Match Report - Anza Champs vs Lanka Lions 2

ANZA Champs vs Lanka Lions 2 Match Report

Scorecard

Match Report ANZA Champs vs Lanka Lions 2 @ Fernvale 'B',
Sun 25th May
ANZA Champs All Out 67(18. Overs) - Lanka Lions 0/70 (4.4 Overs)
ANZA Champs lost by Lots!!!!!!

Thought I'd do the match report while the pain was still burning deep down in the soul and in an effort to 'Build a Bridge" and move on!

"Sunday , Bloody Sunday" as the great Irish Band, U2's, song goes - and now we know where they got the inspiration.

The day started well enough, all Champs present and accounted for and on time!, Umpires in attendance, scorers in place, beers on ice and another toss won - who could ask for more!

A bit of a rejig in the batting order to test the depth of the Champs batting, an early boundary to Will and we were away! Time for the rest of the batting order to catch up on the past weeks Financial market, express concerns about Singapore's rate of inflation, fuel prices and the unfair impact that the US dollar , and potential parity with the AUD, is having on some of the Champs take home pay!

But the discussion was only a few balls old when Will , looking good and seeing the ball like a watermelon but tired of using the face of his bat, carved one away off the leading edge of his bat and the catch was neatly taken at cover. 1 for not many.

At this point I will ask the same quiz that I asked of Footrot in response to his - "How'd you go" text message.

Q: If I said that post match I had drank more beers than the combined scores of Forday G, Madni M, Limbrick S, Giacomo S and Disco Dick (although in fairness John did not get to face a ball) how many beers do you think I drank?.............the correct answer being 4.............

This would provide some indication of the carnage which followed in the second over.

Forday G (caught at gully - nought) with he and Limbrick (LBW not playing a shot to a vicious inswinger! - nought) nicely bookending Munib (clean bowled - nought) to bring up a Lankan hat-trick....wonderful stuff.

This could quite easily have been 4 in 4 balls , however Chiro was dropped first ball before playing over another vicious inswinger and being bowled....at the end of the second over the score book read a miserable , 5 for 5.............!

Despite the best efforts of Josh (29) ,who almost carried his bat in another dogged display ,along with Ben, Phil The Younger, Spainy and Shaun (who was controversially run out) the end result of 67 could have been much worse. It was really only their efforts that ensured the beer was at drinking tempreture at the conclusion of the game!

At the change of innings storm clouds were brewing, lightening flashed, and there appeared some faint hope that Mother Nature would intervene and allow the Champs to escape with an honourable or perhaps, dishonourable, draw, .....but again, it was not to be. Despite a work to rule , go slow campaign, the Champs were eventually called on to the ground where the end came mercifully quickly.........the 67 target (such as it was) being brought up in 4.4 overs!

In an effort to protect the innocent I will not mention any bowling figures!

A tough game in which to search for and find positives but I'll make an effort!

First up , Josh - without doubt a great batting effort against a fairly handy fourth grade (???) bowling attack. Took a couple of hits on the hands and arms and deserved to carry his bat after opening the batting rather than losing his wicket and being last man out.

Second - efforts of Ben, Spainy and Phil to hang in and support Josh. Special mention for Spainy who, in his break from the game, has lost none of his mongrel and was seen to be politely assisting the Lankans with field placings.

Third - no dropped catches (OK. I'm struggling for positives)

Fourth - only 7 wides. (OK it was only 4.4 overs!)

Fifth - we can re-use the ball and save ANZACC some dollars.

Next week it's Fusion on Saturday (31st) afternoon at Turf City "B" (SWEBBS to follow) - and this IS a game we CAN win.!

Also, John has kindly invited all Champs (playing and non playing) and partners/kids (he has a pool) back to his place for a BBQ after - details to follow but pls note your diaries and let your better halves know.

Cheers Steve