Coulda, Shoulda....Didn't

[Mr_Booze]

COULDA, SHOULDA....DIDN’T

Author: Jim Dawson
Originally published: 28th February, 2010

Game 222 scorecard link

It was one of those games where the OTP Chargers will look back and say, “How the smurf did we lose that?” After being in an almost unassailable position with thirteen overs remaining in the match, the Chargers proceeded to drop their bundle in the worst possible fashion and crash to a demoralising 19-run defeat, leaving their hopes of making the final hanging by a thread.

The man everyone likes to second guess, Jim Dawson, won the toss and elected to field on a stinking hot day. Graham ‘Sunstroke’ McCartain and Matt Arnerich (in the absence of Iain ‘Bruiser’ Taylor) opened the bowling and were immediately set upon by the aggressive opening partnership of Craig and Loges. Arnerich’s opening spell conceded 24 and he was quickly removed from the attack, whilst McCartain was not at his best, being carted for 31 from his first four.

The prodigal son, Leon Vainu, was introduced into the attack and immediately claimed the wicket of Loges, courtesy of an athletic catch by Dawson at mid-on. Pete Gordon was on at the other end and both bowlers bowled superbly in tandem, drying up the runs and putting the pressure right back on the Eden Roskill batsmen.

Steve Martin swallowed one of Gordon’s balls at long on to send Gareth back, before a double Vainu strike put OTP firmly in the ascendency. Eden Roskill were 56 without loss after seven overs. At drinks, they were 104-4, with Vainu and Gordon really getting their side back into the match.

After drinks, McCartain cleaned out Glenn, before the introduction of Chris ‘Hammer’ Whyte into the attack.

In all fairness, Whyte has not had the greatest of seasons and, as such, has had some fairly limited opportunities with the ball. However, he produced an absolutely brilliant spell of bowling on this day, claiming two vital wickets.

First up, he got an absolute jaffa through the dangerous Cleith’s defences, sending his middle pin cartwheeling through the air. This brought in Justin Kumar, who had destroyed the Chargers with an unbeaten 93 in the first round encounter. Two balls into his innings, Whyte induced a false stroke and Martin, moving with all the speed of Gordon at a children’s playground, snaffled the catch. The Chargers were jubilant and Eden Roskill were, well....not.

Hammer finished with the excellent figures of 2-27 from six overs and really did perform superbly, bowling to his field and not letting any batsman dominate him.

Vainu came back and finished Craig’s hard-hitting, though at times, rather fortuitous innings at 61. Eight down for 151 and the Chargers were confident of keeping the score below 180.

However, the wheels fell off the OTP fielding juggernaut at this point and, despite another Gordon wicket, they were unable to dismiss Abo, who played very intelligently for his unbeaten 33, in the process steering his side to a defendable 200-9.

For the Chargers, the first and last six to seven overs were somewhat mediocre, but what was in between was fantastic. Considering they did not have Bruiser in their ranks, the OTP bowlers did brilliantly in reining in Eden Roskill, especially after their lightning start. Vainu got the lion’s share of the wickets with a top notch 4-35, but the contributions of Whyte and Gordon (2-45) cannot be underestimated.

Arnerich, who had probably ended his OTP bowling career with a dreadful 13-ball over in his second spell, was asked to open the innings with Bede Haliburton, with Darren Wind dropping down the order. Asked to give the innings some impetus, Arnerich did not disappoint.

Haliburton went in the second over, thanks to an excellent grab at slip by Loges, bringing Dawson to the crease. With Cleith bowling tightly at one end, Dawson and Arnerich targeted Mark, slamming 32 off his opening five overs. The ten over mark arrived and both players were looking comfortable, the score reading 47-1.

Both players went for their shots, Dawson’s best probably being a scorching pull through midwicket off Mark and Arnerich’s being a brilliant toe that went straight (and very safely) up in the air, the ball after the entire legside field had been moved back.

At 79-1 in the sixteenth over, with the chase well in hand, disaster struck.

Dawson mistimed a cover drive and spooned an easy chance out to point, before Arnerich had his poles knocked over three balls later. Taylor and Wind negotiated the team through to drinks at 105-3, looking largely untroubled.

After drinks, the pair kept up with the required rate, without having any big overs that would have eased the pressure on the anxious spectators. At 145-3 in the 28th over, a bit of brilliance from Justin Kumar turned the game irrevocably in Eden Roskill’s favour.

Taylor, batting fluently, walked past a legside wide and, before he knew it, Kumar had the bails off, said, “Well batted, mate,” and the OTP run machine was on his way. It was an unbelievably sharp piece of wicketkeeping and Kumar had once again single-handedly changed the course of the match.

Worse was to follow in the 31st over.

Firstly, Wind was bowled after being distracted by a conversation about quantum physics between Craig and one of his cohorts. Two balls later, McWilliams was bowled. Two balls after that, Martin was given lbw when he looked to be well forward. A triple-wicket maiden and, after cruising at 145-3, the Chargers were now deep in the mire at 152-7.

Gordon came in and attempted to run everyone on the field out, before being run out himself by a direct hit from midwicket. Whyte was cleaned out for a blob, before McCartain miscued a pull to be out for 3. Chambers was left at the other end wondering what the smurf had just happened, unbeaten on 17.

