Taverners vs Lions 2 - Wednesday Aug 4

T

After a heavy thunderstorm early in the day it was a surprise to find that the ground was in fine condition for play, except that the outfield was long enough to lose a small child in. For the second consecutive week the pavilion key was not available, & it was agreed that in order to avoid having other clubs thinking that Taverners & Phoenix are getting preferential treatment we are asking that the MCA leave the pavilion permanently locked for the balance of the summer. I am sure that the other clubs will enjoy being separated from their equipment, being on display to the world as they change into their whites, & finding a suitable tree to relieve themselves against.
As Lions were quite short at game time it was agreed that they should bat first & that as the light was not good we would play 16 overs all bowled from one end.
The opening bats Anoop & Praveen could not find many runs from Mark & Sid except for one big six. Mark soon was in his groove after along layoff bowling Praveen & taking a very low C & B in the next over. Sid was unlucky when a catch went straight to slip & to the floor, Sid's comment will not be published as tender eyes may be looking. Philip redeemed himself a little later by hanging on to a catch at slip well above his head. After 6 overs Lions were at 22 for 4 & Joe & Ron tried to push the score along but Joe was run out by a good throw right over the stumps from Andrew to Sid. Another fine piece of fielding by Anil produced another run out by Chris.
The most spectacular fielding display was put on by Martin, going for a square cut from Roy. Leaping long before the ball was on its way & then ducking in mid air & doing an impression of Bullwinkle with his hands by his ears as the ball sailed way over his head. Ron was eventually out jumping down the pitch to Anil being bowled for 25, one of the bails was lost in the grass at 3rd man for a couple of overs. With only 9 men Lions did not last the full 16 overs being all out 74.
Bowling:- Mark 2 for 14, Sid 1 for 18, Chomo 1 for 22 &  Anil  0 for 19.
Another fine performance by Chris behind the stumps allowing no byes.
Taverners openers Hein & Chomo started slowly but then Hein drove fine 6 over long on. A couple of overs later he tried again against a slow spinner but the ball went very high but dropped into Roy's hands at long on out for 11. Chomo & Andrew tried to pick up the pace but Talik & Ron were keeping the bowling tight until Andrew was bowled by Ron for 8. Sid joined Chomo & adopted the indoor tactic of trying to score from every shot. This went well until Chomo was run out for 16 & Sid nudged one to the wicket keeper for 13. Philip was next in & apart from a wide did not trouble the scorer being out caught. Jas & Anil both added 4 until Jas was bowled by Joe. Sammy came to the wicket with 5 balls left & 1 run needed. I am not sure that you can call a slow stroll, a run, but it was enough to finish the game.
The post match festivities were at Karl's & their must have been something in the air as the beer disappeared quickly even though the turnout was quite small, eventually finishing 52 bottles. Martin gave a long explanation of his missed catch claiming that it clipped the end of his finger, he must have not cut his nails for the past few years.
David arrived later in the evening from soccer & retrieved his money from his anal cleavage, I am glad that I picked up my share by cheque. One of the most intriguing pieces of information came later in the evening when one of our members revealed that his known to some friends & relatives as "Fluffy". It was agreed that to protect this otherwise shy & withdrawn person from wide spread embarrassment, this information will be kept to the select few present.
Next week is our final game as beyond this the evenings are too dark to get a meaningful game in. Post game will be at Chomo's
I will suggest that if by some miracle the pavilion is open, that we remove all our gear so that it is available for Minneapolis.

 

Taverners Vs. Lancers Wednesday July 28

Firstly I would like to thank the Cosmos/Lancers organization for stepping into the breach at the last minute when Seahawks pulled out on Monday. Were Seahawks scared after we had beaten their 2 supposedly superior sides. Also a note of condemnation for the MCA for a lack of policy in ensuring that the pavilion is open ready for scheduled games. With half of the key holders in Toronto, one of the other holders should have been designated to be there. Thanks to Vasu we were able to get into the shed & get access to the mats etc. Maybe a solution could be a lock box at the pavilion for the key with a programmable combination lock.

