Eclipse Print vs Radyr Dads C.C. Wed 1 July
So on a fine, mid–summer’s evening at St Fagans, Eclipse Print took on the unknown quantities of Radyr Dads C.C. Not much was known of this newly founded team – but surely with a name like theirs they would be fearsome opposition. For if there is one word closely associated with athletic and sporting prowess it is “Dad”.
Luck would need to be on Eclipse’s side tonight and things started well with captain Steve Parker winning the toss and deciding to bat. Luke and Brian strode bravely out to the middle to face the onslaught of the Dad’s opening bowlers, a pair of fathers in the mould of Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh in their prime.
Things looked bad for Eclipse when an inspired piece of fielding had Luke run out early in the innings. No blame could be attached to either batsman for poor running or calling here - there was nothing anyone could do as a middle-aged Dad swooped, picked up one-handed and threw down the stumps in the blink of an eye.
Brian began the counter-attack, assisted by gritty contributions from Chris Stork (4) and Mark James (1), Brian blasted four (4) fours on his way to a sparkling 23 before being caught sensationally by Dad Wearing Flip-Flops & Shorts diving backwards one-handed. Chris battled hard for his 4 runs and was looking well set and likely to push on past 5, possibly to 10+ when he was beaten by pace and turned to see his middle stump cart-wheeling away down the ground. Mark was then given out LBW by the umpire who must have been influenced by the constant barrage of aggressive appealing – these Dad’s were willing to win by any means necessary.
Now Eclipse were staring down the barrel of a heavy defeat with all recognised batsmen back in the pavilion. But cometh the hour, cometh the man and now cometh Vince Butcher. For the next 30 minutes Vince entertained the crowd with every shot in the book, plus a few shots never seen before, before graciously retiring on 25 not out to give the rest of us a chance.
At this point a score of 150 was surely on the cards but the remainder of the innings deteriorated into a succession of play and misses, thick edges and streaky singles. Ali came in and timed a straight drive sweetly past the bowler for a thumping four but the Dad’s took revenge shortly afterwards with a cunningly placed father taking a super catch in the deep. So it was that Eclipse ended up on 116 from their 20 overs – surely not enough against a powerful looking Dad batting line-up.
From the start the Dad strategy was clear – Sensible Dad would be the rock of the innings allowing the Stroke-Playing Dads to bat freely at the other end. However they had not counted on the quality of the Eclipse bowling as Dave Nash and Andy Campbell bowled tight opening spells to push the required run-rate well over 6 and ratchet up the pressure. Something had to give and when Steve made his first bowling changes it was the Radyr top order that gave way – destroyed by scintillating spells of swing (?) bowling from Andy Court (3 wickets in 8 balls) and Ali Collyer (at least 2 wickets from his 3 overs).
But still Sensible Dad was there, calmness personified as wickets tumbled around him, and while he remained the Dads always had a chance. The tension built as the overs ticked by and after 15 overs the Dads were 56 for 6, needing only another 60 to win – the game was on a knife-edge. But what a luxury for any captain to be able to turn to bowlers such as Brian and Luke to close out a game. And close it out they did, Luke having the dangerous Dad Wearing a Proper Cricket Top caught behind to complete a good night’s wicket-keeping from Chris Stork (2 catches, 1 not catch). Sensible Dad retired unbeaten on 25 in the 19th over, possibly having mis-judged the run chase slightly and the Dads were a few runs short in the final analysis.
AGAINST ALL ODDS ECLIPSE HAD RECORDED THEIR FIRST BACK-TO-BACK WINS OF THE SEASON.
Author - Dylan Powell