Mandarins (H) – 15.9.12

RUASCC 182-6
Eagle 61, Dersh 60

Mandarins 154-8
Withers 4-36, Main 2-28

Match drawn

Having been bowled out for 67 on our home pitch just seven days earlier it was pleasing to see a competitive RUASCC batting performance against the Mandarins on Saturday. Mind you, any side that can afford to keep RB Tranter hidden down at number ten should definitely be making some runs.

Eagle won the toss and chose to bat first, a decision that was welcomed by Carpenter right up to the moment in the seventh over when Eagle ran him out. Carpenter pushed the ball into the off-side and called a single but Eagle said “no” leaving Carpenter halfway down the track with no hope of salvation. There are two camps here: the one who think it was Carpo’s call and if Eagle had been backing up properly then a single was a formality, and the other who thinks the ball was headed straight for a fielder and the single was never on. I can confidently state that one of these views is absolutely correct.

Rupert Loader was next in and for a couple of overs he concentrated on trying to lay bat on ball while his partner obsessed about the run out. After a few careful singles Loader found the boundary twice but after this promising start he was trapped LBW for 13 to leave RUASCC 42-2.

Then, for the second week in a row, Eagle was involved in a century partnership for the third wicket – this time with Dersh who used the first few overs of his innings as net practice before growing in confidence and driving smoothly just like in the old days. The run rate didn’t really get going until after the drinks break at which point we had just 59 on the board from 23 overs - the pair doubled that in the next nine.

The two batsmen reached fifties in consecutive deliveries to warm applause from the rest of the RUASCC team in front of the pavilion – except Carpenter who’d gone for a long walk. Then the Mandarins brought on a new bowler, Porter, who clean bowled Eagle in his second over and Dersh in his third. This brought about a mini-collapse as Dip and Chan went cheaply while looking to score quickly, but Bruce Main thumped an unbeaten 15 from about six balls to boost the total up to 182-6.

Withers and Main opened the bowling and both were quickly among the wickets: Withers took a sharp return catch and also removed Porter who’d looked in good touch while Main got an LBW decision from our own umpire then clean bowled a four-year-old boy – not that the history books will make any kind of distinction, of course.

Chan Malde picked up a wicket in his first over, thanks to a good catch by Main running in at mid-off, and set up a fascinating duel between bowler Ben Loader and guest batsman Danny Loader. Almost everyone on the field was praying for a

Loader      c Loader      b Loader

dismissal but young Dan played beautifully for nine runs before he was eventually bowled by his brother.

Mandarins still needed 76 runs from the final eight overs and Frostick was giving it a damn good go - the number three eased to fifty then started hitting out and brought the visitors to within 45 runs of the target. With four overs remaining Withers returned to the attack and Frostick, looking to smear everything now, came down the track and got a top edge that would have flown through the slip area had it not been for the lightning fast reflexes of Tranter. There’s a scene in Superman where he catches a speeding bullet – it was like that. While everyone else was looking down to third man, Tranter plucked the ball out of the air and held it aloft in celebration of the most remarkable catch of the season.

With Frostick gone RUASCC could concentrate on winning the match, and Withers claimed another scalp to set up the final over showdown with Bruce Main needing one more wicket for victory. Alas, despite a ring of close fielders and failing light, the batsman resisted and RUASCC ended up in the position we’re much more used to putting other teams in: so close, but match drawn.

And now, with winter seemingly approaching again, it looks like this might have been the last game of the season. With a decent RUASCC performance and a dramatic finale, it was a thoroughly enjoyable match to end the year.

Except perhaps for Carpo.

RUASCC Highlight: The highlight of this match, this season, and possibly any other season, was undoubtedly Tranter’s remarkable pouch at slip that could have won us the game.

RUASCC Man of the Match: Trant.

RUASCC Team: Carpenter, Eagle (capt), R Loader, Dersh, Dip (wkt), Malde, Weeks, Main, B Loader, Tranter, Withers