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Game I of Season 2012/13
Saturday 22nd December 2012
Conditions: Misty, Light Drizzle & Humid
Toss: Porirua (elected to field)
Result: Porirua won by 2 Wickets
Man of the Match: Michael Lees
Saturday 22nd December 2012
Conditions: Misty, Light Drizzle & Humid
Toss: Porirua (elected to field)
Result: Porirua won by 2 Wickets
Man of the Match: Michael Lees
"This game will be forever remembered for *that* catch by Harper. It turned the tide, with the Hutt going on to collapse in their second innings. Although Porirua made hard work of their eventual small target, it was a memorable win indeed."
Ten glorious summers it has been since the Haywards Shield began. From the time the concept was first conceived, the batting board first constructed, and the first ball bowled, what has been forged has been a richness of history, tradition and spirit of competition to rival The Ashes.
And so it was that the 10th season began, and it was Porirua that won the toss under a sky filled with grey, low cloud – threatening to drizzle but more hanging in the air as a plain reminder that this is indeed New Zealand in December. Just for a change, the winners of the toss decided to bowl first (the 16th time that this decision has been made in 19 games).
Returning to the Hutt side to open the batting was captain courageous, Shukul Kachwalla - now on a diet of water, lettuce and lima beans. Back at the Rose Bowl for the first time since 2009/10, he would be attempting to prove Sam Kekovich dead wrong, and show that there would be nothing un-Australian about the manner in which a teetotaling vegetarian could bat. His opening partner, Johnson, was newly wedded – the question on everyone’s lips was: how would this turn of events affect his game?
McHugh was given the new ball and asked to continue the trend of a wicket in the first over of Haywards Shield seasons, and in this task he was successful, removing Johnson for a golden duck, the bales flying in all directions as he breached the defenses of the man they call ‘Pocky’.
One married man replaced by another as in strode Williams. Williams stroked a six off Harper, but Lees decided intimidation was the best tactic to employ when it was his turn to bowl, sending down three beamers in the over. Porirua don’t fight fair, it seems – but in this case the ungentlemanly conduct was rewarded with the prized wicket of Williams as Lees got a thick edge from the Hutt vice-captain.
McHugh returned, and looked to make further inroads into the Hutt, and bowling with aggression produced a sharply lifting ball that cracked Kachwalla square in the Sourav Gangulys. Ouch. As the bad news was relayed to his fiancé Divya Singh that they might need to find a new use for all those extra bedrooms in their new Melbourne home, Kachwalla groaned on his haunches for a good 5 minutes while the Porirua lads offered their sympathy through high-fives, laughter and witty banter.
Finally Kachwalla recovered and soldiered on. This was a different sort of innings from Kachwalla – the run rate a slow (by Haywards Shield standards) 6 per over, his batting a study of concentration and grit. That he was asked to endure beamers, nut-shots and inclement weather only added to its bravery and appeal to the cricketing purists among us.
Unfortunately for the Hutt, Kachwalla continued to lose partners at the other end – Walters played on to a fast one against Lees, and Lees also got the debutant Jackson Burt out in his next over thanks to an edge. Lees had taken a wicket in every over he bowled, but still Kachwalla loomed large over the match. The Man from Mumbai had passed 50 and was looking mightily impressive. What would it take to dismiss this juggernaut?
If this cricket writer knows Ryan Harper at all, I know that this will be the part of the report he will have skipped to first. But how to do justice to what happened next using the mere, blunt implements of the English language? How to capture the athleticism, self-belief and commitment that it took to pull it off? How, indeed, to convey the importance of the moment in the context of the match, and the exultant reaction of every Porirua player when it happened?
Words, dear reader, simply fail.
Kachwalla had been dismissed to the greatest catch in Haywards Shield history. A fantastically-timed lofted shot to the wide long-on fence was a certain boundary, but out of nowhere was instead snatched from the clouds by Harper, flying like a Black Swan. He pulled off a fully extended leap to his right to grab the catch of his lifetime one-handed, after initially juggling it on his first attempt. Every Porirua player charged in to a spontaneous group embrace to celebrate a moment that will surely go down in Haywards Shield folklore as one of the greatest of all time. Clearly, having woke up on the morning of the Shield in the town of Fielding, Harper had the spirit of that place running through his veins.
Still, the Hutt had accumulated 88 runs – probably about par on a greenish wicket.
