The Joy of Six

04/07/2021

Those of a certain vintage may remember a bestselling book that sat on many parents’ bookshelves in the ‘70s and ‘80s, full of graphic line drawings and descriptions of how to achieve the perfect six, satisfying to both parties, varied in style and placement. The book also explained that it was not all about the big whack up the middle or the hefty pull, but also about keeping things ticking over, stroking things off the strip thoughtfully. It’s all about the timing. The Joy of Six, it was called, I think. Or something like that.

Anyway, it seems to have been a manual for Sabha’s opening in the first of our away double-header against Coimbra Knights and Miranda Dragons. A wonderful 53, indeed a joy to watch, along with John Z’s 34, set us on our way (with the kind help of 47 extras!) to a strong score of 170/7 in humid conditions in Miranda do Corvo.

This start to the day’s play was particularly impressive after a somewhat chaotic morning with various car issues that meant that we were late arriving and beginning the match. Additionally, Premal had cunningly arranged a football tournament at the club during the week in which Neil picked up a groin strain that kept him out, me an Achilles strain, Thomas a dodgy ankle and left Anthony just generally knackered. Oh, well, actually that’s just Anthony. Add that to Premal’s iffy hamstring and we limped onto the pitch clearly lulling the opposition.

If the extras meant that we had been somewhat assisted in our score accumulation, we needed little help when we bowled at them. An outstanding first few overs from John and Junaid left Knights on 25/4 after the powerplay, their chances seemingly minimal with the loss of their top four for a total of ten runs between them off the bat. A spirited mid-innings revival was ended when Prem brought on Thomas whose first ball evaded the swinging blade of Panda Waddap. It was all finished off by the lethal Travis, brought on as the ultimate death bowler and getting two wickets in two balls, frustrated in his hat-trick attempt by the lack of any further batsmen. We had dropped a few, given 22 extras but, ultimately, been far too strong in the field.

A late lunch in Knights/Dragons’ pleasant club house (they have done a great job in setting up the ground; it was my first time there and I was impressed) preceded the second match, against Miranda Dragons. The Cunningham contingent of Travis, Max (who had fielded excellently in the Knights match) and Jack were awarded their caps first (pictures below).

A rather vocal figure had appeared at lunchtime, one who had never seen us play but turned out to be their captain for the day, and having won the toss he, perhaps unwisely, chose to bat first. A superb first ball started things off with a wicket for Junaid, before John picked up two in the next over with help from Sabha, continuing his good form behind the stumps from the first game. A mini-revival was brought to an end by mini-revival destroyer-in-chief, Thomas, who removed both of Dragons’ top scorers, between which wickets came the amusingly ridiculous run-out of the vocal captain whose loud shout for a second run left him stranded in the middle of the pitch. We decided that Rakesh’s through-the-legs fumble was a piece of tactical genius. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that the Dragons got to the twentieth over before being bowled out for just 77.

Being of a symmetrical bent, we arranged for a similar top-order collapse to them at the start of our run chase for of us giving Girish Singh impressive figures. Well, he is a jolly nice bloke and drives all the way from the Alentejo coast, so why not? Anthony, and particularly Junaid, did not share this generosity of spirit and moved us swiftly to a six-wicket victory, Junaid’s final shot for four bring him to 50* and the match to its conclusion in just 10.2 overs.

All told, it was a very satisfying day. We aren’t accustomed to travelling for our cricket, and perhaps that showed, but we dealt well with everything and showed the depth of our squad. The hosts were friendly and generous and even the cold showers were welcome on such a humid day. Winners of the group with six wins out of six: we knew we could do it, but we had to go about it in the right way, so well done to everyone involved. A mention must also go to Ian, umpiring again, and to Nuno, who, by the end, seemed the most knackered of us all, despite not actually playing.