I was surprised to receive a text on Tuesday asking if I wanted to play a game against the SCC on Saturday. I was more surprised when I turned up on Saturday to discover that it was not the SCC Saturday Social side we were playing but a mix of Tigers and Panthers??? (I am not sure, but they were mainly league players anyway.) A number of Misfits were evident in the opposition side with Messrs Dorney, Duddy, Martin, Reddy and Ashok all turning out for the bad guys. On paper it looked a little one sided, but we declined the offer of player swapping to even things out and insisted that the SCC play with the team they had selected and promised not to be too hard on them!

The Misfits were Johann, Anil, James, Ash, Moose, Durga, Todd, Madhu, Lorraine, Nish and our captain Rubbish who lost the toss, but we somehow managed to bat first anyway. Johan opened with Anil, and proceeded to solve the issue of what has been happening to Qantas jets flying out of Singapore by demonstrating how any ball hit by him becomes a hazard to aircraft, he smashed them everywhere before retiring on 50 odd. Anil made a well compiled and chanceless Golden which meant James joined Johan. Holding the bat the wrong way proved no impediment as he began to pepper all parts of the ground...runs were flowing as was banter with the SCC boys not shy in sharing their views....Ash was next in and contributed a compact innings as did Nish, Durga and Madhu (Nish hit a couple of 6's but blighted his copybook by smashing one straight into Lorraine at the non-strikers end, prematurely ending her onslaught of the bowling), ...Lorraine also took a body blow from Dorney which obviously fired her up as she  proceeded to hit him out of the attack, Rubbish did what he does best and stood beautifully at the non-strikers end. Not all batsmen have been mentioned; you can read between the lines.

So all out for 155 with 4 overs remaining...not a great score but then again not terrible either.

Tea was taken, cigarettes were smoked, and shit was talked, with the end result being almost universal agreement that the Misfits were no chance. At least that was the opinion of the men in the funny yellow and black hats.

Rubbish opened the bowling with Todd and bowled beautifully with no luck. Todd on the other hand bowled like a man shot through the heart but managed to pick up a wicket, he then retired to the pavilion to be eventually replaced by Mikey who had come down to watch, thus increasing both the enthusiasm and athleticism of the fielding unit. After 7 overs SCC were 1 down for about 40 odd (no scorebook, sorry) James entered the attack and bowled a very tidy over first up, with no hint of what was to follow. His second over was a maiden...oh and he picked up 4 wickets!

He also got one with the first ball of his 3^rd over (catch of the year by Ash Perrot) to see him pick up 5 wickets in 7 balls, having been on a hat-trick twice! SCC was in tatters with the score now standing at 6-55 after 11 overs. Misfits being misfits though, we wanted to make a game of it. Moose dropped a couple, one of which was without doubt the easiest catch of the year (a wonderful run-out  by Ash aside) the fielding was average, the bowling only marginally better and the SCC total steadily built. Eventually SCC needed 31 from the last 4 overs with 3 wickets in hand....another wicket to James and the retirement of Reddy helped to steady the ship and a great last over from the skipper saw us home by about 10 runs.

Man of the Match was a close run thing, but James just managed to outstrip Johann.

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We all know fielding under a blazing hot sun with humidity near 100% isn't great fun, but I've seldom seen such an effort to get off the oval for a rest and beer as that of Charlie. Not for him the idea of waiting a few overs before faking an injury, oh no, third ball of the innings let's go for an absolutely spectacular catch, just miss it and disappear down in a drainage trench. Emerge bloodied and bruised, and bob's your uncle, off to the bar to recuperate for the next 15 overs!

Actually, Charlie's heroics capped one of the most astounding opening overs I've witnessed. Four sixes, 29 runs, two dropped catches. But before you feel devastated for bowler Todd, he did get his man in his next over, taking out gun Hewlett-Packard hitter and wickie Kennie, a rare breed of bloke who doesn't quite get the social side of social cricket. Nara kept things tight at the other end and after the drama of the opening over, the Misfits were back in the game.

The blow-in from Beijing, the rapidly-aging Lothario known as Dave Grey, showed that age can be beautiful and picked up a wicket in his first over of cricket for four years. He got better as he bowled more, collecting another wicket and pinning back the opposition.

