A tie. Who can believe it. Second time I’ve been part of a tie in 20 years of Pelicans cricket and the man whose hairline plays off the back foot got bowled both times.

Anyway, with the skipper absent from the game, Toobs saw the chance for a return to tyranny and took the reins. With 6 Pelis present Toobs won the toss and naturally decided to bowl first… now in hindsight that may not have been the best call at with plenty of crash bang whallop and Josh throwing the ball down legside, P&T raced away. Cue the phrase ‘shit brings wickets’. Tooby pulled the Oppo back in with a nice juicy half volley and nice juicy full toss, both chipped back to a grateful bowler.

Then came the slog. 3 and 4 settled in and the run rate climbed… and climbed… and climbed. Pelis threw down full toss after full toss leading Nico to measure out the length of the wicket, ‘that’s half a yard short!’ He cried, as if that explained the waist high balls he was bowling. It took the opposing skipper to retire… yes, retire… the audacity, and as new batters came in, the new batters went out as JG and Asad finally made some headway. At last the young firecracker of a number 4 fell when he launched a ball to the boundary, only to find a Tooby doing his best Air Jordan impression to take a stunning one handed catch.

The score stymied and wickets falling, Pelis started eyeing tea. Notable events:

• Niron has recently installed go go gadget knees, which started trampolining the ball away
• Pelican fielders forgot how to catch (3/4 went down by my count)
• When the P&T skipper brought his pads back out, choice words were spoken by a certain Kiwi

At last at 9 down the skipper chose to emerge again and gave some slappage to ensure P&T finished 252 from 40 overs.

Then came tea. Oh wait.

Not out of it, Asad and Yusuf strode to the crease and took us to 36 off 4 overs… however both had strode back to the pavilion. Amit came and went, then came the first stand. Debutant Sharafat and the legend that is Ali dug in, Sharafat rotating and Ali crashing his way to 31 before he fell, ‘don’t have the hunger’ he said.

Then came the flounce. Knowing he had to get padded up Josh asked for a volunteer to score, a chorus of ‘I don’t know how’ came back… now to say Josh slightly overreacted I think would be fair, but now we have a guide!

Another classic mini collapse later and Josh strode to the crease to join the debutant, the score about 130-6. 16 scoring shots, 63 runs and an exceptionally well played half century from Sharafat and the end was in sight, 220-7 and Josh back in the hutch. Sharafat then quickly fell and the tail needed to wag, 30 still needed. P&T kindly brought on a howitzer and all of a sudden Pelis needed 2. A wide made us tied, a dodgy LBW made it one wicket remaining, Tooby charged the bowler and… missed.

500 runs and a tie. A great day… except the tea.

Back to Results page

Reports are intended to convey an entertaining picture of the day’s play. No disrespect is meant, but if on occasion we misjudge matters, please take it in the friendly and humorous spirit in which it is intended.