller caught and bowled in the first over. AEAT Fuller was then seen on the boundary getting changed in a hurry and was not heard from again, perhaps conscious that his form in the match didn't really justify a place in the team but not quite able to bring himself to spurn the offer of membership, knowing that these things are not bestowed lightly.

The AEAT innings then continued slowly and they began to fall dangerously behind the run rate against a mixture of Carib bowlers that included Ringers Jarod and Lamyman, but saw little success. After eight overs, with the score barely into the 30s bludgeoning flame haired northerner Carib Cordey was brought on to break the partnership with his usual mixture of flighted village green twirlers, snagging two wickets in his first over. From the other end, unfortunately, Captain and Team Manager Martin Haigh again went wicketless, maintianing the somewhat embarassing statistic that 66.6% of his dismissals this year have been women.

Carib Rogerson was then brought on to bowl, snagging two further wickets and in an inspired piece of captaincy, our Captain Martin Haigh threw the ball to Heavy Scoring Middle Order Thwacker and man of the match candidate Glen "Mr Gooch" Rayner to bowl, somewhat reluctantly, from the other end. Apprently, and unknown to the rest of the team, Mr Gooch had been using the 10 minutes prior to taking the field to hone his new bowling action and had decided that today was the day that it was to see its debut during an actual game. Deceptively simple, and resembling a Wimbledon ball boy's throw down from high above his head, every ball was spot on target. After three accurate balls, and with the batsman now under some pressure he was able to induce a false stroke and we all watched in anticipation as the ball spooned up to Ringer Lamyman to give Glen his first wicket, but surely not his last, of the 2007 season.

With the AEAT innings now reeling, with no realistic hope of victory, AEAT Bell, still at the crease and accumulating runs, was induced to spoon a catch to Mr Gooch in the covers. Unfortunately, Mr Gooch on this occassion chose not to catch the ball, perhaps spying AEAT Bell out of his crease and a candidate for a sharp run out. Instead, he spilled the ball onto the ground, grasped it on the second bounce and threw it directly at the stumps. All that was now required was for our Tour Manager, Andy Weaver (?), to whip off the bails to remove AEAT's best batsman and last hope of victory.

Last man at the crease was veteran opener AEAT Heslop, who had previously been forced to retire injured, after falling heavily onto the pitch for no apparent reason. Although on this occassion a runner was provided, allowing Mr Heslop to stand directly in front of his stumps whenever his runner, AEAT Bell, set off for another desperate run, considerably reducing the run out options. However, it was only a matter of time before the veteran defensive minded opener lobbed a catch up to Mr Gooch, who this time decided that catching it was the better of the two options, to end the AEAT innings a full 39 runs short of their target.

As usual, we all retired to the pub for the post match discussions, with Emerging Talent Glen Rayner revelling in his new status as the first recipient of the re-inaugurated Man of the Match award for the 2007 season, and the Carib Boys finally securing a much needed victory and confidence boost. Next Week's game is against the Treasury, and is likely to be a tough game, so a victory in this match was much appreciated, especially as it had co-incided with a much needed return to form of our Team Manager Martin Haigh, which is likely to be of great importance if we are to secure a victory over these tough opponents.

Rob entertaining the assembled crowd.	The two teams posing for the camera after the match	The scoreboard after Mr Gooch's monumental innings.	Gordon padding up before his innings	Gordon practising his popular forward defensive shot.	Gooch, midway through his great middle order innings

*Balls faced in brackets