So apparently snowballs do actually survive in hell. Bureau of Meteorology forecasters not so much.
The Gladdies actually got a game on at Padstow, with a few well placed cones avoiding the worst of the surface water. The fact that the other team only had 8 players, three of whom were comfortably in the under 15s category, also made the prospect of actually playing highly desirable. When Marty bowled a double wicket maiden in the third over, rendering them 3/10, it looked like it would be a pretty short game too. But the kids dug in, and slowly but surely clawed their way back into the game. From 5/72 at drinks, they really launched in the second half, with young Kunj Bradman absolutely belting us to the tune of 116. It probably wasn’t our best fielding performance, with neither chances nor footing sticking, and the ball essentially becoming a complete piece of sh.t with 15 overs to go (thanks Steeden!). Still, it could have been worse, with the umpire, Captain Gratuitously Officious, threatening to penalise us 5 runs because we failed to notify him of a fielding
substitute. Hopefully his hard work and rigid adherence to the rules will get paid off soon and he’ll make his transition to umpiring the Ashes shortly. They eventually finished with 194, which seemed pretty imposing.
Turns out that belting 12 year olds, backed up by only 6 fielders, around a drying outfield wasn’t quite as hard as we’d thought. Lach and Kunal made a solid start before we considered a faintly ridiculous hat trick, ensuring that even if they didn’t win the game, the kids would walk away with more trophies than us.
But that was it for wickets, with Dan and the author of Clancy of the Overflow racking up 40s as the sixes started to fly around towards the end. We scored 110 off our last 8.2 overs, and when I say we, that’s obviously including S.Undries who amassed an impressive 57 to be top scorer. So given they’re likely to finish last in the grade, thank god we actually got to play.