DISCLAIMER – Eaton Bray Cricket Club does not condone the actions of the 1st XI as described below. Please pay close attention to all government advice.

After we all received our Emergency Alert from the government on Friday evening, it was great to see on Saturday that Eaton Bray’s 1st XI are still committed to keeping the proud British tradition of the barbeque alive, despite all advice to the contrary.

We arrived at a suitably charred Greenwood Park, with what was clearly going to be a quick outfield and an unpredictable wicket. Undeterred, and on advice from our own high-value transfer from Greenwood Park Nasir Ali, stand-in skipper Dave Emerson won his second toss on the bounce and opted to bat first.

Andy and Liam Norris opened up the innings, showcasing contrasting styles – Andy’s more like a quickly charred, rare rib-eye, whilst Liam went for the low and slow cooked brisket. Andy departed for a breezy 23, caught in the covers, and the aptly nicknamed Beef Braddon fell soon after to one the nipped back in and stayed a little low. Ben Nye had seemingly been marinating in some sort of malt liquor overnight, but managed to form the beginnings of a partnership with Liam before offering a return catch to the spinner for 9.

This brought head grill cook Azeem Akhtar to the crease, and that’s when we really got into the meat of the action. Liam was the first to be skewered, run out by a direct hit for a patient 15. Harry Chown saw what could be coming, and decided he would hack across the line to get out for 6 before he could become the next victim. Syed Shah and Stefan Bennett were the two other shrimps on the barbie as both were run out with 4 to their name. Azeem kept going for what would end up being the high score of the day, 45, until he was bowled attempting to dispatch a full toss and Dave Emerson and Guy Edwins never got beyond pink in the middle as the embers of the innings died down, with Nasir left stranded on 6 not out. The final score was 144 all out – we needed some good performances with the ball and in the field.

Up stepped Dave and Guy to open the bowling, Dave finding some good movement and Guy some hostile pace and bounce straight away. Dave struck twice in his second over, both caught by Azeem at slip, the first in particular a sharp low chance taken just off the ground. Some of the good work seemed to be coming undone as first Dave went for 3 consecutive boundaries and then we won’t discuss Guy’s fifth over, but Dave took another two wickets, one drag-on and one caught at mid-off to leave Greenwood Park at 54-4. The number 6 came out swinging, and Dave’s ninth over got dispatched for 25 at which point, in an act of pure cowardice, he removed himself from the firing line and brought Nasir into the attack. His first ball was also smeared for 6, but then the change worked at the second time of asking, Andy Norris taking a good catch at long-on to end a knock of 30 off just 11 balls. At the other end, Syed had been bowling nicely away from the drama, and chipped in with a well-deserved wicket of his own, caught by Ben, making the score 89-6, which then became 89-7 and 94-8 as Nasir bowled two more batters, exploiting the sharp turn on offer. They needed 50 more runs with just two wickets left and we were now the firm favourites.

However, Greenwood Park’s skipper had come in at number 8 and batted sensibly in a good partnership with their number 10. Our one minor fielding blip of the day came as the number 10 was dropped off Nasir, and it increasingly looked like that could be costly as the runs needed for victory kept coming down. With Syed not finding any more luck, Stefan came into the attack but the spin twins couldn’t find that next breakthrough. Dave brought himself back for his last over as a last throw of the dice with 6 runs needed, and found a wicket, Guy taking a good catch, Dave finishing with figures of 5-46. Syed had been re-introduced in place of Stefan and found himself bowling the next over with Greenwood Park needing 4 to win, with numbers 10 and 11 now at the crease.

The first ball of the over was smacked out towards deep mid-wicket, where Guy pulled off an excellent diving stop to keep them to 2 runs and still 1 run behind. The field all came in to save the single. The second ball was a dot, but the third one was skied to Andy Norris who made no mistake and we completed the win by 1 run. Nasir came away with superb figures of 3-19 from 8 overs, including 4 maidens, and Syed was even more miserly in his 2-20 from 9.3 overs, including 3 maidens. A nail-biting game of cricket which was enjoyable to play in against a good bunch – and hopefully the win will go some distance towards ensuring that we meet again in Division 6A next season.