Primrose Hill Elephants vs Horningsham

19 July 2009

Given the forecast, and indeed the actual weather on the day, we did very well to get within a few overs of completing this match. A shorter lunch break, or a less urgent need for the Elephants to return to London (the ground was bathed in sunshine 30 minutes after the opposition disappeared) would have meant we could have bowled the last few overs to finish the match. With the Elephants 6 wickets down, and behind the required run rate, Horningsham were better placed to win, but with the juvenile pachyderms showing impressive resilience and skill, the game was still in the balance.

For the record (though we failed to copy the elephantine innings into our scorebook in their sodden rush to get to the motorway, so lack some details), Horningsham set a challenging total of 190 to win in 35 overs, thanks largely to an accomplished 91 from Tony Reeves (his, and the team’s top score of the season).

Horningsham chipped away steadily at the top of the Primrose Hill batting order, but the dry periods between the heavy showers became less frequent as the afternoon progressed. Like a frog being slowly heated in a pan of water, it took longer than logic might suggest for us to realize that we were actually attempting to play in a monsoon, but when we did finally admit defeat the pitch was vacated within seconds.

Eschewing Duckworth-Lewis as a) no one had a copy and b) no one was likely to understand it even if we did, a slippery handshake agreed on ‘Match Abandoned Due To Risk of Drowning’. A pity, as we were all enjoying the game, even the Primrose Hill ringer who had left the 40 degree heat of his hometown Athens behind to play in this match, and we can only hope for better weather next year.