Match Report - ANZA Champs vs Colonial CC 2

ANZA Champs v Colonial CC 2 at CSC, Saturday 30 August 08

Scorecard

Colonial won toss and batted - All Out 133
ANZA Champs - 4/134 (21.2 overs)
ANZA Champs """"WON""" by 6 wickets.

.........................aaagggghhhhh, I love cricket and suddenly the world is a much better place - who cares about protests in Thailand?.........Who cares about elections in the US and John McCain's running mate? ...........Who cares about the Sub Prime and the global economy?.......Who cares about Qantas operational performance ? and Who is Usain Bolt ? - he is sooooo yesterday! ...............and Who would choose to go fishing when he could play cricket with is mates?

A win! a win that will do wonders for the soul!

Great day for cricket in Singapore, a light dew covered the outfield at CSC the covers were protecting the wicket area and all Champs were present and accounted for almost "on time" - well done.

Toss lost and invited to field - all set for a good morning cricket - "let's knock these blokes over"! And knock them over we did.

Great start from Munib (2 for) and Spainy (1 for) put Colonial straight on to the back foot. Klaus came into the attack and was bowling like a holiday in Thailand - lot's of variety with the occasional pearler . Klaus delivered a couple of unplayable balls, grabbed himself a caught and bowled and by the end of his second spell had secured 4 wickets - a great Champs achievement and could have had a 5 for if Spainy hadn't decided to cruel his chances by cleaning up the tail.

Shaun and The Younger (in much better condition than the previous game) kept it tight in the middle section each picking up a wicket along the way. A couple catches held by Ben D and the Skipper and Colonial were put out of their misery for a very gettable 133.

Outstanding effort in the field by all, particularly Adrian who chased everything down with enthusiasm.

A special mention to Will who was tossed the ball at a crucial time in Champs statistical history - wide number 999 had been delivered, there was anticipation in the air , the crowd were hushed , this was history making stuff................and Will did not disappoint spearing an early ball down leg side and basking in the glory of all those that had gone before him. A number of names spring to mind - all of whom could have been deserving of the honour - Dick, Madni, Anton just to highlight a few but there are many, many more who have contributed! And just to make sure there was no disputing Will's "ownership" of the title he made sure of it by sliding another couple down leg side and Champs are now well on the way to the 2nd thousand. But he also broke the partnership that was threatening one of those middle order revivals picking up a very handy LBW. Great Stuff!

A relaxing tea break, The Skipper and Forday G padding up and preparing to go into battle. Words of encouragement as they made their way to the middle
- "nothing silly", "we've got plenty of overs", "have a look", "we're due for a big partnership", "let's just get off to solid start - build a platform"
- all the usual rubbish basemen talk about.

Forday G to face, took guard, surveyed the field and settled over his bat, The first ball hit a reasonable line and length Forday G deciding not to flirt with danger tucked his bat behind his pad and let the ball proceed safely through the keeper. At least that's what I saw from the non striking end..............apparently the opposition took a slightly different view and decided that the noise of Forday G's bat touching pad as he played inside the line was deserved of a raucous appeal. And apparently the umpire, not realizing that you had to hit the ball with the bat to be out caught, was sufficiently moved to support the shout with a nod of affirmation and Forday G was on his way back to the pavilion ....very slowly. 0 for 0 off one ball ......... Geoff now having made 2 ducks at CSC this year but having only faced 1 ball! He is very fortunate that Spainy was on hand to provide much needed support and counseling - thanks Spainy.

Will entered the arena, and he had that look in his eye - this was to be his day .................a quick look and then he went on the attack. A scratchy skipper departed but by then Will had taken the score to almost 40 with a series of 4 and 6's - one six over long on being very, very sweet. Bits and pieces of partnerships with Ben (standing ovation on his first scoring shot) and Munib took the score to 80 odd before Will (57 no) was joined by Chiro (20 something no - continuing a great year with the bat) and they proceeded to carve away at the target achieving "victory" with only 4 wickets down and plenty of overs remaining.

An outstanding win and , after all the close one's which have got away this season, one that was thoroughly deserved.

Man of the Match - Will, not only for delivering the 1000th wide but also for an outstanding chanceless knock of 57 not out.........superb innings. Nudged by Klaus with his 4 wickets.

This week we take on the Police at Police and would be great to end the League year with back to back victories.

Cheers Steve