Personally, I was happy to be umpiring for the Raleigh Cricket Club and the ANZACS team, two teams whose captains and players were determined that whatever else happened the Spirit of Cricket was the most important thing to remember. Now mind you from an umpire's perspective it was a singularly easy match with few controversial decisions at all, but even when a call was close or debatable there was no difficulty. It is good to be on the cricket field with people who understand the Spirit of the Game.
Many, many thanks to those of you who worked to arrange for the clearance of the Bermuda Triangle, and, though he won't see this, to Mr. Barbee for actually doing the work. I know the cost was high, but to tell you the truth I wouldn't have done it myself for that amount of money. Of course I don't own a tractor.
The field itself at
Shiloh was parched from lack of rain, baked hard with sparse grass, and anything that was hit solidly rolled to the boundary if it didn't go to a fielder. This was probably even more true as the day wore on, and perhaps Damien Cummins, captaining the ANZACS, had this in mind when he won the toss and put RCC in to bat.
Sorry to say I left my notecard at home, so you'll have to await the posting of the scorecard to see the outstanding batsmen and bowlers in this match, but I thought that RCC had a decent innings batting. The new mat on the hard-baked clay gave no help at all to the bowlers, and neither did the atmospheric conditions. Each ANZAC bowler seemed to have at least one really bad over, but most of them managed some good restrictive bowling as well, so that RCC's final average was, well, average. They batted out their entire 30 overs for the loss of only six wickets and made a total of 179, which I thought was at least defendable, although I'm sure they would have been happier with a few more runs. Still, there were quite a few boundaries and we did very
much appreciate that the Bermuda Triangle was now clear.
Since we had agreed on a
start and ANZACS kept up a good over rate the first innings was over before
and Damien and Sutbir took their creases to open the ANZACS innings at
. Samay bowled a good opening over for only five runs, and then the bottom dropped
out. After two overs ANZACS had 29 runs, and at that point I think Damien and Sutbir decided to just go for it. As you have already seen posted, at the end of the innings, Sutbir was not out for 101 and Damien was not out for 65; with 14 extras the match was over and the ANZACS won by 10 wickets on the first ball of the 17th over.
The RCC bowlers for the most part had great difficulty finding their line and length, and they were punished. In one over, after I believe 19 runs had been scored off the first five balls the bowler looked at me hopefully and said "Over?". He was not happy when I told him he still had another ball to bowl, but then he uncorked a beauty of a delivery to finish the over with a dot ball. Most of the bowlers for RCC did produce some beautiful deliveries on occasion, but the consistency was not there. I have seen them bowl better in the past and I expect to see them bowl better in the future, and I hope they can at least take some pleasure from a few good deliveries and a few good plays in the field. And I have certainly seen teams make less than 179 batting at
Shiloh.
Naturally this sort of innings was frustrating for RCC and they occasionally showed their impatience with themselves, but they never gave any unsporting remarks or actions to the umpires or batsmen; they are a team with class and I enjoyed umpiring for them and for the
ANZACS.
This match was quite possibly the last match for Damien Cummins in the MACC, as he has plans to return to
Australia with his family. Damien was one of the first brave explorers to scout out the Shiloh Wilderness, as it was then; those of you who don't like
Shiloh field now should have seen it then! He has been an important member of the ANZACS team as batsman, keeper, and captain, and a leader and EC member in the MACC as well. We will miss his services to the League and will miss him personally and hope to see him again some time. Godspeed and safe travel to him and his family as they begin a new stage in life.
Thanks also to Hugh Smyth for giving me a ride to and from the match, my own car being in the shop as the result of a fenderbender. So I was forced to hang around with the ANZACS and go have a drink with them after the match; you have to take the good with the bad. Also I was present when it was announced that Simon Percival would replace Damien as captain of the ANZACS. Congratulations to Simon, and good luck to him.