End of season 2010: Semi-Final Match Report

The 2010 winter season came to an end last night for the Popped Collars, and so today I present the first in a series of end-of-season posts, beginning with a write-up of all the excitement from last night's game...

After clinching two solid victories in a double-header last week - the final week of the regular season - the chaps showed up last night assuming they had finished 3rd on the ladder and would be playing The Phils. Instead, they found themselves up against their rivals (victims) from last season's Grand Final, and number 1 ranked team, the 4Skins.

After the 4Skins got away to a solid start in the first pair, scoring 49, the Collars took back control. Solid bowling and good fielding kept the usually strong batting line up to a team total of just 107. The standout player with the ball was Jim, who claimed 4/-14. The batsmen were only able to score from 5 of his deliveries.

X and Jules made a solid start to the run chase with only a couple of lapses in concentration (and a lucky stumping where the ball rebounded off the 'keepers knee onto the stumps) stopped them from pushing past the half way mark in the overall run chase. They ended with 39.

Rian and Jim went in next, and the second ball of their innings really set the scene for the rest of it. Jim clubbed the ball straight down the ground for a blazing seven, only to find that the shot was "too good" and have it rebound back to the bowlers stumps for an easy run out. Next over saw a ball produce a carbon copy of those events!

At the other end Rian seemed to find fielders placed everywhere he hit the ball, and even when there was no fielder there, they seemed to somehow get themselves there... at one stage he became the unfortunate victim of one of the best catches you will ever see on an indoor cricket field...

The ball was chipped over the infield and down towards the very back corner on the off-side. The ball grazed the side net and was looking a certainty to go for a side-back 4 runs. However, the 4Skins back net fielder somehow managed to race across and put in a full dive to not only stop the ball going for 4 runs, but to miracolously have the ball stick in his outstretched left hand as he crashed and tumbled into the ground and the side net.

Those run-outs, and that catch, both inspired the 4Skins and put the Popped Collars in a difficult situation. From there on, the Collars were forced to play more aggressively as the required run-rate climbed - a strategy that, in general, was unsuccessful against a 4Skins team now full of confidence.

Back-net-catch-freak-man took at least one other brilliant catch, running to his right and stretching to grab a ball that should have gone for 7. The whole thing became a mirror image of last season's grand final where the 4Skins scored only 35 runs due to the Popped Collars having a brilliant day in the field.

The final score was 107-58, and the Popped Collars will return to the court next week to kick-off their 2010/11 summer season.

The next post for this week will look at the stats and records set during last night's semi-final.