I cannot express forcefully enough what an absolute joy it is to have bowling options. The luxury of having an attack to shuffle. To have actual choices – bit of pace-off here; bowl some spin; bring the seamers back; try for an edge; bowl yorkers – to genuinely decide, rather than have to scramble about wondering which reluctant non-bowlers you’re gonna have to press-gang into finding another 10 overs. I wanted bowlers, I got them. Seven genuine options today.
Breamore Dravidians IIs proved to be too good for us. But that’s fine. Can’t mind that too much. They’re a good side, and a nice bunch.
They were 100-0 at drinks. If luck had gone our way they could easily have been three or four down. We bowled really well. Rob and Robert opened with good control. Smithers and Hakey (Smithers and Hakey as change bowlers! Imagine!) created some chances but they didn’t happen. Connor bowled the best he has for DCC, me and Jon got some pace-off wickets, and then they put the afterburners on and ramped up the scoring. Their number five smashed 70 in no time, including a massive six into Bryant’s field on the other side of the road off a Smithers slower ball that didn’t quite work out like the Harmison-to-Clarke doozy he’d envisaged.
I said to Nick and Chris if we were 40-0 at drinks that would be fine; make them work for it. They delivered hansomely, and we were 62-0 at drinks. We were never really in the chase, they were a very competent bowling unit with even more options (all but the keeper bowled) and we were out played, but not embarrassed.
The game played out in ridiculously good spirits. Smithers accurately summed it up as the most polite game of league cricket we’ve ever been involved in. Despite an on-paper thumping, it was a highly enjoyable afternoon.
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