| s London slumped into the arms of a heat-wave
on the morning after England had given their traditional quarter-final
farewell to the football World Cup, Walthamstow Horizontals met Tower
Ravens to play cricket at Winchmore Hill.
Ravens won the toss and, not unsurprisingly given the sweltering conditions,
elected to bat first. The Horizontals were in for a roasting. The opening
batsmen had already made a substantial start by the time Matt Webster
claimed the first wicket, bowling Daryll for 26. But this dismissal
only brought Pierre to the crease and with opener Irfen at the other
end, they proceeded to set about the bowling with some abandon. As the
innings went on Pierre chanced his arm more and more often, but none
of these offerings could be made to stick. Bowlers Tony Stevens and
David Scally toiled in the sun without reward. It wasn’t until
Pierre was closing in on his century that some clever bowling from Craig
Murray combined with excellent glove work from wicketkeeper Alistair
Gaskell, resulted in his dismissal, stumped for 93. Irfen followed him
to the pavilion shortly afterwards, when Pete Fairbairn pouched a catch
from a steepling ball. He had scored 71. Now the Horizontals were able
to exert some control over the game, no mean feat given that they’d
been chasing leather in the hot sun for over two hours. The reintroduction
of David Scally proved particularly fruitful. He ended the innings with
three wickets to his name, while Craig and Arif Qawi had two each. Catches
were taken by Gaskell and Qawi. By the tea interval the Tower Ravens’
score had reached 259 for 8.
After tea, the Horizontal batsmen were faced with the daunting prospect
of scoring 260 runs to win the game. But while this was not an impossible
task, the fact that they were playing a time game did at least allow
for the possibility of a draw. Richard Burgess strode out to the middle
to open the batting. It was to be a long time before he came back again
and his 31overs at the crease was to be a major factor in determining
the outcome of the match. Tower Ravens chose to open their attack with
a combination of pace and spin. It was the slower bowler who drew first
blood, when Qawi was caught in the covers. The next dismissal was a
remarkable run out. The fielder at long on had not appeared particularly
impressive, and Al Gaskell, umpiring, had just murmured an observation
to number three batsman Paul Fitzsimmons to the effect that any ball
going to that part of the field was probably worth two runs. Imagine
Fitzsimmons’ surprise then, when having driven to leg and closing
on a seemingly comfortable run, he saw the stumps at the none strikers’
end explode under the impact of a direct hit, the result of a sensational
throw from the boundary. With two wickets down, Stivan Bordin entered
the fray, and played some powerful strokes off his legs to move the
score along, but the Horizontals were still two hundred runs behind
when he was out for 12 and it looked as though a draw might be the best
result they could hope for. When another wicket fell cheaply even that
began to look tricky. Nevertheless, captain Craig Murray sensibly elected
to play his natural game, and the ball was soon arching through the
air and racing to the boundary. He hit five fours and ran two singles
in his innings of 22, before he was bowled by Mohsin. David Scally now
joined the obdurate Burgess at the crease and both batsmen looked secure
until nine overs from the end of the game. It was then that the opening
batsman’s stand finally came to an end, when he fell l.b.w for
32. Scally was out soon after, beaten by swing. This left the Horizontals
in a somewhat precarious position, seven wickets down and with eight
overs still to play. Sensing victory, the Raven’s piled on the
pressure, with new batsman Tom Bloor constantly surrounded by a huddle
of close fielders. Daryll was brought back on in the hope that his looping
leg spin would provide the breakthrough. Unfortunately for him, Pete
Fairbairn’s left arm bat awaited and he was duly dispatched to
the long leg boundary with nonchalant ease. The batsmen were taking
no chances however and some solid defensive play saw them into the safety
of the final over. With two balls remaining Fairbairn allowed himself
the luxury of an extravagant swipe off Pierre’s bowling and was
duly caught, leaving Tony Stevens to block out the last ball. The Horizontals
had scored 119 for 8, a long way short of their victory target, but
they were quietly satisfied at having avoided what might have turned
into another heavy defeat.
Horzontal Bowling - D. Scally 7 overs , 3 wickets for 38. A.Qawi,
8 overs, 1 maiden, 2 wickets for 28
Horizontal Batting - R. Burgess - 32, C. Murray - 22
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