What's going off out there..?

I breathed a sigh of relief as the first round of one-day games took over from the two-day, two-weekend fixtures. No more fielding for a whole day in the stifling heat, no more irritation at the same sledge over and over by the midget at silly mid off two weeks running, no more waiting a fortnight to have a bat only to get out for sod all (this way it could happen in consecutive weeks!)

After another dramatic win for our fourth grade side, I sneaked a promotion to the second grade side for the following week courtesy of Pom #1 gaining a Sunshine Coast Scorchers call up.

Playing on the main oval at our Nambour Showgrounds home, our batsmen were put under the pump early on by high-flying Caboolture as we succumbed to 50 for 5. Batting at 7 I stuck around for a while to share a half-century stand with one of our youngsters, chuckling at the swathe of abuse from the opposition over his agricultural style of play, before I nicked off to slip.

We limped to an under-par 148 and contemplated our transgressions over tea. Aussie teas are not as much of an art form as back in Blighty. On most occasions, ham, cheese, salad and beetroot sandwiches (Aussies love their beetroot) are commonplace, perhaps some crackers with cheese and hopefully a slice or two of cake – luckily our Nambour canteen ladies always produce a hearty slab of chocolate sponge or some such sugar-infused sweet.

In reply to our effort, Caboolture cruised to 60 for 1, skipper Cowie rotating through our first four bowlers with little success. Probably in pure desperation, he threw the ball to me. I marked my short run up, took a deep breath and began my trundle to the crease. As the ball left my hand I must have blacked out, because as I came to forty minutes later, the opposition were 80 for 7 and I had 6 wickets for 5 runs from 5 overs. That first ball had been edged to slip, followed by an LBW two balls later, a caught behind and three further catches as I was mobbed by unbelieving yet jubilant team mates.

I finished with career best 6 for 22 from 10 but the opposition number nine had dug in and tensions neared boiling point as Caboolture edged closer to a tight victory that would break Nambour hearts. But, 12 runs short, old stager Gibson trapped the last man in front to spark wild scenes that continued long, long into the night. There is nothing like a dramatic win to spawn an unforgettable club night out!