Thrilling finish as the 2s win by 1 wicket

A push into the offside, a misfield, a touch of the bat into the popping crease, a turn, the recruitment of more oxygen to his leg muscles, the casting aside of lactic acid, the completion of the reason we play cricket - the run. And then: noise, emotion, p a n d e m o n i u m.

9 hours previously:

“You’re going to hit the winning runs today, Neal.”

It’s difficult to imagine what was going through the debutant’s mind when the mage Jamie Powe informed him of this certainty. As a doctor, Neal lives and breathes the balance of probabilities and indices of suspicion. The sterility of that field has blinded him to the wisdom of the soothsayer and the old magic that bathes Arden Field. Well, no more.

Finchley to bowl.

This week’s antagonists were Hornsey CC, a plot device in the unfolding of the day’s events. Neal and Jaimin brought guile and pace (not respectively). They managed to limit Hornsey to 60 without loss off the first 10, an excellent platform for Adam and Nir to come on and put the Hornsey openers out of their misery. In consultation with coach Prenesti, new fields were set and new bowling strategies explored. The breakthrough came when Adam seduced the Hornsey batsman into pushing a little bit too hard through the covers. Family favourite Ross Sutcliffe’s hands willingly received the ball. That wasn’t to be the end of Ross’ fielding exploits, who later tumbled to his right and produced a laser-like throw into Jamie’s gloves to run out another faceless Hornsey middle order batsman.

Adam soon picked up another when the other opener failed to hit a straight one. He trudged back, the eyes of the crowd and particularly coach Prenesti boring into the back of his skull, unconvinced at the fluidity of his 75 odd runs in the first 15 overs.
Into the tail.

Predictable shouts of “full 45!” and “LonG wAy To gO!” abounded from the Hornsey dugout, an alarmist’s (and realist’s) response to the frustration of their middle order to score against Adam and Nir.

Gishan, who makes up half of the Herath brothers who played against Finchley’s hallowed Chess Valley side last year, bowled tight lines and continued to heap the pressure on the Hornsey middle order. I must stress the lengths were tight, too. It was undoubtedly the first time in 12 months that Gishan had a cricket ball in his hands without a cold sweat and palpitations, for, as we all know, the only place you can hide from the Finchley Chess Valley side is within the ranks of Finchley itself. They do say “if you can’t beat them, join them,” but it is unlikely you would be able to space all those people 2m apart even on the Arden Field grass and no club has the infrastructure to deal with an influx of new players of that magnitude. It is encouraging to see that the young man can bowl with a follow through, as many bowlers entirely dispose of their follow through after playing against the Finchley CVL team, opting instead for distance from the batsman on impact of the ball. On came Emanuel the Loyal who picked up a wicket in combination with Jamie behind the stumps, who despite what he might modestly tell you about missing a thick, uncatchable edge was actually putting in an outrageous display behind the stumps. Oscar was replaced by Sumo who knew exactly what to do to limit the run rate with his Shaun Udalesque off-spin darts. Neal returned to clean up. Keerthi, watching in the wings, with his first contribution to the Finchley strategic masterclass of the day, moved Oscar about 10 yards from deep cover to deep extra-cover. The very next ball Neal hit the top of off stump which in turn ended up so far back that Jamie behind the stumps was now only behind two stumps. Keerthi 1 - 0 Hornsey.

Ross and Sumo opened the batting and immediately the gulf in class between the two sides was evident. They looked comfortable and professional on their way to 40-0 off 10, far more so than the Hornsey openers who at this stage had unconvincingly scratched their way to 60-0 in as many overs. After Sumo gave way with the game already in the bag. Ross was next to go, comprehensively outwitted by an unplayable ball around his legs from Hornsey’s talisman having looked perfect for his 39. In came Leshan, another league debutant who like his brother moved from Harrow Town for protection both physical and psychological from Finchley’s Chess Valley Side. He must have been paying keen attention while retrieving ball after ball from the Harrow Town boundary last season. The knowledge accrued and daily 3am reflections on that meeting of the two sides gave the left hander the ability to hit a fluid and stylish 46 coming in at number 3. He handed the baton of competent batsmanship to Matt McGowan who looked composed at the crease and pushed us further towards Hornsey’s total (somewhere in the 210s but I can’t remember exactly, sorry).

Jamie and Oscar were now at the crease and had been batting for what seemed to them an age but was probably about 6 overs in hindsight. Allow me to set the scene for you. A saunter down the track between overs, a touch of gloves, a glance at the scoreboard. 40 to win off 10 overs with 5 wickets in hand. A brief discussion took place regarding how, with the field split, the two could end this game in a professional fashion taking singles and hitting the bad balls. But at what cost? Arden Field was abuzz with atmosphere, the bar was open, the 1s had returned early due to highly impressive over rates in their game, there were young guns and debutants in the hut raring to go with the bit between their teeth and no doubt single Jamie had noticed that the Finchley Gunns were watching too. Did last year’s 2nd XI top scorer and number 11 Jaimin really pack his kit in the morning only for it to remain shaded from the evening sun in his bag? It didn’t seem right to the pair to cast aside the #oneclub philosophy in pursuit of a mere “win.” Content with his work and with his ancestors smiling at him, Oscar was the first to selflessly give his wicket away and walked off briskly with his head held high. Captain Nir came in and was quite aware of the plan, giving it his blessing and personally executing it to perfection to bring Adam to the crease in no time at all. As young Adam launched a slog sweep past downtown and well into Greater London suburbia, a cacophony erupted from Finchley faithful. As the beers flowed later that night and all present reminisced about that shot while Adam’s smile beamed, Jamie, Oscar and Nir knew they had made the right decision. That’s what cricket is all about. When Jamie was given LBW switch hitting with 6 runs to win, he wasn’t being a hero, he was being something more. Adam, who was by now 11 not out and seeing the ball as if it were the size of a tangerine, followed his seniors’ example to fall on his sword. Why? Well, because he thought it was good sport, and because it allowed Neal fulfil his destiny ascribed him by the clairvoyant Powe Sr. A push into the offside, a misfield, a touch of the bat into the popping crease, a turn, the recruitment of more oxygen to his leg muscles, the casting aside of lactic acid, the completion of the reason we play cricket - the run. And then: noise, emotion, p a n d e m o n i u m.