Electing to field, Noé-Gacogne opened with Yoji and Paddy.  Allan took a sharp catch off Yoji’s bowling to dismiss Crossbats’ number 2. Unfortunately, Yoji then hurt his back fielding and was unable to bowl again. Thereafter, Crossbats number 1 and the new batsman Winch accelerated the scoring rapidly. Allan broke through to dismiss their number 1 for a rapidfire 32, but Fitch then joined Winch and the scoring continued to be heavy. Just before the halfway point, Peter bowled Fitch.  After 10 overs, Crossbats had reached 96-3 and were looking well set for a total close to 200.

Winch retired once he had made his 50 and the game changed. The new batsmen were unable to score freely as Jack, Peter Curzons, Peter Teague and Gil restricted the scoring, with Peter Teague bowling their number 5. After 19 overs, Crossbats were 150-4. Paddy then came on to bowl the last of his 4 overs with the batsmen looking for a big final over. In a masterful display of legspin, Paddy bowled two of their batsmen and completed a double wicket maiden; surely an unusual achievement in the final over of a 20 over innings. Crossbats closed on 150-6, with Noé Gascogne having successfully clawed their way back into the match.

After a quick break for drinks and Lion bars, Paddy and Gil set out to open Noé Gascogne’s reply, Unfortunately, Paddy was bowled off his first ball by Lawrence. The same bowler did the same to Peter Teague soon after and Noé were perilously placed on 10-2. Gil was joined by Peter Curzons. They gradually rebuilt the innings and after 10 overs had taken the score to 55-2. The batsmen now looked to accelerate the scoring to the required 9.6 per over.

With a combination of boundaries and hard running, Peter and Gil took the score to 97-2 off 15 overs and the run rate required was just under 11 per over. Looking to force the pace in the 16th over, Peter Curzons was bowled for 32. Yoji was out caught off the next ball. Gil departed soon afterwards for 38 and Noé were suddenly 99-5 with just over 3 overs to score 52 runs and with two new batsmen at the wicket. David Self and Sonia made the best of an impossible situation, turning ones into twos and twos into threes as Crossbats’ fielding became erratic. Eventually, David was run out. Allan was soon adjudged lbw and Jack joined Sonia. An improbable thirty-four was required for victory off the last over. Jack and Sonia accumulated 10 of them and both were left undefeated as Noé closed on 127-7; a 23 run defeat.

Thanks to Crossbats for playing in a sporting manner, with your correspondent hoping for a rather different result in the 40 over game scheduled for tomorrow Saturday June 24th.

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