Because Taverners were unable to access their equipment at game time Lancers were designated to bat 1st. with openers Joey & Bobby Ramatar. Joey started aggressively hitting David straight for 3. This was not to last as in the next over Joey skied one straight to Keith out for 3. Next in was ringer Vasu who played it safe & correct & with Bobby kept the scoreboard ticking over slowly, until they realised they were halfway through their 18 overs & had only 39 runs. They decided at this point that they must chase which allowed Anil to bowl Bobby for 20. This brought senior batsman Harry K to bat with the junior Vasu, Harry soon had Vasu scrambling & he was eventually run out going for the non existent second run for 29. Nilay was next in & out trying to turn a straight ball on middle stump down to fine leg... out LBW. Next in  Neil made a lot of noise & scrambled around a lot but  was soon stumped by Chris off of Martin for 6. Harry in the meantime did not waste many balls scoring from all but 4 & ending the innings not out 26. Lancers at the end of their 18 overs were 101 for 5. Taverners catching in this match was suspect, with at least 3 fairly easy chances going to the deck.
The bowling... David. fresh off a plane from Toronto 1 for 21, Sid 1 - 12, Anil 1 - 16, Chomo 0 - 17, Paul 1 - 16 & Martin 1 - 17.
Taverners opened with Hein & Sammy & after a tentative start had 40 on the board after 6 overs. Ossie as captain brought himself on to bowl & was effective getting Sammy  well caught off a big hit for 19 & Hein out soon after bowled at the end of a good spell by Rahul for 15. Ossie then had Jas caught for 10, Sid bowled for 3 &  later Chomo caught for 5. It was then left to Harry to contain the rest having Paul bowled for 2 & David caught at point for a golden. Anil attempted to push the score but was caught at square leg for 9. Martin & Chris attempted to get the victory but needing 8 from the last over only managed to get to 97. A loss by 4 runs from a team that on paper was probably the strongest that we have fielded all season. A proof of the old adage that catches win matches.
The evening ended on Chris's deck with some excellent curry & Nan bread from Karran & a few beverages. Unlike last week the crowd drifted away early so the by 10:15 there were just 4 people left. Some discussion about the Larry Unrau trophy which looks as though it may be held on Tuesday Aug.10 & a question whether we should attempt a single wicket tournament on the 18th.
Next weeks after game discussions will be at Karl's where we should be seriously looking at Minneapolis & the arrangements for the BBQ, both coming up in short order.

 

 

Taverners Vs. Lancers...... July 21, 2010

On an evening with weather that was more reminiscent of the Gulf than the Prairies, hot & humid & little wind, Taverners as usual had to await the arrival of a full complement from the Lancers. Captained by veteran Ossie Bell, Lancers batted 1st, opening with Nilay (05) & Joey (02). They were contained by the Taverners opening bowlers Sid & Karran so that they had lost 2 wickets & needed 4 overs to get into double figures. 3 wickets down for 19 that most people on the field felt that it should have been 4 as only the umpire & the batsman didn't think that Bobzen was out caught behind early on. He did not last long being bowled by Anil for 9. The next 2 batsmen staged a good recovery with Maninder playing an almost faultless innings but unfortunately for him his well executed ground strokes stopped quickly in the long grass. Neil Patel on the other hand was more cavalier hitting the ball in the air & going for the quick singles. The pair put on 71 runs punishing any bowler that Martin threw into the fray. Neil was eventually caught by Sid on the boundary for 42 & Maninder went on to score 52 not out from a Lancers total of 129 for 6.
The bowlers figures Sid 2 for 10, Karran 1 for 18, Anil 1 - 22, Martin 0 - 31, Hein 0 - 17 & Chris 1 - 29
Taverners opened their innings with Sid & Hein & quickly got off the mark but got bogged down for a few overs until Sid was out stumped for 8, so far down that Bobzen couldn't believe his luck & hesitated before removing the bails. Next batsman in was Jas who needed to prove that his #10 spot last week was not justified. For a while Maninder & Ossie had Hein tied down & he survived some close LBW calls until he was plumb to Ossie for 30.
Jas then took over, scoring off almost every ball & Anil providing good support until he was out for 9. Martin then scored on each of the 3 balls he received taking the Taverners to 131 for 4 in 18.2 overs leaving Jas one short of his 50 not out. 
The after game gathering was on Chris Emery's back deck as the weather was so warm. The players had obviously lost a lot of fluid playing as I was sweating from just standing as umpire.
This was borne out by the consumption of 49 bottles. This was achieved without the aid of the Lancers who seemed reluctant to face the victors & join us for a bevvie. Probably a good thing as the beer very nearly ran out without their participation.

