A tight and exciting finish for the second week running saw the Saddoes narrowly squeeze past Crabtree by 5 runs and maintain their 100% winning record for the season. This was the club’s first ever victory over Crabtree, but for some time it looked like we would endure the kind of drubbing that we have experienced at their hands in the past. However, good teamwork and tight bowling in pressure situations meant that the run chase was just too much for them.

Skipper Peel won the toss and opted to bat. In walked James and, making a welcome return, Pip. Very tight bowling meant that the first couple of overs yielded just a couple of runs, but these sensible Saddoes were just playing themselves in. Soon the scoreboard was ticking over nicely as both openers found the boundary and ran hard to turn singles into twos. Then Pip was surprised by one that found some extra bounce bounced and presented a catch to the short cover fielder. He was replaced by Richard who helped James keep the score climbing until James retired. In came Graham, who had hardly got going when he chased a wide one down leg side. The ‘keeper appealed, the umpire gravely shook his head, but Graham very sportingly walked. He had got the slightest of nicks which the bowler, umpire and non-striker did not hear.
Michael came and went briefly, skying a catch in the quest for quick runs. The new batsman was Rupert, who had a torrid time at the start of his innings against fast and accurate bowling. He survived, however, and was soon striking the ball to all corners of the ground, supported by Richard who continued to score at a brisk rate. This partnership ended when both players retired, to be replaced by Harsha and Glenn. The former carried on where he left off last week, scoring quickly and teasing the fielders with deft flicks and drives that just beat them to the boundary. Harsha fell to another top class catch by Crabtree’s wicketkeeper and, like Graham, walked sportingly. Glenn, meanwhile, was not hanging around and was swinging at most deliveries, connecting with many and racing to XX before being bowled attempting another heave over long on. The last over saw Matt cruelly run out after another smart piece of work by the keeper – knocking over the stumps from quite a distance with only one to aim at. Simon and WG then scrambled a single apiece to take the score to a very creditable 160.

With high hopes of defending their score, the Saddoes took to the field. WG and Rupert opened the bowling and for the first couple of overs the Crabtree openers were restricted to the odd single by tight bowling and enthusiastic fielding. Then, towards the end of Rupert’s second over Crabtree’s Bailey found his range and hit two sixes into the nettles at the Hypocaust end. Worse was to come when Simon then bowled from the same end and went for four 6s and a 4 from the same batsman. Mercifully he then retired for an unbeaten 49, but the onslaught continued in the next over as Graham went for 12 runs from the now rampant Crabtree batsmen. With the required run rate now less than 5 an over and the Saddoes contemplating a humiliating defeat, something needed to be done to stem the flow of runs. Up strode Glenn whose usual rapid, accurate bowling shook up the Crabtree batsmen and dried up the runs. He went for just 3 runs from his two overs, and this proved to be the turning point.
The rattled batsmen now started making errors, there was a run out and a fine catch by Harsha from Michael’s first over and then James’ natural variations kept the batsmen on their toes and the scoring rate down. Matt, Richard and Harsha kept the pressure up, the former forcing a catch by Pip, who was having an energetic evening behind the stumps.

So, with three overs to go and 21 needed on came Simon to complete his second over, having been hit for 28 in his first. Fortunately for him the batsmen facing him were in a completely different mood, and he managed to prevent them scoring more than 5. Next up for a comeback over was Graham who was inspired by the change of ends and picked up two wickets, his loud celebrations showing how much they meant to him. More importantly, the score only advanced by 6, meaning that 10 were required from the last over, bowled by Harsha. The first ball hit the pad, the batsmen tried for a leg bye, but the umpire had already raised his finger. The next two balls yielded 3 runs so 7 was required from 3 balls. The next ball was hit down to Michael at midwicket and the batsmen gambled for a second run against his throw. Time seemed to stand still as the ball sailed towards the wicket and the batsman struggled to make his ground. Eventually Harsha was able to gather the ball and disturb the bails with the batsman just short. 6 required from two balls, then. The next ball was mis-hit and almost ended in another run out, but went into the scorebook as a dot. So, with a 6 required from the final ball, Harsha decided against the old Aussie tactic of bowling underarm along the ground. Instead the batsman came forward to a good length ball, missed it by a mile, and was stumped by Pip to complete a fine performance with the gloves.

Having now beaten Crabtree for the first time there are now just three scalps that the Saddoes have yet to claim in 20/20 combat: Fisher’s (of course), Park Street and Killigrew. The latter two we have not played this year because the fixtures with them were rained off, so this will need to remain a target for 2016.