Rams break their duck in the first Rams v Lambs

Back when the UK was decked in glorious summer sun, 20-odd eclectic cricketers descended upon suburban Surrey to play in the inaugural Rams vs. Lambs, a cricketing triumphant between the over and under thirtysomething year olds within the club.

The eldest and youngest were duly appointed captains of the respective sides, namely 13-years-old- on-the-day Guy Walsh (son of) and Vance (Ed’s note: the author of this magnificent epistle). The simple task ensued of corralling the twenty somethings to The Lambs and the 40 somethings to The Rams. The ambiguous thirtysomethings were then horse traded to obtain the exact medium of the numbers gathered.

A better idea, as mooted, was to line up from youngest to oldest. This would have been a more accurate effort to balance the sides. If age hadn’t been a significant disability for the numerically challenged Rams, they had commenced the game with 9 players, a borrowed Lamb and Choc, who was off course, but en-route, against 12 Lambs. For those keeping count, this meant 10 Rams vs. 12 Lambs.

A sizing up on the sides ensued and in a naive effort to balance teams, Scott Baldwin was deemed surplus to requirements of The Rams. A bold move given The Rams were yet to win the fixture dating back to its inception in 2014.

The Choc had last been seen and especially heard during the Drinks in the Sky soiree, his battle cry of ‘this isn’t just lamb, it’s NEW ZEEEEEEEALAND lamb’ still ringing in our ears.

And so to the Game

Lambs won the toss and opted to put the Rams to the field. Richard Lambie and Brendon Read mustered 40 off the first 4 overs, both riding their luck and finding the middle off of Dave Coutts and Walsh Snr. The short boundaries seemed even closer with only 10 players in the field. Left armers John Dennis and Vance took on the challenge, with John making the initial breakthrough by enticing a nick through to Sam Harding @ keeper. 1- 55 off 6. VT then took two wickets on his 2nd over to restore some parity @ 3-57 off 7. A further wicket to Dennis who intimidated Vorn just enough to trigger Scott Baldwin, but not before he’d been struck squarely on the toe by a yorker. This was compounded by having left his boots at school and therefore batting in trainers.

Exhibit A. Scott Baldwin’s toe a week after being struck

The great foundation that the Lambs had based their innings on was starting to unravel. Whilst the carnage was unfolding at the other end, Brendon was going about his business in a tidy, uncompromising manner bringing up his 50 off 35.

Justin Fredrickson, who we’ll have to start considering as an all-rounder, was utilised as a 5th bowler.

He surprised a number of us with the longest run up of the day, and even longer follow through. This was partially due to his penchant of eyeing the batsman after each delivery and a snapped Achilles tendon. His tenacious display earnt him a wicket for his toil.

Walsh came back into the attack and was finally rewarded, having previously had 3 catches shelled in 4 over allotment.

At the end, Neil Booth grafted 15 off 19 and Vorn had muscled 13 off 9 at the end, to haul the Lambs to 153 – 6 whilst Brendon carried his bat in a splendid 77 off 57. The total seemed a tab over par. For the record, Choc finally cantered on to the field with a couple overs to spare in the innings. Coronation chicken sandwiches and pints of San Miguel were the highlights of the lunch, which was generally more liquid than solid.

Rams Response

Rams response was off to an inauspicious start, when Treasurer Hamilton failed to trouble the scorers, as he was good enough to catch up with a Baldwin leg side delivery and glide it into the keeper’s gloves.

Chris Nolan in one of his last games for the club, was yet to play on a winning team this season. He undertook a solid job of seeing off both Scott’s and Neil’s first couple overs, but held out at mid-off, off the bowling of Jeri Thompson who wobbled one in the air.

Rams were reeling at 31-2 off 5 and required about 9 an over.

Burge strode to the crease with a game plan in place. This was effectively to feed the strike to Sam Harding who was getting in his stride.

Three of the Lambs were child prodigies of the Rams. Their fathers coaching/sledging ranged from, offering advice as to who should bowl the next over, to, they had better find an alternative means of getting home that evening. This was cited when Aaron Dennis undertook a particularly fine piece of fielding.

The partnership was broken at 46, with Burge’s contribution being 5. This brought The Choc to the crease. Many hadn’t seem Chock bat before and those who had, hadn’t witnessed anything that will fill themselves with confidence.

Fortunately Sam had the lion’s share of the strike and went gather runs in both muscular and refined fashion, bringing his 50 up off 32 balls. Choc was joining the fray and scored at a run a ball, with 4’s and singles. But mostly singles… In a search to find a way of breaking the blossoming partnership, The Lambs tried a total of 9 bowlers. Mind you, they did have 12 players at the disposal. 26 runs were needed off the last 2 overs. Enter Tom Maurer, the 9th of the bowling combinations.

Sam was poised on 80. After exchanging singles, Sam hit the 3rd delivery into the hands of Brendon.

For a brief moment The Lambs thought they had their man. Not to be as Brendon was standing a good couple metres over the boundary. Sam made sure of the next 2 deliveries and the ball was sent over the pavilion to bring up 3 consecutive 6’s.

Enter Scott Baldwin to bowl the final over. By Scott’s impeccable standards, he had had an average game, and with his wounded toe, was a dangerous injured animal. This was a worrying sight at the end of if his run-up, especially to Choc. Fortunately for Choc, he was at the non-strikers end. Rams had 3 for the win. Two dots and a single to commence the over, meant Chock had 3 deliveries to get the two that required. This quickly became 2 deliveries for 2.

Fortunately for The Rams, Chocks edge found the trajectory of the ball and squirted it to the deep 3rd man boundary, ensuring The Rams broke their duck. Chock ended up with 22 off 17, whilst star of the day Sam Harding was undefeated on 102 off 57, including ten 4’s, and six 6’s. Brendon Read picked up the Lambs Player of the Day.

It was a cracking game, and showcased both the strength and depth of the club, but more importantly, the excellent characters that represent the club week in and week out. We retired to the clubrooms to rekindle our kinship with San Miguel and regaled in a great afternoon of cricket.