Northern Trust vs Carib Beer XI,

Greenwich Park, Thursday 25th July 2019

The hottest day ever recorded in the UK would see The Caribs face regular opponents, Northern Trust, a fine and respected banking institution that demands honesty and integrity from all of its employees at all times. This year's fixture had the added dimension of 2 full Carib members being NT employees as well as regular ringer and run out merchant Archie Runacres also being employed by NT.

The Northern Trust team approach to their fixtures tends to include a fair bit of pre match lubrication and a meet time at the bottom of Greenwich Park at 5pm, to ensure this essential element can occur. This type of warm up is something that no Carib members (with the exception of Jarrod when it's his birthday) would indulge in, due to the strict rules around drinking and playing, as set out in the Carib constitution. That said, sometimes, rules need to be broken and on this occasion, for the greater good, and seeing an opportunity for some insider information on NT's tactics for the evenings game, as well as getting away from work 30 minutes early, Carib's Goochie, Nitin and Regular Ringer Runacres decided to also head to Greenwich.

In order to avoid suspicion on their alternative motives the 3 NT Carib's also had to lubricate themselves as well as line the pockets of Mr Philip's, Mr Morris, Mr Benson and Mr Hedges. The devious plan fell someway short of Willie E. Coyote proportions as the NT drinking party were more interested in discussing a range of subjects ranging from the Turin shroud to the Cave Paintings of Homo Heidelbergensis in Western France. NT seemed less inclined to talk about the upcoming fixture, the plan was further hampered as the NT team piled in to the back of a pre-booked UBER and got chauffeured up the hill, leaving Goochie, Nitin and Runacres to lug 3 sets of kit and a hold all up the hill in 38.7 degree heat with 10 minutes to go before the first delivery was due to be bowled.

Upon arrival at the glorious Greenwich park ground the teams got ready, this was with the exception of NTs Joe Minchin who due to the heat and earlier lubrication got himself confused with Joe Jackson and decided to be a shirtless rather than shoeless joe. It was also noted early on that there were a distinct lack of ladies soaking up the rays as had been the case in previous years when this fixture has been played, the Carib's hoped that this lack of a distraction wouldn't help focus the minds of the NT team to the task ahead as they are seen, amongst Carib ranks as an accomplished bunch.

The formalities were now ready to begin. Serial toss losing captain Haigh lost the toss and NT decided to have a bat, despite the sky becoming quite overcast which would likely help the bowlers. Just as both teams walked to the field the skies opened and both teams scurried back to the pavilion in the hope the rain would pass. 10 minutes later Umpire "General" Lee declared he was happy for the game to get under way.

Both teams retook the field. NT opened up with proper cricketers Sunil and shirt wearing Minchin. Caribs attack was the best of our season, with a collection of sub-continent quicks, an overseas ringer and some home grown talent as well. Captain Haigh set his field and chucked the ball to Nitin who began with 3 straight deliveries that swung away from being on leg to 5th or 6th stump, this was too much for Sunil who having played and missed at the first two, found the edge on the third which was expertly plucked from the sky by Wicket Keeper Bowen. A great start for the Caribs. The next several overs were also kept extremely tight with Adam, Swanand and Nitin only conceding a handful of runs to Minchin and Scott, who had replaced Sunil at 3 -despite what the score book said. Despite the slow run rate, there were no real chances given by either batsman, bar an inside edge that just avoided the stumps and a drop by Tom, which probably won't help his claims on new award "fielder of the year". So Scott and eventually Minchin both retired. The first new batmen in was quickly dispatched by ringer Runacres. Khurram belted one high in to the air and straight to Berry who held on expertly for his 3rd catch of the year. This then bought Hipsey out who was also quickly eliminated, this time clean bowled by Runacres who was clearly enjoying the relaxed feeling that only 4 pints of Hop house 13 and 10 Bensons before a game can induce.

The NT scorecard at this point was looking in a bit of trouble, 56 on the board for 3 wickets from 12 overs. Next up came Prassana who decided to take the attack to the Caribs as well as the spectators around the field, a varied selection of reverse sweeps, switch hitting and shuffling all round the crease as well as hitting a German tourists bicycle who "couldn't be bothered, mate" to return the ball, meant the Caribs were extremely happy when he failed to connect with a straight one from Nitin on 22.

After some fine field placements from Carib captain Haigh (not Nitin) most notably Goochie at deep fine leg and plenty of vocal encouragement from Nitin, when he wasn't having to tell the scorers his name, the NT innings finally finished with the score on 125, with top scorer extras making 33. The Carib attack had put us in the driving seat, with Nitin the pick of the bowlers taking 3 for 6 from 4 and ably supported by Adam's 4 overs only going for 9 runs.

It was now the turn of the Carib batsmen to see if they could reach a not insurmountable total. Opening pair Tom and Bowen got off to a steady start, with Bowen the more fluid, although he was soon out having scored 9 from 11. This bought out best batsmen, captain and chairmen Haigh who scored a steady if unspectacular 17 from 26, this partnership worked for a while, until Tom departed having catastrophically hit his own wicket for 7 from 23. The good news with this was that it bought out New Zealand all-rounder, ringer Callum. We were behind on the rate, but Callum had a lot to prove about New Zealand's cricketing ability after their recent world cup disappointment and this year he has been brutal with the bat, making a claim for ringer of the year, alas, he failed to find the ball this time out and was clean bowled for 0 after wasting 7 deliveries. This latest setback meant we were now further adrift of the run rate. The Carib's were also not helped in the run chase by the next two batsmen in being Holmes and Goochie who between them in the season have scored a total of 73 runs from 165 deliveries. Alex was also slightly alarmed to see that if he survived past Goochie, Archie would arrive at the crease - the same Archie that had put paid to Alex's last innings by maliciously running him out a week earlier. To avoid the same fate two games running and becoming a double victim, Alex decided to allow himself to be clean bowled on 11 from 17 and leave Goochie to partner the suicidal / murderous running of ringer Runacres.

For the next 5 minutes of the game this match reporters memory has failed due to a lack of oxygen at that time. I am told I ran 4 from one delivery - a Carib first, followed by a single and an attempted double that I failed to make my ground on, and so departed on 3 from 4 - a career high strike rate of 0.75. This left the Caribs needing approximately 30 from 2 overs with Adam and Nitin next in. Archie fell for 14 from 10, before Adam, taking a leaf out of Archie's book, ran out Nitin on the final delivery and so the Caribs ended on 99-8 from there 20. A full 26 runs short. Top scorer was again extras, this time securing 29 runs. A close match played in a good spirit where bowlers definitely had the upper hand.

The two teams departed for another season under a sky filled with a wide array of clouds including the rare Alto Cumulus, I'm sure we will see each other again next season. Unfortunately NT head back down the hill to Greenwich. The Caribs up towards Blackheath; so Scott, Joe and the rest were not able to hear our lively conversations on a range of subjects as varied as those from earlier in the day. Sun Tzu's The Art of War and the terrible actions of Shoeless Joe's 1919 World Series scandal being particular highlights. We can only guess what NTs conversation involved, maybe trying to remember the name of the guy who nearly secured a victory for the Carib's N-I-T-I-N.

Carib Beer XI Lose by 26 Runs

Scorecard