MANDARINS WINNING STREAK ENDS ON ONE

Mandarins 109 all out (Forman D 41, J X Strass 18) lost by seven wickets to North Enfield 110 for 3 (Forman S 1 -16).

It was a perfect day, the Mandarins won the toss, the cumulative ages of the two sides probably just favoured the (younger) Mandarins, a rare enough event these days, as Mandarins fielded some exciting new talent, so all was set for a splendid contest.

Then we batted.

I blame myself.  Should have anchored the innings so that mad fool Lowen could flay them at the other end. Runs were there on a slow but blameless wicket, for patient people. Sadly we didn't have any of them. 19 without loss became 53 for 8 before the 20th over. The higher and slower they tossed it the more we missed it.  Humiliation was avoided by Dan Forman making his top score for Mandarins, well supported by Paul and JC as almost all the overs were used up.

We took tea buoyed by last year's fixture where 109 had been a competitive score. Stan Forman used the slope well, kept the ball full and claimed the prized wicket of the big biffer. JC was more expensive but bowled many jaffers and got the other opener.  

Now, could our spinners emulate theirs?  They could certainly toss it high and slow. It is now necessary to describe newcomer Jaz's first over, bowling left arm leg spin, with two men correctly positioned to defend the very short leg side boundary. Third ball is hit straight to, and through, perfectly positioned Arvind, squeezing over for 6. The next is hit exactly the same, with exactly the same result except that Arvind uses his face as well as his hands to get it over the boundary. 6 and a bloodied lip. Challenged that he couldn't possibly do it again, the batsman rather unsportingly hit the next one well over Arvind and into the forest. Arvind retires for first aid (fans will be reassured that he is dentally intact,unblemished and ready for action). 

So North Enfield triumph with 20 overs to spare and we are left regretting those 100 extra runs we needed to make a fist of it. But a friendly fixture at a pretty ground. Let's hope we can do better next time.

Chris Baker