For the first time since the stable opening partnership was first instituted in 2006/07, Rose would not open with Lees. Recognising a run of poor form, Rose demoted himself to number 4, instead inserting Paul Spencer at the crease to partner with Lees – the rationale being the two of them had spent so much time living together in cramped vans and flats in Europe that a partnership at the crease would be as natural as the birds and the bees.
Spencer repaid this faith by walloping Kachwalla for two fours – that he was then dismissed by the same bowler mattered not – the psychological damage had been done. Smashed in the balls, dismissed to an impossible catch, spanked for boundaries by Spence – Kachwalla must have felt a broken man. McHugh stepped in, and for a while he and Lees looked to accumulate the singles, cleverly nurdling the ball into the vacant spaces.
The trouble with playing for singles is that on a pitch like the Rosebowl, eventually a delivery tends to come along that has your name on it, and so it was the case for McHugh – in the last ball of Walter’s over, he slid in a delivery that hit him on the back leg – “going down leg!” screamed McHugh at once, but to no avail – up went the finger. Tight, disciplined bowling by the Hutt had got them back in the game.
Rose and Lees, the former opening partners, reunited and set about knocking off the runs. The pair were intent on playing the ball along the ground, taking advantage of the fast outfield the curators had so expertly prepared. Lees was building towards an innings of significance with his classy, mature play all around the ground. Rose was lucky to survive a bottler of a bowl by Johnson – but took full advantage by stroking three consecutive fours to the square-leg fence.
The Hutt needed a breakthrough – enter Williams. The final ball of the over, Rose was struck on the thigh and given out LBW by umpire Danny Young. Disappointed in the decision, Rose trudged off and handed the bat to Harper. Rose consoled himself with the thought that at least the decision wasn’t as bad as some of the ones Eu-Ving had served up as umpire the year before!
As the drizzle continued more heavily now, 3 down became 4 down in short order when Lees missed a straight one from Kachwalla. Once again, it would be down to Harper to bat alone to try and establish a decent lead for Porirua. A couple of sixes were his only reward, though, as Burt came on and grabbed his first wicket in Haywards Shield cricket, and in so doing brought the Porirua innings to an end.
The Hutt were ahead by just 3 runs on the first innings – so with honours even after both teams had batted once, it would be down to this next innings to set Porirua a score for the Hutt’s bowlers to be able to aim at.
Harper implored his skipper to give him the new ball – and after that catch, how could Rose say no? Running into face Kachwalla, he sent down a series of challenging deliveries that tested the Hutt’s most accomplished bat. The fourth ball of the day saw just reward for Harper’s energy – Kachwalla dismissed for a duck with a thin snick into the board, attempting to play his favourite cut shot. What a crucial breakthrough!
Lees had taken a wicket in every over he bowled, and he was asked to continue that good work next over. Johnson survived the king pair delivery, and next ball stroked one towards the long-off boundary with a certain degree of panache, picking up a couple of runs to get the Hutt tally started. However, Lees didn’t take kindly to that kind of audacity, sending down another high full toss in retaliation, which somehow Johnson edged and even more incredibly caused umpire Danny Young to lift the finger of death! A clear no-ball for height had been ignored – and with no DRS in position for this game, Johnson was forced to go.
McHugh, the fastest bowler in the Porirua attack, was brought on to face his old sparring partner, Luke Williams. Urged on by his team to bowl fast and straight, McHugh suckered Williams into chipping one towards square leg, where Lees was positioned. Coming high towards him, his attempt to emulate the deeds of Harper earlier in the day with a well-timed leap was summarily unsuccessful – the chance slipped through his fingers and Williams was off the mark with six. McHugh was looking fiery, and not just because of his complexion – two balls later, Williams was struck flush on the legs right in front and was trapped plumb LBW. McHugh punched the air with two fists in triumph, as chaos reigned with the Hutt’s two most dangerous batsmen dismissed cheaply.
Could the tail be mopped up? Rose exorcised some demons of his own next over – last year, it had been he that had to watch his own bowling to Walters go sailing over the rope time after time as the Hutt chased down their victory target. That was 12 months ago. Today, again Rose was asked to bowl to the same man, and the first delivery was an inswinging yorker that took out the base of off-stump. Porirua’s celebrations by now were going from the sublime to the ridiculous - with conga lines, Tim Tebow poses, and Gangnam Style all coming to the fore.
