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The disappointment of the Alleyn Old Boys hung over Norcross well into the following week. It was vital to bounce back quickly and things were looking good with the return of the Legend, F-S, and the long absent Ansbro who had finished his 3 month placement with Harpers & Queen as chief wedding reporter. Evans and Cannon were missing but the top order looked strong. Ryder and Ralph would be re-united after their traumatic fortnight apart. Things were certainly beginning to come together and the team had a largely settled feel to it. Crucially, quality was oozing from every pore, with the return of the Legend to bowl in tandem with the fast improving Walker, and batsmen coming in to a bit of form. The one grey area was Aps. He had impressed massively on his debut with a wonderful 81 against a weak Maori attack, but Kojak's sly double dealings of the previous week when he blatantly rang out the young buck before he got started (he has since been exposed as an AOB undercover operator) meant judgement would still be suspended. Remarkably the team Norcross picked on Monday afternoon stayed with him throughout the week despite being barraged by Mckee and Zoob. In total 26 e-mails were sent in the week, but Norcross stood firm. Nonetheless it was not until Friday evening that F-S was confirmed for the 2nds. "I'll see you at 1.20" said the Legend, and Norcross was in no mood haggle. Their opponents were Avorians, a mid table club with little to play for. At this time of year teams tend to appear late when there is little to play for and that was the case today. By 1 p.m. there wasn't an Avorian in sight and we had a mere three until Ramon drove up in a white convertible with the top down blaring Billie's first album at top volume. The sun was once more in evidence and a throroughly relaxed feel enveloped Potash. Ramon, who has now become something of a Harry Brind, lengthily explained how he had prepared the wicket. "Basically, I get the roller, right, and go up and down the wicket for about 12 hours." The look of delight on Elsdon's face told you that the wicket hadn't been rolled so extensively for 21 years. When the Avorians did finally pitch up they were embarassed to have to inform us that they had only nine men. To some players this sort of thing comes as a disappointment; as if the fine balance between the teams has been upset and thus the game has been in some way diminished. For your skipper, this is nothing but good news. Most importantly it means only eight wickets have to be taken, thus improving his chances of getting a cigarette before three hours is up. But also it massively increases your chances of winning, which unfortunately has become the be all and end all of Norcross' life. When he first began playing in 1978 the purpose was to keep Simon Ashdown out of the team by not getting out. This gradually changed to hitting the odd ball for four, then to hitting as many balls as possible for four. When this approach has the unfortunate side-effect of drastically increasing one's chances of getting out and thus decreases the amount of time one stays at the wicket, and further thus sends one in a terrible chaotic lurch into incompetence, pleasure must be derived elsewhere. Norcross had often wondered what captains got out of the game; after all, a week on the phone convincing unwilling men and boys that they would love to stand around all day in a field can be pretty damaging to one's soul. Joie de vivre is replaced by paranoia, tetchiness, insomnia, cigarette and alcohol dependence, shiftiness, evasiveness, brusqueness and uncontrollable sobbing fits in the middle of the night. There is no time left in the week to establish whether impotence has taken hold as well. But now, after the appalling travails of early season, or maybe because of them, Norcross was taking a liking to winning. The enormity of those thirteen points; a reason for living? Where will it end? Before long it's not good enough just to win. You want to win well. Then you find you need to score 250 and bowl them out for 70. Then that's not good enough and you want to maim the oppostion into the bargain. Tear out their last shreds of respectability and leave them naked, howling at the moon. But just for now, at any rate, a win will do.
We lost the toss - heads AGAIN (is it weighted differently?), and were inserted as per usual. Not a good start. Norcross informed his troops and Ralph and Ryder padded up. Ralph had been like a schoolboy returning to school at the end of the summer holidays and finding so much to catch up on. He had been in holy conclave with Phil for about 20 minutes now and was more excited than usual. Both batsmen had a goal in mind; Hardy's record of 475 runs. But there was a subplot. At the start of play Ralph had 349 runs and Phil 330. Norcross postioned himself at number 4 to avoid excessive umpiring duties and settled down to an afternoon revelling in the sun and his team's super-eminence over depleted and demoralised opponents. Things began brightly enough, Ryder thick edging the first ball to the third man boundary for four and already the lack of two fielders was telling. But before long Ralph, who had been more skittish and playful than usual as if he was intending to unleash some new stroke he had been working on in the privacy of his bedroom, inexplicably allowed himself to be bowled; 18-1. Ansbro came in to accompany Ryder and period of consolidation ensued. The Avorians possessed two bowlers of no little skill, and equally impessive stamina who were putting most balls on the spot, and in the case of Sanjay, then getting it to dart alarmingly away. We were coping well enough but certainly not dominating and with the score on 60, and whilst Norcross was engaged in paying Mick his tea money, Ansbro was caught for 28. In his unprepared panic he barked at Aps to go in instead, who dutifully, though not before attampting a whinge, responded. Norcross' masterstroke was repaid as in the next eleven overs Aps and Ryder added 71 runs with a combination of excellent clean hitting and more than passable running. All the while Ralph was pacing up and down as he saw his lead first reduced, then wiped out and finally left in the middle distance. F-S was enthralled. Nothing motivates this man more than the siren call of raw figures. "He should be looking to get a hundred. And you Ralph; it's not over yet. A 70 and a fifty and you'll still beat the record. What is it again? 475? Are you certain? You must call Hardy. He's got figures going back to the 70's. You MUST check. We need to know." Ryder's dismissal elicited a sigh of relief from Ralph but not Norcross who had become quite distracted by it all. He chose to attack, figuring that the sooner we reached 200 the more time we would have at the nine Avorians. After six eventful balls he dragged one back on to his stumps for five and F-S strode out to join Aps. This would be the real test of the lad. It's all very well smacking 2nd XI bowlers to all parts of Potash while you've got a relatively sane Ryder or Ralph at the other end, but how would he respond in tandem with Charlie. If he thought Kojak was a nightmare to run with he was in for a shock. By now Mayers had joined the watching throng and was questionning the skipper's decision to send Charlie in. "He'll block for twenty overs, Dan. It'll be very correct but will cost you the game."Thanks. What did he suggest I do about it? As it turned out they added 50 in 8 overs against admittedly tiring bowlers who had bowled unchanged for 40 overs, Aps getting his second fifty in three innings. He passed the test with flying colours until told their would be about 3 overs left at which point he was bowled leg stump aiming a wild yahoo. Mikshu, Dingwall and Ramon all fell idiotically, using up time rather than just giving Charlie the strike but Nigel came in at ten, pushed a single, allowing Charlie to mount a three ball assault and his captain to declare early after 48 overs with the score on 210-8; Ansbro 28, F-S 44*, Ryder 61, Aps 63. The two Avorian opening bowlers had bowled unchanged throughout, conceding 5-112 and 3-97. It had been a fine batting performance against nine men, but how would they play? Would they go for it? If not we were in trouble, lacking a genuine strike bowler.