But it was down to the Muralitharan of the Misfits to really take the heart of HP's batting. OK, apart from the fact he's a fat, nearly blind, short, impressively-jowled, red-faced ang mo, Blocker is very like the great Sri Lankan. Certainly he's a canny bowler, and was deprived of a wicket with his first ball only by a dubious no ball. No matter, he got his man a few deliveries later and picked up another wicket to end with 2 for 11 off three.

Our death bowlers, Amit, Rod and Vasant were all nice and tidy, not so Nish, who bowled the worst ball of the day and still got a wicket as he dazzled a batsman with a slow, dipping full toss that should have been hit to Tuesday. Ah well, the old saying of "sh%t in, sh&t out" still applies. A target of 169 in 25 overs seemed well within reach.

Things started well enough with Charlie hitting some lusty fours before Rod sauntered to a run out and Vasant edged one behind after a brace of sixes (sorry mate, there really was a nick!). This brought Ugly Dave and dodgy Pom blow-in Paul to the wicket, where they promptly decided it was a test match and they could take a few overs (like 10) to play themselves in. After a while, they did get it going, Paul hitting a memorable four and Dave going on to top score with 47 not out, as nobody told scorer Blocker we were retiring at 35. (And speaking of scoring, what's a dog's breakfast he made of the sheet!) From there on the run rate was above 10 an over, meaning risky shots, and that saw Nara out after a few fours, same for Amit. Nish excelled himself with a six but Blocker and Todd departed cheaply, leaving a returning Dave to score 15 off the last ball, a feat he inexplicably failed to pull off. Still, a good game and there was always the beer to look forward to. Speaking of beer, there is a Misfits tradition that thankfully didn't exist when I played my only prior game. Newbies must drink a beer from a box. In this case the box belonged to Blocker and had been worn by him and Paul during the game. Yeuch! Anyway, both Dave and Paul drank, and the outcome was the ongoing dispute as to whether Poms or Aussies whinge more was finally settled in favor of the Poms. Paul's comment was "salty," Dave bitched on until somebody shoved a cigar and a beer in his mouth, thus allowing the serious drinking to start.

Day started  with total mix up, which ground we were playing... Dempsey or CSC. Why like that one la...

After realizing the match has been shifted to CSC with in couple of minutes, the boys drove down rabbit hole, to PIE then CTE exiting at CSC.... to play SCC.

Match started at 2, with Toddy opening the match from school end.... We got to a fly fly start with Todd getting a wicket in the 2^nd ball of the match... caught by truly yours... YA I hear you boys... Mikey catching... what in the world is happening... it's my quota for the whole year k... Happy... "Abi" the Wooka Coke man from the road end was quicker & more accurate with a two step run up than his 15 yard run up...

SCC was on cruise mode with Trevor smashing a quick 50; at the end of 14^th overs SCC were 119 /2.  Introduction of Moose and Charlie seemed to have tightened the screws on SCC, as they were losing wickets at regular intervals.  Moose picking up 3 wickets and Charlie 1 . Not sure how Abi picked up 3 wickets. Toddy, true misfits bowling with groin injury manage to pick up 2, Jamie the youngest edition to the team on that day picked up his 1^st wicket, captain of the SCC (Suresh).

185 was the target set for the Misfits. Wooka Coke (Abi) & flying South African (Charles JK) started with blasting quick fire. After spot fixing with Moose, Abi got bowled for 15 runs, dragging a slow... slow ...slow ball into stumps. Pete started the inns with a boundary but return to baby sit his boys, run out -  stumped on wide delivery , but full credit goes to keeper for the sharp take and removing the master blaster. "Coach Charlie " & "flying South African" Charles squared rocketed the run rate. Both scoring   51runs each in 32 balls and retiring. Needing 70 runs of remaining 14 over, in came the veteran old horse Hammer and new kid on the block Jamie. Toddy was quick to follow, left the wicket with his trade mark six.  The two veteran old horses (Hammer & Moose) steady the inns with singles and occasional boundaries (YAWN...) sealed the win with 5 overs to spare.

JD and Beers were present in typical fashion for the end of match tribal gathering.

On behalf of the boys who played on Saturday, Suresh thanks you for getting us the ground in short notice and making the match possible.

Misfit team list:-

Abi, Charles , Pete, Charlie, Charles, Hammer , Jamie ,Toddy , Moose , Nishla and Mikey V

A hot and sunny day brought about a run fiesta for the Mighty Misfits and the Kamasutras. Who would have thought that middle aged men could compile over 400 runs in an explosive manner

Now even though the misfits did pull of a marginal victory I would like to take this opportunity to do a competitive analysis of the key players that made this game a standout.

