WOMBAT STEW

by Adam Farmer

Tokyo turned on a magnificent day of weather as the wombats headed down south to Yokohama for the rescheduled and much anticipated match against the Yokohama Country & Athletic Club. Much had been mentioned to us newcomers about the YC&AC facilities and some had even labelled it the “best place to play cricket in Japan”. We were not disappointed upon arrival and were greeted by a newly laid, completely artificial cricket ground and not to mention fantastic amenities such as pool, bar, showers and toilets. Something, which does not typically greet us upon arrival at Ageo or Fuji!

Unfortunately for GT & the entire Wombats crew, GT lost his first toss of the 2009 season and the YC&AC captain had no hesitation of sending us out to field in by what had now become a stifling hot day, typical of what you would expect upon arrival at Hyderabad or some stinking hot sub-continent ground. Let me tell you, we now have a renewed appreciation for Jonesy’s double century at Chennai in ’87.

I must admit that we had a terrible warm up session. A comical 15 minutes of dropped catches and poor throws. We then started the game and unfortunately we failed to regain the fielding skills that had seen us remain unbeaten through this season so far. A series of drop catches ensured the YC&AC a handy innings. Our bowlers had to work hard on a batting friendly wicket and not having great support in the field. YC&AC tracked a comfortable run rate and the opening partnership rewarded 89 runs. Dino showed the rest of the team what we had been missing by taking a fantastic low diving forward catch (definite KFC classic catch inclusion) off the bowling of Prabhat to break the opening partnership.

YC&AC continued to punish us in the field. Unable to stand the pain anymore, Chuck demanded a chance to roll the arm over and produced some nice overs reaping 3 for 35 of 6. Highlighting the spell was the Freddy superman stance, which failed to gain many willing participants’ in the group hug! Not to mention the fact that he was robbed to chance of a hatrick opportunity by an umpiring decision that was not based on the rules of the game.

The YC&AC finished the innings setting the wombats a not to shabby 275 for victory.

Dino & Beathy padded up to open the wombats innings. When asked the batting order and more precisely “whose batting at 3?” The usually subdued GT stated a firm “ME!”, obviously eager for a bat and the chance to show us that he is indeed a batsman come bowler, not the other way around. Dino & Beathy played some trademark shots however GT came to the pitch after Dino was caught smashing one out of the centre straight into waiting hands. We then witnessed some beautiful stroke play all around the ground as he went onto to score 73. Chuck joined GT at the centre after Beathy was caught for 32 by another YC&AC fielder who was able to do what we couldn’t (hold a catch….) Continuing his fine form with the bat of late, Chuck also displayed some textbook shots and at one stage clipped two sixes in a row straight over the fence on leg side, leaving yours truly wondering if his car had just been decorated with several large dents! These boys continued a very handy partnership and pushed the total to 201 when Chuck was bowled down leg side for 56.

Unfortunately the required run rate was creeping up to around 10 an over due to some very good containment bowling/fielding by our hosts. I came to the pitch with the intention of giving the new “Screaming Cat” a test and was not disappointed when I managed to middle a few. However my stint was all too short and I was bowled for 22. By this stage we required around 40 off the last 11 balls which was a task too big even for our gallant tailenders who tried hard right to the last ball. In the end we fell 20 odd runs short, beaten by a better team on the day.

After enjoying showers, the boys hit the bar and were asked to join the celebrations for Neil’s going away party. Many beers were required to rehydrate us after a long day. Accompanied by some family and friends, the wombats showed that even through we might have lost our fielding skills for the day, we certainly continuing our fine drinking form!