Success at the Valley of Peace, in this captain’s mind, revolves heavily around the toss. To be able to secure the rights to propping up the bar for the second half of the day is gold dust. And so it came to pass that this vital decision went the way of Christs College Old Boys. What followed was a champagne performance in the field.
The Christ’s opening bowling duo of Hugo Davison and James Thomson began well. The pitch showed good bounce and carry, and the ball hooped both ways under the guile of the pair. The first wicket came about when Simon Irving shouldered arms to a ball that swung viciously and wrapped him on the pads. The second came moments later when Fraser Offwood tamely drove uppishly to mid-on. With the openers removed Christ’s felt firmly in the driver’s seat.
A change at both ends saw the entry of our very own apostle of Warney, Nic Kyle, who with a Voltaren laced carcass bowled with flight, turn and rat cunning to stem the runs. At the other end a svelte Michael Davidson, bowling seam up, entered the fray by picking up his bunny Sandy McLeod with a rank half-tracker that surprised him with a genuine lack of pace causing him to spoon a catch to the safe hands of ‘The Paediatrician’ at square leg. The need for further therapy for Sandy is abundantly clear.
Both bowlers continued well without further luck, but with the sustained pressure building on both Jesse Tritschler and Scott Kilday to get a move on and the insertion of the Patron Saint of Ecdysiasts, Henry Holderness, something had to give.
A gentle push square of the wicket, a “yes”, a “no”, a “Dear God NOOO” and Jesse was ‘on his bike’ after a first-class piece of fielding from Nuts Rutherford swooping in and throwing the stumps down. Drinks were taken in the 22nd over with STAC at 72/4. Christ’s forwent the offer of water and set their sights on the first beers of the day feeling very much in control.
Post drinks, St Andrew’s Old Boys came out firing with Kilday and Dalman finding the boundary regularly until Dalman missed a straight one and was adjudged LBW. Hugo Davison struck again with Alex Toohey also ‘believing in the leave’, as the ball crashed into his foot on the middle stump. The return of James ‘doing it both ways’ Thomson saw 2 more scalps, bowled and LBW and Scott Kilday who had batted superbly was obviously becoming acutely aware that he was running low on partners.
Nic Kyle returned and picked up Kilday’s coveted scalp for 48 finishing himself with figures of 1-22 off his 8 overs. Tristan ‘The Paediatrician’ Petit squeezed in one over before Woody Anderson finished off the STAC innings with a series of bouncers at Ollie Dugdale, caught Jono Davidson. Ben Patton’s mercurial keeping kept everyone guessing throughout the day with some exceptional stops and some regulation misses. Bring more darts next time, Lego!
STAC had amassed a paltry 139 all out. Lunch was taken and as usual, the Valley spread was outstanding, tasting particularly good to the Christ’s lads.
The opening pair of Patton and Woody Anderson went straight to work, Patton being the early aggressor cutting and driving with vigour. Ben fell for 22 runs and the team on 43 and cruising. What followed was a mini-collapse as Jono Davidson fell for 3 caught on the ropes then Dr Petit for 4.
Enter Jim Blakely.
Calm as a Hindu cow, Jim played some superb shots all around the wicket while Woody continued quietly accumulating from the other end. Woody finally fell for a well made 27 with the team on 90.
Michael Davidson walked out oozing hostility and went straight to work dispatching the shell shocked STAC bowlers all over the place. The two made short work of the remaining runs required, Jim finishing with 43 and Michael a breezy 23. The match was all wrapped up by Christ’s College Old Boys in the 26th over.
Many post-match libations were had and we were served brilliantly throughout the day by David Hearn and Phil Smith in the morning and Rev. Cameron Pickering and Scott Cartwright in the afternoon.
Many thanks to the Valley of Peace for the wonderful hospitality, the ground was picturesque and the deck played beautifully throughout the day, an absolute credit to the groundsman Tony Polson.
Christ’s College captain, Hugo Davison
