Sunday, May 06, 2007

Mad Dogs vs Haverford (PICF) (5/4/07) by JPM

The Dogs took on the students by fielding 6 PhDs or MDs plus a couple of Bachelor degree recipients against a team yet to achieve such august levels of scholarship. Unfortunately, 5 of the Dogs were over 50ŠŠ.. whereas most of the students definitely weren't., and athleticism can count sometimes. On a roll now, Quirk won his second toss of the day, putting Haverford in. Shesthra, a young Nepali, showed he was a terrific young batsman, playing some glittering shots against Boyke and Quirk. Boyke, however, immediately bowled Newman for 0, and Quirk settled into a good spell, getting his leggies to bounce nicely and forcing even Shesthra to play him with care. Kamran Khan hit lustily but was well caught in the deep by Quirk off Harrison, who was bowling well in relief of Boyke. But there was no stopping Shesthra who brutalized Lawrence unmercifully for a couple of overs. Lawrence did remove McVaugh for 5, expertly caught by Harrison in the deep. Shesthra then retired on 54 not out, but Khan took over, slogging an obviously stiff Moore out of the attack. Harrison then forced the aggressive Khan to retire hurt for 35, a bottom edge landing on an already damaged toe. Davies (1) was then nicely caught by Kanoff off Harrison, running backwards to pouch a top-edged sweep. Another tremendous catch, this time by Trappler off Prasanna, the fielder jumping and toppling backwards to hold a high drive, removed Zegeye for 3, and Harrison took an outstanding return catch off a hard drive to get rid of Lundquist for 1. With the overs running down, concern arose that, by taking too many wickets, we might allow Shesthra to return, a situation exacerbated when Prasanna bowled Collett for 0. Indeed, in the last over, Harrison was forced into the unusual, heretical cry of "drop it when a ball was lifted to the normally safe hands of Prasanna, who obligedŠ.. The Haverford total of 141 for 8 off 25 overs was formidable but less than Merion had taken off us.

Boyke 5-0-27-1
Quirk 5-0-22-0
Prasanna 5-0-13-2
Lawrence 3-0-32-1
Harrison 5-0-26-3
Moore 2-0-22-0

Again, a good start was needed, but Lawrence was bowled first ball by Kamran Khan. Moore, interrupted in the midst of urinating, raced to the crease to replace him (if such a thing is possible), and batted steadily while watching Bannerjee, slice to gully off Shesthra (2, 6 balls), then Prasanna, snick to the keeper off Manny (1, 4 balls) to leave the Dogs in the mire at 10 for 3 off 5 overs. Quirk and Moore then put on 30 in the next 5 overs via sensible batting before Moore somehow missed a straight one to depart for 14 (28 balls, 1 x 4). Boyke played some cavalier, never say die shots on his way to a rapid 18 (10 balls; 4 x 4) before lofting the inevitable catch, off left-arm spinner Sultan. Quirk then fell for a good 17 (31 balls), nicking to slip off the returning Shesthra's first ball. The quicky then ran amok among the Dogs' lower order, bowling Taiwo (0, 3 balls), Kanoff (0, 4 balls) and Trappler (3, 5 balls) on his way to splendid figures of 5-2-8-5. Santosh was the last to go, top edging a catch off Sultan for 1 (5 balls), leaving Harrison on 3 not out (4 balls) as the Dogs' innings closed on 74 all out from 17 overs, a defeat by 67 runs.

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