Before the game could get under way there was some important Mad Dog business to take care of: the distribution of new shirts (modelled stylishly in the photo by Dogs Tim Pallett and Richard Steyn)! These are the first new shirts the club has had in several years and are adorned by two important symbols. They are decorated by the brand of our new sponsor, so many thanks to Continental Pacific Travel. But they also debut our new club logo, important because we were at risk of a copyright infringement suit from the New York Mad Dogs, so apologies to them!
For poms playing on both sides this match provided a welcome distraction from the humiliation being inflicted on the national side several hundred kilometres north in Brisbane. Of course, for Australians playing on both sides, that same backdrop provided tremendous sledging material which they were happy to indulge throughout the day!
A key issue for both sides quickly became obvious as they took the field, the ground was soaked. Saturated. In places fully water-logged. This provided a very slow out field meaning that putting it into the air was the only approach to scoring runs. Catches were going to be the order of the day. Furthermore, in places it was pretty hard to cover the ground chasing the ball without finding yourself up-ended in a puddle.
Maddogs got off to a sluggish start due to the challenging conditions. An early promising cadence declined towards a 4 runs per over run rate until some remarkable batting from treasurer Ed Suttle who helped the score along with some urgency, despite his employ of Brendan as a runner. After the President's performance in the last game, it was great to see the Treasurer following suit as he retired on 25. Other retirees in the first innings included Richard Steyn and Sean Garvey (for whom retirement is expected.) Together the Dogs etched up a first innings total of 123, to which I was able to add 10 before being caught by a brilliant catch towards the boundary at mid-on. (My exit was a blessing though, as my batting partner Sean Garvey's furious, Broad-like "run-a-ball" competitive ethos did not sit well with my hangover!)
Some great catches from, in particular, President Giles and Treasurer Ed accounted for Newington who were only able to score 99 in their reply. But while catches were the order of the day, another theme that established itself early was run outs. Ironically, some scruffy Mad Dog fielding tempted Newington into chasing some illadvised extra runs and some brilliant work from keeper Saunders and part-time keeper Garvey did for a few of the slower Newington runners.
The Mad Dogs reply started well enough, but got bogged down mid way through when the run rate slumped to just 2. However, strong innings from Garvey, Steyn and Pritchard added another 106 to the score to extend the lead to 129. (I was once again clean bowled for just 2 while attempting a misguided sweep shot - a lesson I never seem to learn!)
Scoring had got harder though, not only because of the spongey ground but also because the field was now crowded with up to 5 extra fielders; albeit mostly under the age of 7 - a reflection of the heritage of Newington - full name: Newington Fathers.
Then the stage was set for an exciting finish as Newington chased down the lead. Early wickets gave the Mad Dogs confidence they were to repeat their win in last year's fixture but then a succession of gifted big hitters took to the field and punnished the canine bowling, mine included, and various Mad Dog fielders found themselves having to vault the picket fence after a series of massive sixes. Suddenly the game was getting away from us. With 3 overs to go, the required run rate was a very do-able run-a-ball.
However, some tight and effective bowling from Ant Pritchard, Keith Saunders and Sean Garvey ground the Newington run chase to a hault and took a number of important wickets, including that of dangerous Mad Dog turn-coats Jon Gill and Marcus Timpson.
So Newington fell just short but the banter and the competitive spirit has set this fixture up to be an enjoyable mainstay of the Mad Dogs season and a new rivalry is now born. Speaking of new traditions, Richard Steyn deservedly won a new Man-of-the-match award after he performed excellently with ball, bat and in the field with his usual nonchalence. Richard won a particularly attractive and colourful garden gnome.
(More pictures of the day can be found here, courtesy of Giles Bourne.)