Hammer VS ABI

I think we would all agree that Abi probably played the best innings of his life, disrespecting hammer in true Indian style. Hammer did have his say with the bat. But after the punishment he received lacked the courage to come on for a second spell while Abi was happy to get pounded  during his spell and still had the  moral fibre to come back to bowl the last over to Pete who bent him over several times..well done Abi ...

Malcom VS Rakesh

Malcolm returned to the Misfits in style and his keeping skills were leaps ahead of Rakesh who kept on jumping over the ball instead. Rakesh’s ‘Ganguly’ like innings was a pleasure to watch and it was one of the many examples where a Misfit surprises himself.

Mike VS 14 y old Patrick

 Mike brings a vast amount of professional coaching and playing experience to the game, he is also one of the founding fathers of school boy cricket in Singapore. However 14 y old Patrick had his way with Mike and none of us got to see the master in action.

Nishan and Amar VS Tuck and Amit

Your presence and motivation on the field on and off are always inspiring. Keep it up ...

Ramesh you bowled too well and I can’t compare you to any one ....

At the end of the day a great day for cricket and one could wonder if not for one particular last over if the game would have ended the same.

Match Shorts - Misfits 191 after 25 Overs - SACC all out for 95 - Skipper Latts - Man of the Match Eddie Beveridge - Retirements Dharmik & Nara. Tallies sunk 68.

It was one of those wonderful overcast days that shielded mad dogs and Misfits from the midday sun. The weather was just perfect - low humdity, a little drizzle and every now and then a gusty breeze that had players turning their back to dust rising from the square.

The Misfit ranks were belching to the brim with mixed talent and banter - including our usual heady mix of league & non league players topped by some players that are well err.... in a league of their own...

1.Inzy (Cpt) 2. Big Beer 3.Little Beer 4.Lorraine 5.Matt English 6.Reddi (wkt) 7.Jack 8.Ravi Sobers 9.Childsy 10.Ed Molony 11.NishLa + Impartial umpire Todd

In a gentelmanly gesture skipper Inzy gave SCC the choice at the toss - SCC chose to bat, relegating Misfit beers to the 2nd half.

Childsy opened the bowling in fierce form taking a wicket with his 3rd ball. Together with Little Beer fresh from his 14th birthday in Aus they pinned down the batting to a limp wristed start. However the tide turned with SCC's latest draft Rohit waking up to score a well measured 57.

Good spells from Ravi Sobers, Big Beer and Jack slowed SCC to 80 runs from the 1st 15 overs.

The second half  continued with Inzy cleverly rotating the bowling to give everyone a go, whilst putting on the handbrake when SCC started to make in-roads. The runs continued to tick over without wickets falling. Inzy then decided to abort the Mr Nice Guy strategy and brought on the big gun - Misfits original WMD (Woman of Mass Destruction) Lorraine Meyer.

Lorraines spell was nothing short of masterly...with text book flight above the batsmans eyeline, she had seasoned vets flailing like windmills at balls that never seemed to drop.

The result was another Misfit 1st in Singapore history. Not only was Lorraine a few years back the 1st woman to play in a male side - she is now the first woman to take 5 wickets...making it even sweeter was to share the moment with our great cricketing buddies the bastions of Singapore cricket, SCCs Saturday XI.

After Lorraine had ripped through their middle order,  the innings saw SCC skipper Matt Streeton and Jeremy wall score some quick runs to raise their tally to a very respectable179 for 9.

Lorraine lead both sides off the pitch to a standing ovation from Misfits and SCC comrades alike with the despatched batsman cheering the loudest.

After the regulation Samosa,Splosh and Cig break - Inzy and Ed Maloney padded up to kick off  the Misfit reply.

After scoring 20 in the 1st few overs Inzy fell to an amazing diving (not tripping) catch from Ashok. Ed loitered with intent scoring an in form few 6's, getting out on a very well struck 26. 

Childsy came in to anchor the innings with a steady 42 including 4x4's and a 6 & Little Beer battled with flare to end on a 'thats ma boy'  33... And though the Misfits didnt quite catch SCC (by 27 runs) the innings ended with Lorriane leading both teams off the field unbeaten.

With our Sisterly Spirits playing on CSC we trooped back to enjoy our apres cricket activity with beer flowing great banter and a toast to Little Beer & Lorraine for great Misfit perfrormances.

