The Sultans of Swing

It never rains but it pours for the Sultans.

After a battling win over Brockwell 49ers we sort-of chalked up another victory – thanks to John Minshull forfeiting a game on what turned out to be a day so wet even Noah would’ve baulked. Bad luck for Minshull but with two more points in the bag we were singing in the wet stuff.

There was a sharp shower before the game against the 49ers, although what followed was far from a damp squib as the evenly-matched teams played out a hugely satisfying contest.

Sultans lost the toss and were put into bat – the third match in a row we’ve padded up first. Once again it was a new-look opening partnership with Chris Andrews and boozily-nicknamed Steady facing the new ball.

While Steady went for an admirable and patient 14 – his better work was to come behind the stumps on debut – Andrews played a man-of-the-match knock that was aggressive and cultured in equal parts.

His unbeaten 61 was praised by the oppo’s skip as “the best I’ve ever seen” at this exalted (ahem) level and truly laid the foundations for the win.

It was also played a bit like a ‘U’ – loads of runs at the beginning and end and a sprinkle of singles in the middle. The tall right-hander hit boundaries all around wicket including a few lush cover drives and was the lynchpin around which a series of not-bad partnerships were established.

One of which was with Skip, who cast aside his demons to hit a handsome 14 – thus boosting his season average by 140 per cent – until he was out bowled, looking to work to the onside. Inevitably.

With the left-arm seamer Laight pitching it up the scene was set for Morgan’s usual 1 cameo but against all the odds the unlikely No4 saw off the dangerman to take Sultans to drinks.

By this time Andrews had retired after reaching his 50 and when Morgan was out for a season’s best 8 to a peach of an in-swinging yorker from Husbands, whose previous ball had bounced twice, quickly followed by Lord Wyndypops for 1, things were looking a touch shaky.

Cometh the hour cometh the man, however, and McGovern entered the arena to take a quantum leap in his cricketing education.

OK, he only made 10. But the look on the oppo’s faces when he smashed his first ball for four was priceless and helped wrestle back the momentum to the Sultans. Conley chipped in with a handy 11 before Earnshaw went for a quacker and the normally resolute Boss fell cheaply for 1 to bring debutant Marr to the wicket.

With Andrews returning to sign off his season in style, pressure was on for the Sultans to finish the innings with a flurry of runs. Some late boundaries from Marr, who finished second top scorer with 18, helped the Sultans past the 150 barrier.

So the 49ers needed 157 to win, but with only 10 men and a short boundary marked to allow Minshull to take on previous Sultans’ victims Village CC the total looked a touch on the low side. In his last appearance of the season Earnshaw took the cherry and was quickly into his groove, beating the bat on a number of times with movement through the air and off the pitch.

In his second over he struck twice, bowling the 49ers Nos 2 and 3 with a couple of beauties.

Conley, looking a little out of sorts from the bench end, then had Taunton stumped thanks to good work from Steady. He showed quick hands in taking the chance – but his feet would prove to be even swifter later on.

Tiger-fast reflexes from McGovern saw their No 5 run out for 0 to seemingly set the Sultans on their way to an easy win.

But Laight had other ideas, regularly plundering boundaries, and when Morgan came on the batsman dished out some punishment to the slower-than-he-should-be seamer.

As did the wristy Hassy, who took full advantage of the short boundary/wayward bowling combo to spank two successive sixes square of the wicket on his way to a fighting 37.

With these two swashbuckling away the Sultans began to fear the worst, and the partnership was only broken when Laight, with his half-century hoving into view, heaved a spiralling top edge into Steady’s welcoming gloves.

It had been a fine knock for 40 to accompany his tidy efforts with the ball.

Clarke, who once again bowled beautifully, ended Rice’s contribution with a jaffer before taking out dangerman Hassy with another top edge claimed by Steady.

But the stumpy’s finest moment came when the parabolic bowling of Wilson induced a swipe and miss by the oppo’s No10. Despite a nasty ricochet the tumbling keeper managed, fish-like, to change direction and kick the ball at the stumps to break the wicket. A brilliant piece of improvisation and one that proved decisive in swinging the game our way.

Earnshaw then returned to do what he does best – get people out – by trapping the skipper LBW. He finished with pristine figures of 3-9 which is anyone’s books is tremendous.

Then the ball was tossed to bespectacled Marr, who had been itching to get on. It didn’t take him too long to wrap things up. His first ball was bob on, his second a wide, his third, bowled!

The Sultans jumped for joy at winning what had been by far our toughest match of the season.

For a game that saw a pitch invasion by a labradoodle we failed to get ’em by the short and curlies – until the foot of Steady intervened. Now we need just one more win to seal the league title.