All out 181.

Hold on, rewind. Just a few paragraphs ago, we were cruising to an easy win. So what happened?

The biggest difference between the teams was that one of their players (Craig) went on to a 50+ score once he got a start. Three of the OTP top four made it into the thirties, but none scored higher than Arnerich’s 37. Add another twenty runs to any one of their scores and there you have the winning of the match.

The lower order, who have dug the Chargers out of many holes in the past, were unable to combat some very straight bowling – particularly from Raj, who ended with the outstanding figures of 5-20. Taylor’s wicket was the key one and the ensuing triple-wicket maiden that followed sent the innings spiralling into a chasm of darkness that it never looked like getting out of.

Credit must go to Eden Roskill, who never let the Chargers get too far ahead of the run rate and were always able to apply some degree of pressure with their very straight bowling. At the end of the day, they deserved the win.

Vainu took out Player of the Day, Martin got the Creature and McWilliams open-throated the Flame of Shame in a sensational 5.71 seconds. I forget what he got it for now, but he probably deserved it. Dawson spent the entire fines session quietly seething at the outcome of the game, before spending the entire trip home swearing himself hoarse.

The Chargers no longer have destiny in their own hands. To make the final, these three things must happen:

1. Chargers beat East Coast Bays and Papatoetoe;
2. Eden Roskill beat Papatoetoe and East Coast Bays;
3. Chargers snap some smurfing necks when gosh darn foot is on throat.

It’s called sudden death.
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[Alien]

I hope Steve didn't choke when he swalloed one of Gordon's Balls...!!!

[Skipper]

I'm just glad you made it home without driving off a cliff somewhere!

A fair reflection I think. For me the differences were thay fielded better than us and as a team applied more pressure with the ball over the entire innings.

Lets not put too much pressure on ourselves for our next game.

[Bruiser]

sorry chaps.... feel like crap now

[Mr_Booze]

Mate, it was just one of those games. I feel exactly the same - blew a golden opportunity to be a hero with the bat.

Personally, apart from the last seven overs of the game, I really enjoyed the day!

I vote we go in with the same attitude against ECB, we've got nothing to lose now. Let's get out there, play good cricket (which I think we did for large periods in this game) and ENJOY ourselves.

As Princess Leia said in Star Wars, "It's not over yet."

GTC.
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[Mr_Booze]

And to be fair, Bruiser, you were undone by a brilliant piece of cricket. Not like you played half-arsed shot and spooned a goober out to point or anything....
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[Bruiser]

Nothing worse than setting it up like that and failing to get the win. I think the saying is, "snatched defeat from the jaws of victory".

Bring on battle of the ages.

[Death]

Great report Jim. Must have been tough writing that.

Technically we could have another route to the final, couldn't we?

We beat ECB on the 13th and ER beat Papa2toes and then the 20th is rained off. (Does that work?) We deserve that scenario after the last 2 seasons. Although, I prefer your scenario, Jim.

There are also tied game scenario's or localised rain preventing a result in some games.... aarrggghhh we shoulda just won.

Bring on the 10X10

[Nihalitus]

That scenario would leave us tied on points with ECB Steve, so we'd miss out...

[LaurieLounge]

Dare I ask who gave the LBW?

[Death]

Don't ask, but he was under 31.

So, Windy it wouldn't go on who beat who in the top 4 games? (Actually, don't even answer that , I don't want to know).

[Bullet]

That's a good question Steve; If it were us & Papatoetoe tied in Top 4 but we'd won the T4 encounter, then we'd be in. But ECB (if we beat them) would have 2-1 record against us for the season, so they'd go in.
But let's not worry about this sort of thing until we have to. If we don't win 2 from 2 , it's all irrelevant anyway.

[Mr_Booze]

If teams are tied on points at the end of the Top Four, the first tiebreaker is the total number of wins you have over the other teams you are tied with.

Because of our terrible record against other top four teams, the ONLY way we can make the final is if we win the next two and Eden Roskill win the next two. No other options.
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[Nihalitus]

Jim, aren't there a couple of alternative scenarios? I hate to be back door about this and I know the bottom line is that we have to win our next two games, but if we do that and Eden Roskill lose their next two games then we'll get in. Also, if they lose to Papatoetoe and beat ECB then we will still get in. Is that right or is my math shonky?

These situations obviously rely on us winning our games, but before I get inundated with calls to "just focus on the next game", I've always been a great believer in being in possession of all the facts.

And it doesn't take away the fact it's all a pile of manure if we don't win our next two.

[Gas]

Jim is saying:

Eden roskill: 3 wins
Chargers: 2 wins
East coast bays: 1 win
Papatoetoe: 0 wins

I think you're right Windy, that would make:

East coast bays: 2 wins
Chargers: 2 wins
Eden Roskill: 1 win
Papatoetoe: 1 win

I think that Jim's scenario is more likely though, but both situations require us to be lucky with the other results while winning the remaining 2 matches. Still, I'd rather go out on three straight wins regardless. Especially considering that we'll be playing those dirty cheating papatoe players. I'd also like to salvage some pride and dish something back to that ECB team after the humiliation we received.