Taronga GW6 v West Epping at Artarmon Reserve

AB lost the toss and West Epping chose to bat.  With a threat of some rain we were going to bowl anyway.

It was a warm day and with a fast outfield we were looking to contain – anything under 170 a bonus.  With some decent bowling we managed to keep things tight with Epping 3-79 at the drinks break, although they did get away from us at the end and finished on 189 all out (33 overs).  Best bowling Sharpy (!) 3-37 (one quite amusing when a batsman stood on his stumps off the last ball before the break), Shero 1-22, Raj 1-21 and Sarvesh (1-26) taking a wicket in his first game back.  AB (3-35) was on a hat-trick – after 2 bowled, the third was edged through slip and gully by a bloke who then went on to switch hit  / reverse sweep / reverse paddle (???) AB for a six over point (or is it mid-wicket???).  Three good catches to Ravel at long on.

At tea, ominous storm clouds were forming over Artarmon raising the prospect of a rain delay, reduced overs and calculators to determine a revised target.   We got off to a decent start, and when the rain came we were 1-44 off six – Big Show having played all round a straight one.  After much re-calculation and explaining of the rain rules to the opposition our revised target was 131 off 24 overs with the pitch wet and the outfield much slower than it was earlier. It would prove to be a tight finish.  Ravel, in his last game, was bowled for 12 and then Yogesh was run out from a direct hit – Sharpy accepting a fine for his part in the dismissal but also fining Yogesh for ‘being on his heels’.  With 49 off 7 overs needed AB struggled with the pace of the ball skidding through and was caught behind for 6.  Sharpy meanwhile kept going, aware that if he got out we’d be struggling. He brought up his 50 (fourth time he’s past 50 this season) with a lovely cover drive for 4.  Dylan joined Sharpy and the pair batting well together took us towards the target - with 3 overs to go we needed 10 runs – or did we ? Some frantic rechecking of the scorebook (we do miss Carro) revealed we actually needed 15 runs – which could have been really unfortunate !   No problems, Sharpy (73no) and Dylan (17no) both hit boundaries and we were home with an over to spare.

After the win we stay second in the table.

Finally, yesterday was the last game for Ravel before he moves to the US to start work as a sound engineer ! He sent me a message this morning saying it’s been an honour to play for Iggies and has loved his time with the ‘boys’ …  We’ve enjoyed having you Ravel and we’ll miss your enthusiasm in the field!!  I’m sure everyone will wish Ravel all the best for the future.  One final photo with the two old blokes yesterday.