RHC LIONS

RHC v Livingston - President's Trophy 1st Round
Sunday 24th May

After the 2s had beaten Livi in the League the day before, a composite President's Trophy side, comprising 10 real cricketers from the 2s and 3s, and 1 miscellaneous hanger-on were looking to repeat the trick, and take the first step on the road to Stenhousemuir, venue for the final of this year's President's Trophy.

Captain Nick, after having done the hardest part of his job by getting 11 bodies on the park, lost the toss and RHC were inserted. Considering that the conditions looked perfect for batting, and that a stronger Livi side had been rolled for 37 less than 24 hours earlier over course and distance, the cynical might have thought that the decision was an attempt to prolong the afternoon's cricket. Of course, such thoughts never crossed the mind of RHC's 11 brave men and true, whose champions, Arun and Ozzie went out to bat, and didn't return until the 32nd over.

In a superb batting display the two heroes worked together perfectly, seeing off the new ball before unleashing a barrage of strokes either delicately placed between the fielders, or bludgeoned over the top. Which batsmen adopted which of these styles is left to the readers imagination. Oz and Jay took advantage of several missed opportunities, including 2 changes off the same ball to get rid of Jay who, after hitting the ball in the air, decided that the exact middle of the pitch was the best vantage point to watch both the descent, the drop by the bowler, and the ball missing the stumps by a clear quarter of a inch.

Despite, and because of, the miscues in the field, the total continued to mount, until finally a fielder held onto one of Arun's swipes, with the score on 149 and the big man having contributed 79 off 92 balls. Remembering his English class studies of Romeo and Juliet, Ozzie decided he couldn't possibly continue to bat without his partner, and was out n the next over, turning the slog over to the middle order. Jayce McCarthy found the ropes a few times to make an unbeaten 26 off 19, ably supported by a Nick Adams cameo, and some last over tip & run by Joe Kinghorn. A final total of 208 was thought to make RHC favourites, but the patchwork bowling attack would have to come through to finish the job.

After a tea worthy of an epic retelling of its own RHC, by degrees, strode, staggered and waddled out to field. The new ball was taken by Saturday's second-best bowler (only 4-fer) Bammo, and Joe “I need a nickname” Kinghorn. The first runs didn't arrive until the 5th over, by which time the shape of the game was clear – good bowling, slow batting, and discordant, mostly incoherent shouting coming from the square leg region.

Both bowlers finished their first spell with identical figures for 5-2-9-0 before earning a rest. The only break through had been the Livingston opener being so intimidated and desperate to get away from the searing pace of Joe that he ran out his partner taking a single to the Wizard of Oz at cover.

While Adam Knight was conceding only 2 scoring shots in his 5 overs, Westy nipped out the other opener, Nick holding the catch at mid-wicket. Without his usual accuracy, Westy manfully toiled through his spell for a well deserved 1 for 23 from 8 straight overs before handing the ball over to Arun to bewitch, bother and bewilder most of the rest of the batting order. A beautiful loop left the batsmen groping, and gave AJ 3 wickets for no runs in 16 balls, with another run-out sandwiched in the sequence as well. This left only time for Sully and Tricky to pick up a wicket apiece, Jay taking the catch to dismiss skipper Crichton, easily the pick of the Livi batsmen with 44. Kinghorn wrapped things up, easily demonstrating that the Scotland coach has nothing to teach him in terms of Elmering out the tail, finishing with 5.3-2-9-2.

However a very special mention to Tom Rutherford after showing some excellent abilities in the field. I have to say, that in all honesty, we didn’t expect much from Tom but he was genuinely cat like in the field, even making a diving stop on the boundary that most players would have pulled out off!

A 101 run win, leaving the lions in good shape moving on to the 2nd round with a home game against defending champs Watsonians. Tune in for more details – same bat-time, same bat-channel, and same batting performance????