With SCC pulling back to 1:1, the stage is set for a thrilling finale to our 3 match series on Aug 14th at Dempsey. The guys will be putting on a BBQ and the beers will be ice cold so come down and enjoy the cricket, beer and laughter.

French cricket, all of you know surely, is a variation of the game, where there is only one batsman at any given time. Your legs are the wicket, and as soon as someone bowls at you, you surrender, move to Vichy and wait for the Americans to bat instead. Whilst the Misfits were not quite that bad we did do our best to hand the game to the opposition, showing a true sense of hospitality to our visitors.

We were told this was to be a very friendly game, I did not realize that the friendliness would extend until 12.30 at night, with a massive drink-up following the game, I think this is the only time I have experienced where the post-mortem lasted longer than the actual game ! The YG’s (Young Gentlemen apparently…although the name is obviously now a little out of date!) were a great bunch of guys who had spent a week playing in Malaysia and Singapore. We decided to play a double wicket game with each pair batting 5 overs with 5 runs deducted for each wicket.

I don’t have the score sheet and courtesy of the post match drinks can’t remember too much about the scores, but I do know that when you lose about 20 wickets in 30 overs it is kind of hard to win. Jack was out 4 times, Toddy 4 times, Rubbish at least 3 times and many others at least 1. Bad for the scoreboard, but great for the fines!

I think they won, but not sure by how much, but it didn’t really matter, everyone got a bat and a bowl and everyone was pretty happy at the end of the day.

Hard to pick a man of the match from our side, Rubbish and Rakesh actually batted pretty well and both bowled beautifully, Toddy still managed to score a positive 30 odd with some really big sixes despite getting out several times (including caught off his melon) But, for keeping up the old tradition of getting a bat, then injuring yourself before you have to field my Man of the Match goes to Gareth Stapleton, well played.

A day of Misfit Records - winning by >150 Runs

Record 1. 288 in 30 Overs...Whoa.. the biggest competitive score since Misfit records began to be written (around 2004).

Record 2. First Misfit Kiwi to win man of the match - Sean "I can hold my breath for a picture" Hankin, 37 NO including 3 mighty 6's + many might leaps behind the stumps

The record breaking team  1. Ravi 2. Matt English 3. Sean Hankin (Wkt) 4. Shane Meyer 5. Moose (Co-Cpt) 6. Durga 7. Madhu 8. NishLa Ponsafagoffaniwun  (Co-Cpt) 9. Reddi 10. Pete Black Label Alexander 11. Abhi Wooka Coke

A heartening win. Heartening because the last time we met TGA we had sides of a similar standard...playing a similar 2 x 15 over format....and we managed to snatch victory with only a few balls to go.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that this Misfit side was stacked by the many league player in our ranks....but you'd be wrong. Only Pete & Abhi were present....also I guess Reddi counts too but he only played with one arm given the other was stiched up.

It was batting from the likes of Moose, Shane Meyer, Sean Hankin & Ravi that peppered side screens this time....with Pete playing a near perfect late order Cameo. The bowling wasn't half bad either with everyone getting to turn their arm.... Shane and Pete Opening the bowling and getting wickets in quick succession and then most of the side getting amongst the action with a wicket a piece.

The main thing was that the match as ever Vs TGA was played in great humor, with beers flying from the halfway mark, that lasted well into the night. Theres nothing quite like....infact there is nothing like.... sitting on the field at CSC with a bunch of goodfellas imbibed by purile banter and a fair few tallies. Its days like these that we will remember.

Innings of note:

Moose 27 - Opened admirably to open the Misfit deposit, hit a 6 and a few 4's ran a few too many until age got the better of him.

Shane 35 Ret - No army or girls this weekend...obviously a lot of pent up agression here...taken out duly on the opposition.

Pete - 32 in 13 balls...whoooa only 1 lost ball this time. Caught behind a ball before the walk of glory

Ravi - 33 Ret - Batted consistantly...playing the Voyeur role as Pete came and left during his innings

Sean - 37 Ret - Boom Boom Hankin...3 sixes..what a ripper

NishLa - winning the skippers boatrace after a tie and rematch

Highlights of a fantastic day where both teams batted 13, laughed, played hard & celebrated being Misfits in every which way thats possible....

