Crouch End CC (29/5/2016)
Result: Crouch End CC won by 7 wickets with 8 overs
remaining
WCC 240 for 8 (40 overs)
McDonald 15, Laurie 54, Chaugule
14, Hogben 5, D Marshall 72, Douglas 5, Coombe 15, R.Black 13, Smee & Orwell 0 n.o.
DNB dŐInverno
Crouch End 242 for 3 (32 overs)
Moodie (he sure was) 158
Douglas 5-0-41-0, Orwell 10-1-53-2, Coombe 6-0-43-0, Black 6-0-55-0, Chaugule
5-0-42-1
Catches: 2 for Coombe
Debut: Chaugule
Having triumphed on the same ground only five days
previously, the Weekenders had high hopes of extending their winning streak
with this 40 over fixture. Blessed with youthful recruits in the ranks, Dan
Marshall & Harry Coombe, complementing the usual
old stagers, confidence was high on this hot Bank Holiday weekend. A muscular
half-century from Dom Laurie, plus a classy 72 from Marshall Jnr, posted a
usually unassailable 240-run target.
But Crouch End were playing Kev Moodie, a sort of comic
book villain in South-African-cricketing-form, usually found in their 1st XI
ranks. He cross-batted all-comers into the vegetable patch or onto the little
gravel road by the tennis courts for what seemed liked hours. As his runs
accumulated in flurries, he seemed to get more and more irate, seemingly
exasperated that his total dominance of the cricket game couldnŐt end the
fixture in minutes instead of hours. Batting partners walked away from
mid-pitch conferences shaking their heads. The self-indulgent blues rock drifting from a well-appointed bank holiday BBQ
failed to raise the Enders spirits. But when Mr Moodie hammered debutant Sid Chaugule
to a waiting Harry Coombe on the boundary, did a
glimmer of hope appear?
Sloppy blues rock made way
for a funky brass-band playing modern classics, such as ÔNo DiggityŐ.
Maybe the syncopated tuba got skipper going, so with some bowling changes, two
quick wickets fell to give a sniff of another improbable twist in todayŐs
proceedings. However the runs came with eight overs
remaining, and a small party of Weekenders journeyed to The Belash
where they buried their troubles under mountains of daal.