27th-July-2010 CARDIAC KIDS DO IT AGAIN AS SHALFORD EDGE BLACKHEATH IN ANOTHER NAIL-BITER AT THE LANE. Match Report by Ronald Crawford Winners never quit and quitters never win – Unknown When writing about a great team performance, it can be dangerous ground to elevate one person over others and tag them a hero. It may negate the contribution of everyone else and may put pressure on the person to produce a magical performance every week. See Wayne Rooney, Alan Shearer and Michael Owen in the World Cup. However, in the short time I’ve been covering the exploits of Shalford Cricket Club, there’ve been quite a few players at the Club who don’t need to be elevated but who by virtue of their performances, stand Gulliveresque among their peers. This is not a comprehensive list of course but I am sure many will agree that there are a few people who’s stars shine brightest and they leave you with a sense of wonder and awe and tapping the person next to you saying “wow, did you see that”. Some examples that come to mine are cricketers like Drakey, one of the most exciting players to watch and a legend of a man. There is Vesty, a talented and technically gifted batsman who does not seem troubled by any bowler and always seem to have all the time he needs to play his shots. Garcon: a classy player who is one of the cleanest strikers of the ball and who can bowl spin, pace and whatever the team needs when the situation presents itself. Someone who you hate to play against but love to have on your team. There is The Hut, quality batsman and one of the gentlemen of the game. Tim Taylor, the best spin bowler in this league and many others above, bar none. Chuffer Rowe, a man who even though his body is broken down by injuries can still make the ball do amazing things and bat to any situation and the list that can go on and on. South Park, with his searing pace and bounce. Of course, time does not allow me to mention every one on that list but lately one man has been standing up for Shalford and who has been pushing, pulling and carrying Shalford’s I’ Anson league team to victory week after week. That man is Boo Shilcock who once again pulled a rabbit out of a hat and with a masterful bowling performance led Shalford to victory against our local rivals Blackheath. Before I continue it must be said that Shalford are gutted that Blackheath 2’s are not battling them for promotion again this season. They are a great bunch a lads and the matches played against them are enjoyable. They played with great spirit and the matches are often exciting, competitive but friendly and a mini local rivalry have developed with them. No doubt, Shalford will play them again soon and we wish them success for the rest of the season. On October 15, 1988, Jack Buck the announcer for the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team watched in stunned silence when Kirk Gibson of the Los Angeles Dodgers hit (arguably) one of the three most dramatic postseason homers ever in baseball. The normally loquacious Buck was stunned into silence by the heroic against the odds feat of Gibson and after recovering started screaming “I don’t believe what I just saw”. Shalford’s VCL Captain Spanky echoed the same sentiment after he played with Shalford I’Anson League Team in last Saturday’s match against Blackheath. It was another nail-biter by the Cardiac kids who kept their I’Anson League win streak alive by beating Blackheath at the Lane. It was vintage Shalford. Bowled out for 101 and holding BH to 78 to snatch an improbable victory from the jaws of defeat. Now this win would have gone down as one of the greatest wins by Shalford in their short I’Anson league history were it not marred by an unsavory off the field incident that is still being investigated by authorities to which the Club was forced to issue the following statement: “As many of you know, Shalford CC takes its tea reputation seriously so the Club is currently investigating an incident whereby milk was not provided for the tea and a tea that should have been rated A+ was downgraded due to the oversight by the tea maker. As with the impostor Jelly donut incident, the club takes this matter very seriously and there will be an investigation into allegations that the tea was sabotaged and a verdict along with the punishment for the person (Garcon) involved will be meted out in due course.” The Club wishes to stress that due to eyewitness testimony by a credible witness named Jacob, Nicky has been cleared of any wrong doing and the investigation will focus solely on the actions of one Mr. Garcon.” The results of the investigation will be published in due course. Now I’m not one to gossip, so you didn’t hear it from me but word had it that Nicky, Garcon’s gorgeous better suitor, stayed up until the wee hours of the morning, assisting him in creating the most breathtaking spread which apparently was so good that the opposition tucked into it so much so that all they wanted to do after tea was to curl up by the fire and watch Match of the Day. This tea was patterned to represent all the major cricketing regions (there was Chinese food also but maybe they play cricket there) and would have gotten a mention as a Grade A tea but as they say as a woman, you can only do so much for your man. Sometimes he has to help himself. However, Garcon who’s only job was to bring the milk, let the side down and failed at his one and only tak. Shame! How could he? It was one of the hottest days of the year, the British drink very hot tea on very hot days and even though it is the desire of many to have theirs hot, black and strong; The males seem to like milk in their tea. But rumour has it that instead of punishing all for the error of one, Nicky was immediately exonerated and thanked for the great tea and the investigators will focus all their attention on Garcon. So wha’ happened? July 24 will always be remembered as a momentous day in Shalford cricket. Not because of the missing milk but it was the day when the Shalford I’Anson League team pulled off one of the most incredible league victories and Shalford’s odds on favorite for it’s Player of the Season award, Boo Shilcock, once again etched his name in the annals of Shalford’s cricketing history with a match winning 6-22 bowling performance that edged Shalford closer to the Division 5 title. In what was in reality a seesaw battle, with periods of holding the upper hand for both sides, it was Shalford’s qualities of perseverance and determination that saw them through critical periods of play and eventually to victory. "You try to be one of the best one day, I don’t think I realized it until after it was over" said Boo after the match.” Many times, when I am