- A fab mixed Misfits team NishLa, Stevey B, Loraine, Ravi,  Mikey, Rajes, Dharmik, Vicky, Ashley, Angela, Chris, Tabish, King Covel, Eddie...and of course our bollywood umpiring partnership Lakshmi & Nara

- Misfits skipper NishLa wins the toss Vs TGA Skipper Nick Hughes (Also a Misfit) and elects to bat

- Our openers  do their job: Dharmik & Ravi fire freely with lust blows at both ends,  retiring with quick 30's

-  Batting in mixed pairs we knock up 193 after 30 overs, notable swingers were Rajes & Vicky who both batted well to get to into their teens, Virgin Ashley who batted like a pro, Mikey who on his birthday looked like a pro, and Tabish who at the tender age of 14 made an enthusiastic batting debut...and of course NishLa who came in a the end swung the bat for a bit like a Dutch Windmill

- TGA fielded spectacularly well, with some amazing catches, notably Inzy's catch after a straight drive was deflected back by silly Mid On into the hands of Mr Inzy... simply amazing. There were also some other great catches on the boundaries....TGA were prolific in the field and James Morley bowled very very well indeed

-  We opened the Misfit bowling with our Singapore National Squad, Vicky & Rajes... they did a great job to beguile the TGA batsman removing their top order for under 20. Inzy cam in at number 3 but soon returned to the beer tent after being caught by NishLa for the 2nd time in the season...high up on the boundary. One thinks one more prata for breakfast will help.

- Ravi came on as strike bowler and took 3 wickets if memories serve true - he varied the pace and confused the batsman with his straight spin 

- Misfit virgins Ashley & Chris bowled & fielded demonstrating plenty of Ashes potentia, watch out for these guys....they definately know which of the bat to hold...

- Eddie and Andy Bowled very well to keep up a tight middle section....and Dharmik contained the TGA tail just when it looked like James Morley, who batted elegantly throughout to retire and return at the death, would bash their way to victory....

- Andy's earth shattering dives in the field.... when this boy dives he dives with all his heart...

- For guys who play with bigger balls the TGA fella's played some great cricket and could have easily won.... they are a great bunch of guys who like to drink lots of beer and play balls out...

- Dharmik was voted man of the match for bowling a few maidens over and clobering the ball for 38... Ravi was the best mans bridesmaid who ran very close behind both with ball and bat...

 - A great day.... and some great characters

PS. Steve the Big Lens Blaxhall also played for the Misfits team, though his most memorable moments involved beer...

I was really looking forward to this game. The opportunity to trot out for the Misfits, have a stack of beers and hopefully get a good optic at some of the wafer-thin, tic-tac-smuggling artistes that might show up to cheer their team on (you know, the ones that grace the local TV channels and those cheesy weight loss ads in the Straits Times).  It was only when I got to the ground that I realised our opposition was Mediacom and not Mediacorp. So two outta three would have to do.

Mediacom wanted to field and there was no argument from the Misfit. We must have been really short of batsmen because somehow Moose & Abhi ended up opening. The Mediacom bowlers started with a flurry of wides. We were none for 10 after two overs and only 1 run had come off the bat.  Wooka managed to hit one of non-wides straight to a fielder and departed for 7. Pete was next in. He customarily blocked the first one and then started swinging. About six overs later he retired on 55 (40 of them in boundaries). Misfits were 1/96 off 12 overs. Moose was still there on 20 and anchored a few partnerships with Ash & Drhuv that took the score to 150.

By this stage Moose was calling for oxygen and a wheelchair. A runner wasn’t going to suffice as Moose didn’t have the energy to blow out a candle, let alone swing the bat. A few quick wickets fell and with only one batsman padded up, Moose’s voluntary retirement was put on hold.  A few overs later he was on 49 and begging to be replaced. He was bowled next ball – you’ve never seen a batsman happier to be dismissed one short of a half century. Ravi, Sean & Rajes took the Misfit total to 181 off our 30 overs.

Mediacom started poorly with Ravi & I picking up a wicket each in the first 4 overs, Ravi’s courtesy of a sharp catch by Rajes at point. They recovered to 50-odd before a procession of wickets put paid to their run chase. Ash picked up a couple with Sean & Wooka bagging one each. Their tail wagged somewhat but Rajes came on to clean up the last few wickets and the Mediacom artistes were all out for 112 in the 20^th over. Thanks to Todrick & Brian Nara for umpiring and Lorraine for scoring.

