It was a warm day with light cloud cover. Perfect weather for cricket. Thoughts of visiting the local art exhibition and wandering around the abbey gardens had to be put aside. The charming Nags Meadow ground looked as pretty as a picture and was a worthy replacement.

The hatches were opened and the chairs and tables carried out. Ali explained that one of the benches had been donated by Lords to centennial grounds and therefore had to be carried out with appropriate reverence and placed in exactly the right spot.

The opposition were from Hertfordshire and were limbering up. They were businesslike and efficient. Only five Pelican players had arrived with a quarter of an hour remaining till the start. Everything was normal. The first conundrum was who would keep wicket. A few names were mooted. James got the nomination probably due to him having more enthusiasm than sense.

Josh opened the bowling from the Pavilion End and quickly found his rhythm. The openers found it difficult to settle with the movement and pace. Inevitably it was Tooby that got the early breakthrough removing Jones with an outswinger that induced a mishit towards point where Asad took a well judged catch inches from the ground.

The new batsman Anson was clearly troubled by the length Josh had found and played several deliveries into the air as Raheel and Adam started to creep closer towards short cover and short mid-wicket respectively. Eventually he skewed one towards backward point where Asad had to make a lot of ground to take another excellent low catch.

The next batsman Scotting seemed to hit mostly in the air and offer chances which the Pelican fielders refused to accept. One memorable incident involved the ball hit to Waz at mid-wicket who with his hands tucked under his armpits didn’t budge until the ball landed on his left foot. Eventually he was caught on the long on boundary by Tooby who also managed to pull down half a tree in the process.

Josh and Tooby were replaced by Amit and Waz who both bowled well but the runs started to flow as the other opener, Candy, started to play with more assurance and unfurled a series of delightful backfoot drives and the occasional pull. He shared in a 90 run partnership with Wiggins who was eventually caught on 44 by Josh taking a difficult low chance at extra cover.

Meanwhile James behind the stumps was turning out to be a revelation. Like all good (football) keepers he quickly realised that the objective was to stop the ball at all cost with any part of the anatomy and not just the gloves. The highlight was his first ever stumping where he dismissed Candy for a well-made 90.

Adam and Raheel took over the bowling in the latter part of the innings and bowled in good areas to prevent the opposition from running away with the score. Josh and Tooby came back at the end to wrap up the innings at a respectable 194 for 7 wickets off 39 overs. Tooby and Josh ended with 3 and 2 wickets with Raheel and Amit T taking one apiece.

In the post-Covid era, the Pelicans are responsible for keeping alive one of cricket’s greatest traditions. Tea. Today it was Ali’s turn and he was in a solemn mood not knowing how it would be received. He needn’t have worried. The rice with chicken and/or vegetable curry proved an instant hit with at least one player having four servings. Rich chocolate cake was the crowning glory of an assortment of sweet treats. However, our quiet hopes that this lavish fare would slow down our opponents were about to be proved very wrong.

It was time for the batting. We lost Raheel in the second over when he played on, somehow managing to drag a wide ball onto his stumps by way of his pads. Amit also departed early to a good catch and it was left to Asad and Sharafat to rebuild. They managed to move the score to just shy of 100 by drinks. At this stage it was game on and looking like a straightforward chase as the batters were set and comfortable.

Asad in particular was immediately into his groove. Punishing anything short or over pitched with brutal disdain. The opposition almost immediately pushed the field back and had at least 4 men on the boundary for the remainder of his innings.

From 93 for two at drinks we went to 108 all out losing 8 wickets for 15 runs. Sharafat was the first to go with a feather edge well held by the keeper who remained stood up to the wicket for the whole innings. Asad and Amit were caught. Ali was bowled in a similar fashion to Raheel. Josh got a jaffa that pitched on middle and hit the top of off. Mills ended up taking 5 wickets from four overs for only 5 runs. Young Sam Jones took the last wicket of James with a delivery that fittingly bounced twice and was making its way down under his bat a third time. It pretty much summed up the day.

All in all, the difference was that the Reporters were better in the field and held on to all their catches. They bowled with more discipline and finished with an emphatic winning margin of 86 runs. When the post traumatic shock has dissipated, the Pelicans will come to realise that they were competing in a normal game until drinks in the second innings. After that it was a combination of farcical batting and superb bowling that led to a collapse of biblical proportions. The final scoreline certainly doesn’t reflect the knife-edge on which the action swung for the majority of the game.

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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.