Carib Beer XI vs Adhoc, Regents Park,

22nd May 2012

An official away fixture for the Caribs this week at a very sunny Regents Park. For those wondering who Adhoc are, we believe they used to be an amalgamation of the sides formerly known as ATOC, possibly with a few network railers thrown in for good measure. On arrival there was an initial delay as both teams appeared to have no stumps available, a bit of a hindrance for a game of cricket, however thanks to Carib White's credit card we were able to hire some stumps under the strict instructions of returning them by 8.45pm. There was some concern as to whether this would be possible if there was a tight close finish, however these were unfounded fears.

As usual our esteemed leader and MCC member Mr Haigh lost the toss and the Caribs found themselves fielding first. Good news for those Carib members hoping to make the most of the game's Category 2 status. After 2 overs Adhoc were just 9-1 with Carib Worthy persuading one of their openers to steer one of his half track bouncers straight to one of Adhoc's own fielders who was substituting for the Caribs at mid-on. However that was as good as it got for the Caribs. A string of Adhoc batsman then came in, only to retire very shortly after on 25 (or more) not out. A possible record of 4 batsman retiring in a Carib match. There were some isolated incidents worthy of a mention: the usual safe hands of Carib Tungate dropped what he described himself as a dolly catch. To make matters worse for Essex clan member Tungate the catch was off the bowling of our esteemed leader Mr Haigh. Never has a man seen to be so distraught as he collapsed to his hands and knees in the middle of the wicket as the catch slipped through Dan's fingers. Fortunately for Dan he was given a reprieve shortly afterwards from an unlikely source, anyone who had seen Carib Moss fielding in the following game to this one would scarcely believe it possible, but Carib Moss took a storming catch, running in 25 yards from the boundary to take the catch on the run. Even the usually critical Carib Willis described it as being "taken like a pro". Unfortunately the same couldn't be said for Willis' bowling with his figures of 0-36 off 3 overs being the most expensive. The same has to be said for most of the other bowlers, apart from our MCC member captain Mr Haigh, although that was probably due to him putting himself on against the weaker Adhoc batsmen. There should also be a mention for Carib wicket keeper Bowen who took a fine caught behind chance and was also involved in a couple of run outs, not allowing the batsmen to run cheeky byes to him, he threw down the stumps on at least 2 occasions. All this wasn't enough to prevent Adhoc reaching what we believe to be a record score of 191/6, even beating the Newman House massacre of 2011.

At this point most of the team thought the game was lost, however we were briefly rallied by the show of commitment from our esteemed leader Mr Haigh, he should have left at this point as he was catching a train that evening, however he was persuaded to open the batting and scored a quick fire 19 of 18 balls. However with the required run rate at nearly 10 an over and the slow batting of Carib Moss at the other end this wasn't enough. Carib Moss somehow managed to score 13 runs, helped by Adhoc dropping 2 catches that were even easier than that dropped by Dan T earlier and Adhoc finally taking pity on us and starting a string of bowling changes that led to 10 bowlers being used in the innings. There wasn't much to say about the rest of the innings. An increasingly agitated ringer Fyfe was getting anxious about not getting the chance to demonstrate his batting skills, he finally arrived at the crease with 9 balls left in the innings, unfortunately for him at the non-strikers end and with Carib "playing for his averages" Willis at the other end. Eventually Olly managed to take the strike and proceeded to send Willis back rather than run any singles. The Carib score finished on a respectable 121/6, a defeat by a mere 70 runs. So it was back to Great Portland street for the usual post match de-brief and some well earned cool drinks.

Carib Beer XI Lose by 70 Runs

Scorecard