Unlike their well-seasoned CSC counterparts, the IA bar staff were totally underprepared for the tallie onslaught that followed. Twenty-odd thirsty cricketers ensured that they were kept busy and it was only after the Heineken supply was exhausted and we were forced to drink the local cat’s piss (ie Tiger) that he crowd began to disperse.  By that stage, the moon was high in the sky. Special mention goes to Eddie Beveridge who bravely refused to leave his post next to the esky despite suffering horrific injuries when he sliced his hand open on a rogue Heineken tallie. You are a true Misfit, Edward.

Eleven of england's finest athletes returned to Fortress Ceylon Sports Club to commence battle with the old enemy, determined to eak out revenge for what in truth has been some fairly one sided series in recent years.

The scheduled 12:30 meet request from the skipper was met with the customary 12:50 ground arrival by most,and before long the baggy green's had won the toss and invited the old enemy to bat first on a true "green" deck if ever there was one.

Grazza had different ideas and set the tone with a true captains knock by spanking 22 off the second over, including four consecutive boundaries in "KP'esque" style. 120-0 at the drinks break and the foundation was set for a 250+ total ... Debutant Corrie went immediately after the drinks break, but only let in the flood gates as Rajesh (a.ka. Roger from Bradford) and Radders with an accomplished 50' odd to his name ripped in to the heart of the baggy green's middle over bowling unit. The barmy army were treated to some lusty blows from england's finest willow, and even celebrated by providing a full sound system on the boundary edge - of course nothing to do with the Sri Lankan legend Sanath Jayasuriya stroking his 2nd 20/Twenty ton of the day on the pitch next door!

England closed with a competive 242-4, and all to play for after the usual foul egg mayonnaise sandwiches and 3 litres of water were hoovered down the players throats in the interval.

The Aussies returned to battle in search of a solid platform, but it wasn't to be as the Welsh terrior "Bazzer" had the aussie opener plumb in front of all three without troubling the scorer. The customary baggy green counter attack quickly followed with there number 3 seemingly in the mould of a certain R.K. Ponting, and after 10 overs seemed to be cantering home at 115-1.The use of some fairly unorthodox catching techniques which would have even made Michael Vaughn look like a sniper in the covers, was in danger of allowing the yellow suited gentleman back in the game. Bowler XX felt the need to comment that "this boyo hit the ball in the air for 15/20 seconds and we couldn't even lay a finger to it!". Even the local net bowlers got a telling off for encroaching the sacred ashes turf with a polite "f## off out of hear", as it seemed the english were in danger of losing the plot.

The introduction of Rangga steaming in from the "blue and white housing estate" end sporting some outrageous sunglasses throughout the run up and delivery stride provided the vital breakthrough, as confusion amongst the well set batsman allowed some sharp fielding to run out the useful opener that was closing in on his debut 50. But this was just the start, the choice of sunglasses by Rangga proved to be an inspired decision as the bowler packed his kit bag in the early hours of Sunday morning. Rangga bowled with beautiful length, and subtle changes of pace to quietly wheel away at returning figures of 6-32 of 6 fine overs. The scorecard told a story, batsman 4-9 were all dismissed by the man with the outrageous sunglasses. Plenty of banter and choice words of the english language quickly followed, as very rarely do we miss the opportunity to wish our men from the land down under on there merry way with a polite request to "pi## off back to the changing room!". "Khanage" proved a rock behind the sticks, and took 3 top gear catches standing up to his new hero wearing the sunglasses, by this stage sweating like a paedophile in a nursery ...

The drama wasn't over as the last wicket pair were in danger of pulling off a remarkable victory for the yellow pyjama men, 188-9 soon became 224-9. Ice cool Jack Whiskin provided the magic with 6 economical overs just what the skipper was after, to follow his stunning boundary catch. With the exception of the debutants and the customary beer swigging from the skippers sweaty box, the post-match beer tasted very crisp and it was only a shame the aussie XI had to bugger off to an Australia Day ball in search of skirt that prevented an almighty piss up taking full swing. 1-0 with 4 to play, and the skipper can't have had many better day's in the office; although there has already been talk from the aussie dressing room of some new lively recruits being summoned for the 2nd test, scheduled for sat 27th march!

