Close finishes

Just finished chilling out to a game of cricket on the telly that was far, far closer than the one sided show that we had on Tuesday.

Somerset vs Worcestershire in a game dominated by the batsmen but where the result was determined by the bowlers. Couldn't have been a much closer finish, even though 20 minutes before the end it was looking like a foregone conclusion. Cricket is like that, unlike football where it's rare that something happens to change the Result State, every ball in cricket can change the Result State.

What do I mean by "Result State" ?

In football, it would be the score changing from 1-0 to 1-1. The Result if nothing else significant happens has changed by the event of someone scoring a goal. In baseball, think of it being a double play to close out an innings where the bases are loaded or a home run that allows a side to catch up. Result State changes don't happen too often in football, which is why I think they are very good for me to have on the telly while I'm trying to finish reading a book.

In cricket though, Result State changes happen almost every ball, especially in the new Twenty20 format which is getting so popular nowadays. I think that's why I love the game so much and is probably why my enthusiasm has infected the rest of the family :-) They're hooked too now. A shame they weren't hooked 15 years ago, they'd have caught a finish and turn around almost as exciting as any I can (barely!) remember.

The scene - it's the village cricket ground and a bit of a murky day. I liked those when bowling because the murky conditions would make the ball swing more. That was my main weapon, if you can find archive footage of one Waqar Younis, that's what I aimed for. Although I was probably more like 60-70mph instead of 90mph. I had the massive boomerang inswinger that made his bowling so devastating :-)

From what I remember, we'd batted well and set a decent target. It was a 40 over game, where bowlers could bowl a maximum of 10 each. Which meant 4 bowlers. I came on after 20, to bowl my 10 off the reel like usual. It was in my first season with the men's team and I was 17 (pre shoulder injury), so at that time I could quite happily do that on the weekends. When I started, the match was pretty well poised. I took 3 wickets in my first 9 overs but when it came around to my last over, the match looked done and dusted :

2 main bowlers finished their 10
3rd main bowler with just 6 balls left (me !)
no 4th main bowler, so easy to hit part timers to come
About 5-6 overs left (plenty of time !)
6 runs required to win (could do it in one hit)
3 wickets left (loads!)
Bloke in and batting well on 48 not out

You add that all up together and even a relative cricket novice would say : 99 times out of 100 the batting side is going to win comfortably. That's probably what 10 of the guys on our team though too. Not me - I was too young, naive and indestructible. Muahahaha - yeah right. I forgot to mention that some time through my first 9 overs I'd tweaked my back. I didn't really notice cos the adrenaline and Game Face were tuning it out.

So what actually happened ? I've given a lot of tantalizing build up but not spilled the beans :

1st ball - oh dear those stumps are going flying - that boomerang inswinger got a result
2nd ball - darn - missed em but it's ok, 48 not out guy is still at the other end
3rd ball - AEROPLANE WINGS ! Stumps are out of the ground again, next batsman please
4th ball - He runs in, He bowls, He screams a millisecond after the ball hits the pads !

And the bowling team win that 100th game out of a 100. We'd won an with an extraordinary final over, with the umpire giving a Leg Before Wicket decision that was probably a given seeing as my other 5 wickets on the night were also bowled out. We were a bit sheepish shaking the hand of the bloke on 48 not out as, by rights, they should have won that game.

Dunno how much of the above is actual memory and how much is reconstruction - but the figures are burned into my brain : 3 wickets for Mr Higginbotham who opened the bowling. Couldn't have won the game without those as my inswingers didn't tend to trouble the better batsmen. I wouldn't have got my 6 without those 3 by the other guy. My figures were 9 overs, 4 balls costing 24 runs for 6 wickets. The 10th wicket was a run out. It wasn't the best I've ever bowled, that was a 10 over spell costing 19 runs but only getting 1 wicket.

I'll be trying to keep hold of the 6 for 24 memory as long as I can, it's the best figures I'll ever get as the state of my shoulder says I won't be bowling again ... Being able to bat too is a blessing :-) Will have to see how many runs I can get when batting and run-outs I can get in the field next year.