dreaming of days of bowling like this I am awakened by Kenny’s snoring and I realize it's just a dream, but sometimes it becomes reality." After losing the toss and being inserted, the Shalford innings got off to the worst possible start, losing Dr. House and Rice&Peas with the total on five, with R&P walking on a very thin nick despite the limited appeal of BH. Despite some repair work from Heave Ron (22, off 53 balls with 4 fours) and Twister (9, off 28 balls, 1 four), at 62 for 6 after 25 overs, the scenario was bleak. The only real highlight was the walking of Twister to a catch that was not even appealed by the fielders. This show of honesty is amazing at this level of cricket and I am sure that like yours truly many others would have saw that happening and went home in disgust only to be pleasantly surprised to see in the papers the next day that Shalford had pulled off an incredible win. There was a brief rescue effort mounted by Garcon (21, off 32 balls with 4 fours) and a measured supporting innings by Spanky, coming in at number nine, who made 14 from 29 balls with 2 fours. Needless to say, a total of 101 was not what was needed and everyone moved away from the Captain who seemed to be in a not so good mood. Hodges finished with 4 for 34 in 9 overs, while Allen took 3 for 27 in 11 overs, but the best of the BH bowlers was perhaps the “all sorts” bowler Cozens, 3 wickets in 6 overs but conceding a mere 13 runs. After a few choice words by Captain House, Shalford took the field nervously and looked to Boo and the Wiggly one Vorster to get straight into the opposition. In reply, BH made a slow but steady start, with Cozens (25) trudging along at a decent pace with his opening partner Parrot (14) surviving at the other end. Parrot who was dropped 3 times by Shalford seemed like lady luck had kissed him today because nowhere else in Shalford could you find so many edges other than in the kitchen of Wing Hung Chinese restaurant. But once he fell, Blackheath lost their way completely and Shalford who had vast experience in these nail biters knew that once 2 or 3 wickets fell, it was game on. But with Shalford, there is always a comical moment or two and it happenedat the 3rd drop of Parrot that Boo lost it and began begging his teammates to catch the ball or put him out of his misery. When the 3rd catch went down to the unfortunate R&P, Boo let out such a blood curdling yell we all thought that he had just been told that the Chinese restaurant was no longer serving Egg fried rice and R&P had a look on his face only seen before on the face of the gopher in caddy shack. Someone was going to be cuffed and stuffed tonight and we all knew who it was. However, failing to get the breakthrough, Shalford pulled out the oldest trick in the book and provided BH with an amazing tea that we all knew that it was only a matter of time before they wanted to put their feet up and turn on the TV. However, the good money was still on a draw and Shalford had to take wickets. After tiring of watching drop catch after drop catch by fielders, Boo got Cozens to chase a wide one and he cut it high and hard to Heave Ron who took it casually as if he had been taking them every week. This was the catalyst of BH demise and once that breakthrough occurred, BH batsmen disappeared early and often back to the pavilion. Spanky got Parrot to chip one up to Garcon who made an ok catch with lots of embellishment for the cameras. Giles was bowled for a duck by Shilcock with a delivery that he played at about 1 minute after it zoomed past his bat. Spanky not wanting to be upstaged by Boo grabbed another courtesy of Garcon who once again made an easy catch look difficult and then Boo took over and with Lowme bowling lightning bolts at the other end proceeded to tear the BH middle and lower order apart, and they lost their remaining wickets for only 16 runs to be all out for 78 and slide to a 23 run defeat. Boo eventually finished with 6 for 22 in his 11 overs, with LRBM Lowme also bowling brilliantly to take 2 for 10 in 3 overs. Spanky more than matched LRBM’s performance, recording extraordinary figures of 3 for 33 in 6 overs. It was fitting that Boo one of the architects of Shalford`s now famous win would get the last wicket when he produce a jaffer of a delivery that trapped Harfleet for a duck and this was followed by widespread celebrations - the bowler suffering from a state of cryarrhea, not hesitating to take off his shirt and hugging everyone in sight. With this win, Shalford had broken the sequence of 2 consecutive losses to Blackheath and felt that they were on their way to an historic title. In his post match press conference, Captain Kenny said, “How many years off my life has this team cost me?” “Some days you hope for a winning draw but with this team it is all or nothing.” “But thank god I avoided the DOTD shirt! Whew!” “In cricket, sometimes you just have to trust your team and believe,” Dr. House said. “You can give everything in a match and not be successful, but for some reason this team, we seem to pull it out every time. I think that has become the special quality of this team.” Wicket keeper Biscuit, a man of a few words, even made an appearance at the press conference and said “we are rightly overjoyed with our team’s performance and our great victory” “We proved that we can overcome adversity and the only way from here is up!’ BH captain Harfleet was extremely disappointed: “We failed to convert a good start into a positive one. Good luck to Shalford!” Long after the spectators left and darkness settled on the Surrey hills, the team and the few hard core supporters stayed behind to BIRG and sat in their traditional circle of love and talked late into the night before heading into town for the celebratory curry. What’s not to love about a team that never quits, that shakes off adversity that keeps playing hard no matter what? And when it was mentioned that the season had only 5 league matches left, we all thought it, it but we are scared to say it, that we are experiencing something special here and we will remember these times forever. This is a summer of our dreams. As I think about the great memories of the season so far, chilling with my Band of Brothers and thinking of those 5 special days we have left, I can see clearly the despairing look on Colonel Kilgore’s face in the movie Apocalypse Now when he famously said “Someday, this war's gonna end...” Ball(s) of the day: LRBM Lowme's missile to O'brien. - WOW!! Moment of the day: Garcon amazing catches from silly point Catch of the day: Heave Ron catch that set the ball rolling. DOTD: R&P - Cuffed and stuffed MOTM THE MANCHILD (Written on 27-Jul-2010) View Full Scorecard