Over tea Norcross ran through possible tactics and decided to delay taking the new ball. That way he could open with The Legend and Nigel, and the opposition might be lulled into thinking they were our bowlers designed to keep them interested. We would get through our opening overs quickly and so eradicate the option of the winning draw for Avorians and openers seldom like the old ball, and even more seldom like slow bowling. Within six overs we had our reward, Nigel snaring the Avorian opener, Ralph pouching the catch. We were then frustrated by our opponents who moved steadily to 50 without further loss. The new ball was promptly taken and we had a chance to test their willingness for the task ahead. They did not disappoint. Clearly they had decided they would go for it if possible and with that end in mind, Charlie was maintained at the bottom end and Ramon brought into the attack. Within 3 overs he had made the breakthrough and Charlie immediately responded by getting the other opener efficiently caught by Dingers. The problem Norcross was having was how to give Dingers and Ansbro a bowl. Dingers was fresh from his 6-39 the previous week but when would he be deployed? All the while the Avorians were being kept interested as Charlie gave the ball more flight than usual, encouraging straight driving, but the rate was an imposing 6 an over and was not coming down. Nor, though, was it going up much and Ansbro's spell helped keep the game bubbling. His six overs cost 26 and after it 87 were needed from 15 overs with only four wickets down. It was now that Norcross unleashed the grand design. First, Nigel replaced Ansbro ensuring that the Avors would keep going, and an over later F-S was removed from the attack. It has probably been about 17 years since F-S has actually be taken out of the attack in a 2nd XI game, and Norcross wasn't exactly sure if there wasn't a good reason for this. A reason like F-S becoming dangerously stroppy, or that whenever it had been done before we had contrived to lose a game we were sure of winning. Either way your skipper is not a man to shirk the difficult decision and so in a practisedly casual way piped up with the words he thought he would never utter; "Thanks Charlie, take a blow. Great spell." He then turned on his heels and fled to Dingers to tell him the good news of his impending bowl. Charlie showed no signs of violence, and immediately Walker picked up the wicket of the dangerous looking number 5 for 42, caught by Mikshu, his sixth of the campaign; 136-5. With 75 to win and twelve overs left it was still a tricky balancing act, but the removal of F-S convinced the Avors that they could still win. Dingers first over went for eight and the conviction seemed to be supported. Still Norcross kept his field in and still the batsmen attacked, getting full value for their mishits and edges. Then in Dingers' second over he struck, removing the fluent number 6 for 34 and the target was 57 from 9 overs with two wickets left, Ryder taking an excellent catch. By now Norcross was inundated with advice. Ansbro wanted the entire field around the bat, Ralph just wanted to win. Norcross remained unmoved. The ring saving one seemed to be acting as some kind of drug and ball after ball the batsmen were trying to go over it. Dingers and Nigel are perfect in these conditions, inducing mistakes through flight and guile and in Dingers' next over he drifted a straight one onto the number 7's leg stump. One wicket to fall, 50 to win. Surely they would play for a draw now, but the last two batsmen were the two bowlers, and they appeared in no mood to block for 6 overs. Nigel now bowled a sharply turning delivery to Sanjay who aimed to smash it out of the ground. It caught the edge and flew past the shoulder of Eyles wide to the left of first slip. Norcross, as quick as a gazelle, dived headlong and clung on with both hands. We had won - again. This time by 44 runs. It was a fantastic game that could easily have been otherwise. Avorians enterprising approach was very appreciated and under the circumstances, quite unexpected. Nigel and the Legend were the pick of the bowlers but Dingers' late contribution was invaluable and Ramon and Ansbro both picked up crucial wickets. It had been another great all round team performance with the five batsmen who got single figures all taking catches at vital times. It was our 5th win in 8 games and further confirmed the suspicion that our league position is a travesty of cricketing justice. Aps confirmed his early promise but we will all have to be on our toes to prevent burn-out. A squad rotation system could be the only answer. The Legend undoubtedly gives us a large measure of control in the field and his presence could be vital next season. Nigel is closing in on Tredge's record and the pressure is getting to Hardy. On the Tuesday following the game Norcross received a panic stricken e-mailed titled "I can't stand this" which contained the following message: "At least when I was there I could actively will people to get out. Dan, for god sake get your finger out." The price of treachery, Hardy, has never been greater.
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