 

Taverners v Kingz ..... July 14, 2010

On an evening when most Taverner players were not expecting to play after the storm that had raged through the City in the early hours of the day had dumped a couple of inches of rain, they were confronted with another surprise. The Kingz XI were already in attendance, as the bulk of the Taverner players straggled in expecting the usual tardy opposition. Those players that had arrived on time were still in a state of shock when the 2 Taverner openers took their place in the middle.

The opening pair, presumably chosen as the 2 the least shocked were Martin & Keith, Martin started aggressively hitting the 2nd ball of the game for 6. But that was an aberration & for the next little while the pace of the game slowed, with Martin being caught behind for 10 & Keith also going out caught for 6.The next pair Chomo`s brother Rezleigh & Hein worked together well putting on close to 60 runs with Hein hitting 3 big 6`s before he was out bowled off stump for 31 by Nisam. He was replaced by Philip who was immediately bowled off stump swishing at a good length ball. Chomo was next at the wicket to join his brother & facing a hat trick ball. A correct forward defensive stroke failed to connect, bowled, again off stump. Chris then managed to survive the next couple of balls of a triple wicket maiden. Rezleigh was the next to go to Nisam but this time bowled middle stump for 25. Next in was Karan who was subjected to a barrage of barracking from the pavilion until he got off the mark with a well hit 4. Karan & Chris played out the next 3 overs until Chris looking for runs & Karan looking to rest, ended up in total confusion with Chris being run out by yards for 10.  Next up was Andrew who played a couple of shots for singles before attempting a suicidal 2nd & was run out for 2, after Karan had been caught for 11. Meanwhile Jas was in the middle & never received a ball for close to 2 overs. Sammy. last weeks hero came in last faced 2 balls hit 2  4`s & was denied the 6th ball of the over by the umpire to leave Taverners 119 for 9  from the 20 overs. Interestingly all 11 Kingz men bowled, having changed keepers after a few overs. 
The Kingz XI started a a good pace with the players looking for any quick single. Balls were skied & put on the deck, the wicket keeper was most tentative although allowing no byes did allow a couple of catches to pass either through his gloves or in very close proximity. The openers were seen off bowled one by Martin & one by Chomo who had seen several balls beat the bat only to rise above the stumps. Karan had  2 batsman caught by the Vanderwert brothers, & Chris had a batsman stumped. This was as bizarre as last weeks effort by Keith, Philips scooped the ball onto the stumps & proceeded to rebuild the wicket aided by the batsman, totally ignoring some gibberish from Sam & Chomo that I suppose were some kind of appeal. Eventually Phil appealed & the umpires finger went up. This brought Don, one time opening bowler then wicket keeper, but also heralded the rain. 1st was a rainbow with some odd looking clouds to the west, then a fairly heavy fall of rain. This drove the teams on the North & South pitches to the pavilion but the the Kingz batsman were scenting victory & the stalwart Taverners were not going to give in to a little rain. In the end a triple rainbow saluted Don as he clobbered Chris for 25 from 1 over leaving himself with just a 6 to finish off the game from Hein`s only over. Kingz victorious in 16 overs. A well played game with both teams playing to the spirit of the game. Only 1 yellow card from umpire Tipples to Karan for unnecessary verbiage.
The after game assemblage was at Chomo`s where we sat in the tranquility of his back yard, well eventually, when we found enough chairs, cups & an opener. Soon the Vanderwert brothers were trundling trays of delicious food to the waiting masses. Whatever happened to the ``chips only`` rule.  Conversations ranged widely but most concentrating on our abysmal fielding display, most other teams would be taking this situation with dire distress, Taverners were mostly convulsed with laughter.
Minneapolis was again brought up & Chris was again put under pressure to commit, suggestions ranged from attendance at a medical conference engineered by Hein, to a claim for amnesia after a day over the border.
The Taverners by some some mutual telepathy suddenly all drifted away while there was still daylight in the sky. Maybe they are not all gay but reverse vampires.
This left just myself, Martin (surprise surprise) & Chomo sitting around a fire discussing recipes for crab apples with garlic, curry & other spices.
Once we had cleaned up we discovered that we had 37 empty bottles & that Mark had cleaned off the last of the stout.