Tricky Wicket Costs Carpe Dear

Carpe Vinum CC found themselves on the wrong end of a beating after their modest total of 86 all out was overhauled with more than ten overs to go. With the wind howling and buffeting on the outskirts of the Barnes Wetland Centre, Carpe were sent into bat by the Saracen Riffs CC 1^st XI. These winds caused havoc for those trying to read the Sunday papers on the boundary but, out in the middle, Carpe's batsmen were struggling with a wicket described afterwards as downright dangerous.

Balls that bounced on the same spot could dribble to one's ankles, swerve off in strange directions or career dangerously at the batsman's face. Almost every Carpe player forsook their bareheaded approach to batting, choosing instead to don a helmet. Even the captain, Jonathan Hilliard, who had bravely strode out without one soon returned to case his face in fibre glass.

With a wicket this difficult to predict, the runs came painfully slowly. Openers David Last and Nicholas Darlington dug in bravely, facing down the worst that Saracen Riff could throw at them but with little success. Darlington faced 19 dot balls in a row as he tried to cope with the terrifying bounce.

He departed for 9 off 35 and Carpe's hearts were in their mouths. Last grafted for a while longer with aplomb, his partnership with Tim Denny dragging Carpe forwards before he was clean bowled by another tricky ball. Though the remaining batsmen went out with the openers' warning ringing in their ears, few lasted long enough to get to grips with the turf. Riffs' bowlers were threatening with almost every ball and the slow outfield meant that boundaries were hard to come by.

Grove and Hilliard added a run apiece to Carpe's total before Dingwall halted the rot. Denny lofted a huge drive that just failed to clear mid on and as he strode back to the boundary for 20, Carpe's hopes of reaching three figures looked impossible.

Riffs dealt with the tail with ruthless efficiency. A golden duck for Hare, a duck for Hewitt and a silver duck for Thomson left Whitting on his own at the end, yet to score.

Carpe went into the field knowing that it would take some heroics to snatch this one from the bag. And almost immediately they got a breakthrough. A tricky ball from Hilliard bounced from the glove of Riffs' opener before a run had been scored and Grove was close enough to grab it from the air. His replacement didn't last much longer, adding only 4 before Hilliard struck again, Darlington taking the catch. Carpe's confidence was up. They had Riffs rattled.

The remaining opener and the fourth man, however, were disciplined and concise. They took singles wherever they found them and faced down a hail of balls with the steely determination and stoicism of tortoises. Over by over, they edged closer to Carpe's meagre total. Though Carpe struck late on through Hilliard to send the second opener back to the boundary for 23, the damage had been done. After 23 overs Riffs' fourth batsman sent a shot whistling down mid off and their win was secured.

The rematch will see a different result one hopes.