With the success of the Riverside Indoor VI, and Captain Chadwick's match reports being the main chat in the GTCC All Stars chat it comes as no surprise that more people wanted to get involved in cricket's best format. Indoor Cricket. So, when a new league was formed we jumped at the opportunity.
First up, Chelmsford Tuskers 2nd VI. An unknown team & non-existent on Play Cricket, so, a side from Chelmsford Super Kings was selected on Play Cricket so that the match could be scored properly. First VI to represent the new side were experienced indoor campaigners Drew Whiting & Jonny Hewer, Ed Vale added to his Riverside appearances with Ryan Kennedy, Sam Yeates, Tim Logue making indoor debuts. Team Manager James Pook on umpiring duty. Toss was lost, we're batting.
Owing to the Aussies battering us constantly in the Ashes, Essex CCC have decided the league would follow Aussie style indoor rules, in an attempt to secure the Ashes next time we visit Down Under. This saw opening pair Sam Yeates & Ryan Kennedy come to the crease for their set of 4 overs. Bowser edged the ball well into the corner first ball, before RK missed the next 5. Next over, Yeatesy edges well into the corner. RK misses the next 3 before a dropped catch sees him score his first runs. The partnership continued much like this, with RK showing the England Test openers how to value their wicket (12 from 17) and Bowser frustrated at the other end (9 from 7) however no wickets lost and we were 42 from 4 overs thanks to some extras.
Value & T-Slice the next pair in. Tim sporting a brand new helmet following his end of season accident. First ball, Tim sweeps into the corner (rather than his teeth), Value calls through the run. Top heavy with the new lid, and lacking grip in the Air Max's, the feet spun, the head toppled forward, and Tim performed an Olympics worth front flip halfway down the wicket. Just like all the best gymnasts, he got straight up and completed the run. Value, solid defensive into the offside. Yes called by Tim, gets his head down to run hard, but again his helmet has him off balance, he tries to compensate with more speed, but it only ends one way. On his face halfway down the wicket. Back up in an instant, chance of a run-out, but safely home.
Tim back on strike, off his legs into the leg side. Yes called, legs spin, head forwards, will it be third time lucky? No! Another flip in the middle of the wicket, and still no run out! The pair had run 9 runs, half of which Tim had completed on his face. I wish I was making this up. Confused by the extra weight of a helmet and blaming the Air Max's, the balcony certainly enjoying it, Tim was not. The rest of the partnership was relatively uneventful, Tim did finally learn how to complete a run on his feet and hit a glorious six back over the bowlers head. Another 40 runs were put on, for the loss of two wickets this time.
Drew and Jonny the last pair to come to the crease. Experienced showed as the pair rotated the strike almost every ball and pushed the score onto 128 with just the one wicket lost between the pair.
128 in usual indoor rules is a very competitive score. Pairs cricket however anybody's guess. Value opened the bowling and took a wicket first ball, caught smartly by the still helmetted Logue. That was the first of five dismissals for the Tuskers opener. He faced 8 balls in total, scored 1 three, was stumped and caught again, before being run out twice. For a grand total of -22.
For the rest of the innings GTCC bowled pretty well, and Tuskers batted pretty well. Had it not been for their awful start (they were negative for the best part of 3 overs) the game would have been a much closer affair. Jonny the pick of the bowlers with 2/28 from his 3 overs with RK & Value the other wicket takers. Four run outs, which would have been six if Value was strong enough to knock off the plastic bails & if Tim hadn't shouted keepers end, when all Yeatsey had to do was take the bails off at the bowlers end. But in the end, those didn't matter.
A win by 31 runs was a great way to start to the campaign, we've learnt a few things like the ball spinning less & swinging more. The hall is also significantly bigger than Riverside meaning runs are a plenty. Next game is on 6th February when we face Tendring, and hopefully pick up our second win.
