It often seems that the tone of the match is generally set within the opening moments of arrival and this second match against the Sydney Goons was no exception. Upon arrival I began to seek some briefing on the opposition - as I had missed the earlier encounter with them. "They know what they are doing" I was told. "That's hardly fair" I thought, not really being in the spirit of Maddog cricket. "Look at the size of them," said another, "they're big guys, likely to give it a bt of tonk." "Yikes" I thought.
In fact though, as the first innings took shape, I began to feel the Maddogs might have their measure. Moreover, as our turn in the field reached its final quarter I pondered whether this was one of the better Maddogs performances I had seen. With several new recruits showing remarkable promise, our bowling attack was reassuringly tight and consistent. Wickets fell pretty regularly, and there were sharply executed run-outs and impressive catching and some excellent wicket keeping from Welshman Mark Harvey. All round we kept their first innings total to a clipped 113 and put on a fairly solid 94 ourselves (with no particular help from me who openedthe batting as well as the bowling!) So at the half way point, the affair was well balanced.
But then the tables turned. As the heat piled up the Maddogs tired, and with the Goons having cleverly stacked their batting order in reverse so their strongest batsmen came out in the second half, the lead grew at a rapid rate. The size of some of their big hitters was brought to bear on what was a slightly scruffier bowling effort from us - well, specifically from me - and the runs mounted. You could say they made hay while the sun shone. In fact, a chap called Hay particularly did, and another chap named Struggles...didn't. Overs were expensive, and wickets weren't falling, and several of them retired on 20. Soon their lead was something in the order of 160-odd. In 20 overs, and a run rate ranging from 8 to 9 per over, this seemed something of an ask.
But while some of us were down-hearted our debut captain, Anthony Cheshire, led from the front, taking the field with a sense of purpose and racking up an impressive 15 himself as several Dogs batted aggressively and with some urgency. Not least of which was urstwhile-Goon-turned-Maddog Marcus Timpson (who played for them on the last outing). What seemed an unsurmountable target slowly but steadily became more and more do-able. Although we ultimately came up some 30 runs short when the overs ran out, both Dogs and Goons were surprised the affair ended as close as it did.
With a hint of Dunkirk about it, what could have been an inglorious kicking to finish the season ended up something approacing a moral victory and leaves the Dogs in excellent spirit for the end of season dinner in May. Bring on next season!