Stars Rise, Wombats Fall

by Corey Hunter-Park

The Wombats came into this fixture off the back of a commanding victory, but that was two months ago and this team had a few changes from then, a couple of debutantes and the long-awaited return of an old face. Vignesh Ranganathan and Satish Alapati were the men on debut, while Milinda Dharmadasa made his first appearance since his injury in 2019.

Initial signs were encouraging. Winning the toss and electing to field, the Wombats’ opening bowlers showed great skill, Saichandrakanth “Chandu” Mudunuru and Joe “The Spider” Lewis dovetailing beautifully and taking three wickets between them. Chandu kept it tight, taking a wicket and sending down a couple of maidens, while The Heavyweight Champion twice hit a sweet counter-punch immediately after being hit for a boundary. By the time Satish joined the fun, taking his maiden wicket, the Stars were in trouble at 4-29.

Buoyed by their early successes, the Wombats showed good energy in the field, running hard to save singles and kicking the ball away from the boundary rope a few times. It wasn’t to last though, and a couple of Stars put in a commanding batting performance to drain some of the energy from the ascendant Wombats, redressing the balance somewhat. Each bowler took a couple of punches; conceding between them 7 sixes and 14 fours, but they all responded well. Satish took his second to remove the danger man, who went to take his 50 with an impressive slog but missed the ball and lost his off-stump. Satish would also contribute in the field, taking a great catch at mid-wicket to help Chelsea Moscript on her way to another three wicket haul. A solid debut all round. Behind the stumps, Skipper Alex Patmore showed good skill, taking four catches well. The pick of the bunch was a great second attempt to secure the ball; the umpire was unsure if the batsman had hit it but, thinking the appeal was for LBW, the batsman was kind enough to inform the umpire that he had, in fact, middled it.

Despite at one point looking as if the Wombats could roll through and set a double digit target, the Stars middle order rescued the innings before the 10th wicket partnership put on a score of 57. Muhammad Ali’s economical bowling helped to stem the bleeding somewhat, going at less than two an over before wrapping up the innings either side of the second drinks break and leaving himself on a rare cross-match hattrick. Keep an eye out for this one.

The Wombats were set a target of 159, coincidentally the score they had knocked off in their last outing, but the two chases could not be more different. The absence of Richard Bracefield saw Jarrad “Dino” Shearer rise all the way up the order, taking us all back to the Cretaceous period. Good fielding by the Stars saw Patmore and Shearer begin slowly and search for singles. One of these saw “Dino” fall to the ground and ran out, though this appeal was taken back when it became apparent that he was on the floor through pain and not, as we had initially assumed, embarrassment at having fallen over. Jarrad was to retire hurt and offered the chance to come back, but this was never a realistic option. Mark McTamney saw he was lying comfortably, offering a batting pad as a pillow in a great show of teamship.

Ali and Patmore combined well, scoring slowly but steadily and seeing the Wombats to 50 without loss. When both batsman started showing some signs of fluidity, they were cruelly removed. Ali was LBW on 22, while Patmore was clean bowled for 28. From there the game looked in danger, with Mark and Milinda digging in but failing to trouble the scorers, while Vignesh could only score one in his five deliveries. From 1-66, the Wombats were 5-78.

Chelsea led a small fightback, her 15 being the team’s third highest (or fourth, behind “wides”), showing some fine shots and running hard. She should have had more than the one four she made, but a combination of slow ground and solid fielding restricted her. Chandu added 3 before being run out, leaving Corey Hunter-Park to make his first visit to the middle as a Wombat. Over six balls, the ball hit his glove more than his bat before he left/”kicked” (whoever you believe) one onto middle stump. Satish and Chelsea added some runs but it was ultimately too late. By the time Chelsea was bowled and Joe took guard for the first time in three years, he had 6 balls to score 46 runs. He survived the over, ensuring the Wombats the moral victory of batting out the overs.

To add insult to injury (in Dino’s case, literally), the Tokyo cohort had to shoot straight back up, else face an extra charge for the car. The customary cans and highlights/lowlights were, as with everything else in these COVID times, done virtually. The Wombats will look to regroup next week against the Chiba Sharks, if they are able. The groundsman already reckons it’s not worth it as we are braced for plenty of precipitation this week, though if we all play our rain cards early, the Gods of Cricket might reward us with a match.

Catches

• Patmore’s second effort
• Satish holding on to a sharp one at midwicket off of Chelsea.
• Patmore stood up to Chelsea down leg side (yes I’m self nominating, piss off)

Dropped Catches

• Vicky with a low one at square leg off Chandu.

Quotes

• “I’m too old for this shit” – Dino walking out to open the batting with Patmore like old times. Also “one last job”.
• “Where did you break your finger Mili, here or Sano?” Dino giving Mili PTSD in the field
• “But I hit it” – Rising Star batter as he’d just been given out caught behind

Great Moments in Sport

• McTamney bringing Dino a bat pad to use as a pillow
• Mili making his return to Wombat colours for the first time since breaking his finger in 2018
• Chandu’s accurate and fiery opening spell
• Joe’s 2nd wicket, pitching on off and clipping the top of leg stump, through the gate.
• Ali’s tight spell
• Satish’s nippy bowling and couple of important wickets
• Corey continued to stick to his guns of “swinging as hard as I can” despite getting hit by the ball multiple times during his innings

Dummy Spits

• Joe screaming at Mili “I AM STILL NOT DONE COLLECTING MY STUFF” when the seat fold made a close call on the precious noodle soup that could have ended in a murder.

Golden Thong Nominations

• 2 of our batters walking out and needing to be reminded to bring some gloves with them.
• Joe buying a cup noodle and miso soup for breakfast, and then asking the driver to be careful. Rare unit.
• Dino’s calf exploding once again, and the Rising Stars running him out (they did rescind after the umpire asked, mind you).
• Chandu getting run out by not grounding his bat
• Umpire calling a no ball for the fielding team not notifying him of a change of bowler, had prolonged discussion with the other umpire, and we still got a free hit…