Camden I v Steeple Morden (away)

07/0625

GREAT TEA, GREAT MATCH, SHAME ABOUT THE RESULT

Thirds fall just short of extending winning run to four

Steeple Morden (20pts) 184-5 beat Camden (6pts) 175-9 by 9 runs

With rain forecast for later in the day, it was agreed that the match at Steeple Morden would be reduced to 30 overs per side. Captain Redfern won the toss and chose to bowl first. If it ain’t broke. Only Clarke will know the extent that Subbu’s excited shout of “catch” contributed to the veteran keeper dropping a catch, but there was little doubt that the Thirds were made to pay. The beneficiary went on to score an unbeaten 107 – a third ton of the season – sharing a 92-run stand for the first wicket before Irtaza took a catch off Karan (1-39). In the next over, Sutton – who had earlier failed to hang on to a diving effort  – grabbed a fourth catch in as many matches. It was to be the first of three wickets in consecutive overs for Mukesh (3-32), as catches for Ketul and Clarke saw the home side reduced to 121-4. Another catch for Clarke, off Ketul (1-14), and the Thirds were on a roll. But there were to be no more wickets. Try as they might, the combined forces of Baker (0-25), Farid (0-31) and Subbu (0-40) couldn’t prevent the sixth wicket adding 62 to take Steeple Morden to 184-5.

A tea. A proper tea. A tea so good it should be presented to the Covid enquiry. The demise of the traditional cricket tea is perhaps one of the more trivial impacts of the pandemic, but here was a reminder that it is a tragedy nevertheless. Perhaps more players should join the Steeple Morden player overheard saying “If we stopped doing teas, I’d stop playing.”

Nobody minded that rain stopped play when it also meant rain extended tea, but the shower would be sure to change the conditions in the second innings. It didn’t show, initially, as Sutton and Krishna raced to 22 in the third over. Nor when, after Krishna was bowled for 12, Redders was regularly finding the boundary en route to 32. Sutton (23) was bowled, and the weather gods cried tears of rain at the veteran opener’s inexplicably non-straight bat.  In the two overs after the rain break, the Thirds lost two more wickets – Irtaza (1) and Farid (0). 89-5 in the eighteenth over. A fourth consecutive win looked to be slipping away, but there was hope while Ketul and Subbu were there. With Subbu surviving a convincing caught behind appeal, the pair set about taking the game deep. The sixth-wicket partnership had reached 69 from fifty balls. 27 to win. Four overs and one ball. Sadly, that one ball did for Ketul (45). Mukesh (0) followed, and when Subbu was out for 44, the game was all but up. Clarke (1), Karan (6*) and Baker (2*) took the Thirds to 175-9 – a creditable ten runs short of victory.

If that wasn’t agonising enough, Sutton had picked up yet another injury. An X-ray would reveal no break, but ligament damage would see him miss the next four to six weeks. First the face, then the shoulder, and now the finger. Cricket was trying to tell the veteran opener something.

Man of the Match: K Subbaiah