One More Full Toss And Youre Off!

On a day that should have been filled with Star victory joy, Star A managed the improbable and lost 10 wickets in 29 overs to lose to st Paul's after effectively having them 4 down with less than zero on the scoreboard!

The second day bowling started well with the skipper collecting 3 wickets before St Paul's managed to pass the deficit. At the other end Charles Johnston toiled away brilliantly, only to have two sitters put down in the slips and have another few go wide or high. The St Paul's tail wagged, very slowly, but it still got them a lead of 152 with 29 overs to go. The Star boys looked confident to chase the small total, always keeping in mind that 29 overs is not a long time to survive if the unthinkable happened. That was not an option at the time, as the Star batting lineup was stacked with two very good Prems batsman and some in form A's. The reality dawned very quickly however and wickets tumbled at regular intervals. It seemed that Star had missed a trick. The wicket misbehaved a little bit from the top end if the ball was fullish, and Star lost several players to the dreaded LBW. This excuse however falls a long way short of redeeming the disgrace that was the second batting innings from Star. The real lack of application and the poor shot selection that has been evident all season once again plagued the Star batsmen.

To top the day off Star got "officially" warned for asking the batsmen whether he was wearing keeping pads. Apparently this question was so personal that it left the batsman in such a state that he required counselling after the game. There was also some sledging towards the umpire (also the St Paul's coach) when he didn't give a runout. Star's own fill in Currymuncher piped up: "Do you think Littlejohn would have given that?". Nothing like winding the umpire up for the better of the team! The same Currymuncher also earned the Star skipper and openings bowler an official warning when he kindly pointed out to the umpire that a bowler may be removed if he bowls 3 waist high full tosses. So two slower balls later the Star skipper nearly found himself red carded and in the sinbin!

In the end the best part of the day came when the fire was hot and some juicy steak was served with mushroom sauce! So first innings points to Star, but the hurt of getting beaten by 12 year olds will linger for just a little while yet!