Match Report
Thursday 2 July –v- Old Elthamians at Foxbury
Crusaders preserved their long unbeaten 20/20 record with a dramatic, victory achieved from the penultimate ball of the innings. Against a strong Elthamians eleven, Crusaders welcomed Lucky Singh for debut and Softy Timms for a first game of the season.
On a humid evening Elthamians took the opportunity to bat first, with the openers taking an immediate liking to the pace of Danglers and complete lack of any pace provided by Mr Taylor. With Crusaders looking shoddy in the field it looked like it was going to be an evening of toil. Despite getting carted all round Chislehurst it was Mike who made the initial breakthrough, removing both openers with 'even slower' balls.
Lockwood (75) ensured that the scoring rate remained brisk, with some lusty blows, but Crusaders gradually exerted some control, with good spells from Jabs and Spud. Eventually we raised our game in the field, with superb run outs from Jabs and Lucky and at the umpteenth attempt, a successful stumping from Simply. Timmo was pick of the bowlers, despite looking several yards slower each year that he plays, picking up 2-25 and the innings was polished off by Moysey courtesy of two almost identical catches from Spud at mid on. At one stage it looked like we would be chasing at least 160, but a good back end restricted Elthamians to 139.
A sparkling opening stand of 69 between Chand (Poison Ivy) and Jagdesh (Ace of Spades) put us firmly in control. For once it was Jagdesh who played second fiddle, as Chand struck 11 boundaries in an entertaining 51. His innings was ended by a superb catch on the boundary, which started a mini collapse. Jagdesh and Gary - playing anything but a 'Blockbuster' followed soon after and it took a dashing 28 from Gord, who was obviously inspired by his Michael Jackson entry music to put us back on track. Elthamians maintained a high standard in the field throughout, which combined with the Crusaders in-built ability to press the self-destruct button, meant that the game was always going to go to the wire. Some nonsensical running from Timmo, followed by a ridiculous dance down the track, ensured the loss of 3 wickets, with the score anchored on 127. This left the final pairing of Moyse and Taylor 2 overs to score the required 13 runs for victory. A few scampered singles and a couple of lusty blows from 'The Wanderer' and we were home.