Highlights: graham burnes 53* retired, paul radford 54, Rangga, 6-32

The Replacement Killers

Now I don’t remember a great deal about this movie, apart from Mira Sorvino looking particularly fetching in her underwear at one point, but I thought it was a good title to steal when describing the events of Saturday against the “Auld Enemy.” There have been many instances in history of last minute replacements coming through and achieving great things. Julius Caesar was originally supposed to Govern Macedonia until a last minute change of plans saw him sent to Gaul instead. Ringo Starr famously replaced Pete best in a little known rock band from Liverpool, and on Saturday Inzy and Jack were last minute replacements for Abhi and Ash Perrot.

Now don’t get me wrong, Abhi (when sober) and Ash are very good players and no doubt would have performed very well had they been able to make the game, but their replacements contributed outstanding efforts as the Misfits recorded a very comfortable win over the SCC. One of the more unusual aspects of the day was that I have played very few games for the Misfits where the average age of the competition is significantly higher than ours, but on Saturday I reckon they had us covered by a good 10 years or so.

Anyway our captain Sully won the toss and decided to bat. Yours truly and Pete opened the batting and I proceeded to enjoy watching Pete go nuts whilst leaning on my bat at the non-strikers end. (As usual I do not have the score sheet, so I am just gonna try and remember scores, otherwise I will guess, or just plain make it up.) Pete retired on 53 in the 6^th over with the total on about 70. Highlight were a couple of very big sixes and Jack who was sub fielding for the SCC dropping him when he was about 13.Inzy then walked in and took up the attack, before eventually being out for 42 in the 10^th over leaving us at 1-110. I eventually had to face a ball or two and soon followed.

The scoring (not surprisingly) slowed a little after the initial onslaught, however there were still handy contributes from Shankar and Hammer before Jack entered the fray. He quickly move to 42 ish with some fantastic batting, playing correctly but still managing to keep the scoring ticking over at a rapid pace. Sully, Nish, Eddie and The Bear who was fresh from hibernation after arriving at 2.15 all added to the score before Rubbish got a golden.

This brought Pete back to the crease where absolute mayhem ensued. With only 8 or 9 balls left in the innings Pete managed to take his score to 80, with 25 coming from the last over, leaving the Misfits at 9-249 from the allotted 30overs.

Following the usual fine fare at tea (how is that they manage to make to cucumber runny and the eggs crispy?) the second innings commenced with Rubbish and Nishan taking up the attack for the good guys. Rubbish proceeded to set a 7-2 field and then bowl the first ball down leg side!!! He then got his line in order straight away and bowled beautifully, removing one of the opening bats with a cracker. The SCC (courtesy of Misfit Andy Beer) started to make a real fist of the chase before the introduction of Eddie Beveridge, who soon took care of Mr Beer, think about that one. Eddie followed up with 2 more wickets in his next 2 overs before the exertions of the previous evening caught up with him. Speaking of caught, the catching and general fielding was outstanding. Nish pocketed 2, Nara (who was filling in barefoot for the re-hibernating Bear) and Shankar all took screamers. I was particularly impressed with Nara’s catch as he could hardly talk at the time, having topped up pretty aggressively after arriving at the ground.

Jack at the same time had bowled two pretty normal overs. His next however was anything but. A hat-trick and eventually 4 wickets in 5 balls saw the back of the SCC challenge well and truly broken. I got 1 (the Nara catch, which is another reason I was particularly impressed by it) and Pete, finally listening to his inner voice and bowling quick and nasty picked up the other. You will note some names usually associated with bowling were not used as was fitting in the spirit of a good contest. SCC all out for about 126 I think. Given that there had been a rain delay we still managed to finish reasonably early with the obvious benefit of increased drinking time!

Sully decided to make up for a lack of time in the middle while batting by keeping his “few word” to about 25 minutes! The upside of this was a record number of fines with everyone saddled with at least 6 “tallies” for one offence or another, real or imagined. (Writers note, I originally escaped fining, but remembered later that I had seriously buggered up a run-out chance, so took the decision to fine myself 6, thus completing a full house for the Misfits on the day)

A great day, with Jack just shading Pete for M.O.M honours with 40 odd runs, 4 wickets (including a hat trick) and dropping Pete without making it too obvious.

Myself and Steve Blaxhall won the “no home to go to, so last ones left award”

I believe this is a 4 game series so there is still some work to do, I would encourage all Misfits to put your hand up the next time this fixture rolls around, as I can guarantee a good game played in great spirit, just remember though if Pete and Inzy are playing…bring your helmet.