The weather teased the Fat Pitches all day for the much anticipated match up against the likes of Looking To…. And when no email was sent around confirming a cancellation excitement levels crept up, not only because we were leaving work early to pursue the passion that is 20/20 cricket.
After arriving at the infamous Pitch 14, it was with welcome arms that we received our team shirts, appropriately coloured in Jimmy Buffet blue… a little baggy on some, but a team that looks like a team is a team that plays as a team, and enjoys the perks that come with bonus points.
In a shock turn of events, Captain Cory won a toss after two previous failed attempts, and chose to follow with our winning ways of bowling first, trying to limit the runs, and ultimately chasing them down.
The opening pairing of Dyl and Jon proved to confuse the batters with the left/right arm combination, as the opening batsmen struggled to find any sort of rhythm and were quickly split after some edgy results that Timmy managed to pull in with Chris Harris ease.
Swanny was happy with taking a couple of wickets, to go along with his economy rate and ball of the day goes to proud sponsor Jimmy Buffet with a near unplayable pearler that had the batsman in all sorts, eventually leaving him trudging back to the pavilion after his off stump was toppled, wondering what had just happened.
Dream team bowler Cory persisted with the short and straight long hops theory after picking one up in the deep, and after a few more were dispatched to the boundary you could hear the familiar sound of a Saturday morning youth of “line and length! … At his toes!” Not to be discouraged with his new tactic that was thought up after one to many beers the weekend before, Cory decided one more wouldn’t hurt, and left the field speechless when the ball came down on stumps dislodging the bails.
In a bold move by the captain, Timmy was given the ball for his time to shine, and was unlucky with the umpire calling some very questionable off side wides. Matty stepped up and was very consistent, summing up much of the bowling effort from the Fat Pitches.
With two wickets and two overs to go, opening bowler Nard was called back into action, and you hear the call from the square leg umpire (next batsman) “It’s his last over, play him out” Not a smart move in 20/20 and you could physically see his legs folding at the knees.
In a great showing of line and length, the batsman played and missed, and finally got the edge that Dyl was looking for throughout the frustrating spell, and Toby behind the stumps reaped the rewards, holding onto his first catch of the season, only to get another two balls later with the exact same delivery and the batting team were all out for 158. (After facing 146 deliveries – where only 100 should have been bowled, and even with wides 120 should have been bowled. Questionable umpiring has to come into play?)
All in all, wides were the winner on the day and will need to be cut out of the bowling repertoire.
A solid turn out in the field, with a new category being added to the points system designed by our very own stats man D-Larn – with 4 overthrows earning negative points. Backing up is essential, but not as much as throws over the stumps.
With a quick turnaround, Toby and Dyl had to combine once more and set the platform for the run chase, the biggest total the Fat Pitches have had to try run down. Pushing singles, quick running two’s with the odd boundary to boot, a firm platform was set when Dyl was found short of the crease with a direct hit, although there was a thought that the bat was down, but without the technology of the Channel 9 commentary box, one can’t be sure. 90 for 1 and in came Swanny, and after another over Toby was retired after reaching the half ton milestone with a cover drive off Beavis. Rab and Swanny kept the scoreboard ticking over, until Rab was caught on the boundary, and in came the toughest man to get out in the comp, the one we call “The hard hitting wall”, Jono.
Beers were being sunk on the sideline and the mood was jovial, especially with the support of Dug back from his expedition on the boats. There was anticipation of a great victory, until the call came from Courts that 20 runs were needed off the last two overs. This shocked the team and we looked on in anticipation, yet unfortunately even a max 12 run hit on the last ball from Swanny left the Fat Pitches 2 runs short of victory (1 short of the draw) and gave Looking To a lucky escape beating the better team, just not on the day. Maybe we were missing the motivation of having Yok.com there to encourage the team.
Gutt(er)ed is the only way to describe the feeling.
With Timmy and Matty yet to have a bat, and Courts not being needed for the last two games, there will need to be some time at the crease for these fine players in the coming weeks.
Fat Pitches still hold their place at the top of the table and are ranked 289 in the world with only three games under their belt.
Congratulations go out to Rab, Nard and Courts for retaining their place in the Dreamteam.
Man of the Match – Toby Yonge (as voted by Fat Pitches)
3 points – Toby
2 points – Dyl
1 Point – Swanny
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