Match Report: Yeah I know, this is the game you've been waiting to hear all about

PDCC 5/85 def Sunnybank Vipers 83

R Corrigan 3/21, H Collin 2/14, K Chaudhary 2/7, M Boys 41

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Welcome to the Match Report with yours truly, Shamsul Kazi. In tonight’s review of the weekend we have what can really only be described as a cluster-fudge (am I allowed to swear? I don’t know, probably not, let’s keep it PG) of a game, if said game had had a tough childhood and ended up on the street and then turned to meth as a coping mechanism before starting to spiral out of control and ending up in prison for theft as a means of trying to prop up its ever-crumbling future. Well there goes that attempt at being PG.

Where do I begin with this mess of a game? With summer holidays, well and truly upon us, the availabilities for the game diminished and it wasn’t until the eleventh hour that a PDCC XI was locked in, with newcomers Matt McMahon, Harry Collin and Anish Krishnan in addition to the return of Nilay Jain. However, with just minutes before the scheduled start of the game John Cross had to pull out due to illness and a last-minute substitute was unavailable, leaving the Doctors with 10.

But let’s get back to the scheduled start, with minutes to go before the 10am start there was no sign of the other team. Now there had been some uncertainty as to whether there would be a game and the Chermside venue was quite a distance for the Sunnybank opponents, but they were cutting it fine.

A handful of players soon emerged and a toss was quickly completed. The Doctors chose to field and the game was delayed by 15 minutes. Though even this seemed like a challenge for the Vipers. With the absence of an umpire, this would be like true park cricket and the organisation of the opposition could only fill you with faith.

The last time the two teams met, the fielding of the doctors left much to be desired with multiple dropped catches but this time the same would not be the case, with Collin latching on to an edge to second slip of Boys to take the first wicket of the game. The wickets would continue to tumble at a regular interval though quick bowling from Jain would go unrewarded though this was not only luck, with a controversial not out declared from a strong appeal for an edge to Sharma (the fifth keeper of the season); though both the fill-in umpire and batsmen adamant that it was the ground, and hey I’m no physicist, so who am I to say a gentle poke in mid-air couldn’t have hit the ground.

Regardless, the decision didn’t cost much as the batsmen definitely hit the next one to second slip. Boys ended up with one wicket, Corrigan with three, Collin with two and Krishnan would take the final wicket after some resistance from the final pair. Well, when I say resistance we dropped some catches. It was all over in 21 overs for a mere 83 runs.

The batting was all but a formality with the doctors losing wickets more so from mistakes than any sting in the Viper line-up. Boys would score the bulk of the runs with 41 with some unusually expansive stroke play mixed in with his usual classical finesse. It was all over in 15.3 overs. Probably a good thing too with the storms rolling in shortly after. One more game before the Christmas break, can the Doctors creep into the top three after a sluggish start? Tune in next time!