Fathers go down by 13 in high scoring thriller

The Coolie Chronicle - 'at the crossroads of Weston Creek'
Wednesday 5 December 2007

The Fathers showed guts last night at the 'Creek' to almost overhaul the huge total of 183 posted by 'Juicy Spam' (JS).

In a night that started out as one in which it looked like nothing right would happen for the Fathers the boys showed true grit and almost pulled off the impossible.

Last night the Fathers bowling and fielding performance could either be described as desperately unlucky or diabolical depending on your point of view. Recent brilliant performances in the field were forgotten as the best bowling the seven man Fathers could muster was Hugo's 4/8 (and that was the best by a long shot!) Catches went down, boundaries went through and run outs were missed aplenty. As Captain Kermie ruefully commented between innings, "this is the bad game we had to have prior to the season proper starting".

As it turned out the pep talk from Kermie prior to the Fathers turning out to bat proved the difference. The Fathers were chasing down a massive total of 183 and with the captain's words of "go for it" and "open up the shoulders' ringing in their ears the opening duo of Hugo and Gilly took the crease. A first ball wicket at Hugo's expense (sorry mate, had to put that in) didn't bode well but the boys withstood the early barrage to put on a respectable 31.

The next pair of Kermie and Itchy had the crowd as nervous as kittens. Itchy's performances with the bat of late had showed promise but he always had the propensity to lose wickets with rash shot making. With Kermie steadying the ship the pair overran the second wicket total of 51 to post 55 (33 - Itchy; 22 - Kermie) and the Fathers looked like they were in with a shot, albeit a long one.

Mash and Roscoe were in next and battled heartily. Some hard hitting was interspersed with bad luck and exceptional 'JS' fielding but the boys rode it out and produced a 26 run stand.

Next in were the debutant Sean and the comeback kid for the seven man Fathers outfit, Gilly. With a huge total of 77 required to win and with the encouraging words of their team mates ringing in their ears they took the pitch. What followed will live long in the annals of Fathers folklore. On debut Sean smashed six sevens for a personal total of 58. Gilly was unlucky (in fairness he didn't have much of the strike!) and the boys eventually came up 13 runs short of the target. It was very heartening for the Fathers to see their opposition start to panic under the pressure as they nearly lost the unloseable match but more importantly it was a shot in the arm for the entire Fathers team who, to a man, had earlier performed way under their normal high standards.

So, even in defeat, the Fathers took something away from the match. The inaugural Kermie captaincy could only be deemed a success. To take a dejected seven man team that have just had 183 posted against them and almost engineer a stunning victory is a great achievement*.

As usual the car park beers flowed, the conversation sparkled and the boys marveled at the angry young men and 4WD 'enthusiasts' who like to cruise the Coolie carpark late at night.

Next week's match will be at 9.10pm. Acting Admin Captain Hugo to advise team roster shortly.

*not great enough though Kermie, as losing captain you're dumped for next week - Hugo to advise.... :-).