The Hutt was now firmly in disarray, at 11/4 and in danger of being dismissed for the lowest team score in the history of the Shield. Only Burt remained, and it would take some serious heroics to set the men from the western side of the Haywards hill any sort of score to chase. He took a couple of well-struck fours from Rose to begin with, and continued against Spencer – a big six taking the Hutt tally to 30. But that was all she wrote – next ball, Spencer steamed in and got a thick outside edge which unmistakably careened into the board to bring the Hutt’s innings to a conclusion. Each Porirua bowler had bowled one over and taken one wicket – Karl Marx himself would have been proud of how the spoils of the team’s collective toil were spread amongst the proletariat.
Porirua’s target would be 34. A score which may have looked unthreatening to the uninitiated, but the Ghosts of Shields Past haunted Porirua – there have been plenty of occasions when teams have been dismissed for less.
Lees came out with an intent to erase the deficit quickly, setting an example that the leaders of countries like the USA, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Spain and Ireland (among others) would be well-advised to follow. Lees continued where he left off in the first innings, striking all around the ground – including a monstrous hit over the straight boundary from the bowling of Williams. At the other end, Spencer stone-walled – playing the Mark Richardson role, the perfect foil for the Lees onslaught.
But with only six more runs to get, the fun and games started. The cricketing Gods decided to throw a spanner in the works. Lees could have finished it himself with one more blow and tried to do so, but only succeeded in edging the ball behind off Burt’s bowling, scoring 27 priceless runs but leaving the job not quite finished.
With his opening partner dismissed, and he still on zero, Spencer decided it was now or never, and launched himself into a full-blooded ‘heave’ (there really are no other words to describe the shot) – the ball travelled high and long towards wide long-off, where Williams charged in from long-on to try to pull off the catch. Getting both hands to it, the opportunity went to ground. Would this be a moment the Hutt would come to rue? No. Walters got him out soon afterwards anyway courtesy of a snick.
Two down, and the nerves jangling, Rose had to join McHugh at the crease. With only six runs required for victory, each of them were hoping the other could do it. Suddenly those runs that were flowing so freely dried up, and singles that seemed on offer earlier in the day became confused and frantic. Kachwalla bowled a maiden involving McHugh playing and missing to wildly swinging deliveries several times, and the next over from Williams saw Rose forced into a full stretch dive to make his ground at the non-strikers end when McHugh insisted on taking two. LBW appeals were made with vim and vigour, hearts were pounding – Porirua had everything to lose, and the choke was tightening around their necks. Surely they could not throw it away from here?
Kachwalla was trying to goad Rose into a rash shot, standing at silly point. The ploy worked – trying to win the match for his team, the Porirua skipper played all around a straight one from Burt. The Hutt celebrations were wild – and what drama, with Porirua still 1 run behind, Harper, the last man would have to come to the crease.
Harper, though, as he had done twice earlier in the day was able to come up with something decisive when it mattered. The second ball he faced, a six was struck to midwicket, and Porirua had won – but not before getting an almighty scare.
Despite missing out on carrying his bat to finish his second innings unbeaten, Lees was the unanimous choice as man of the match – top-scoring in both of Porirua’s innings, as well as picking up four wickets. Word on the street was that girlfriend Hayley Robertson would have given him a ‘special treat’ if he was able to ice his day by hitting the winning runs – but not to be. Lees would need to find another way to win a chocolate fish from her… (What? What did you think was meant by ‘special treat’? Geez, get your mind out of the gutter!)
As sweet as the taste of a chocolate fish is, the taste of victory was sweet enough for Porirua. They go 1-0 up in the series, and all of the cricketing world eagerly awaits game II in a few weeks time.
And so it was that the 10th season began, and it was Porirua that won the toss under a sky filled with grey, low cloud – threatening to drizzle but more hanging in the air as a plain reminder that this is indeed New Zealand in December. Just for a change, the winners of the toss decided to bowl first (the 16th time that this decision has been made in 19 games).
Returning to the Hutt side to open the batting was captain courageous, Shukul Kachwalla - now on a diet of water, lettuce and lima beans. Back at the Rose Bowl for the first time since 2009/10, he would be attempting to prove Sam Kekovich dead wrong, and show that there would be nothing un-Australian about the manner in which a teetotaling vegetarian could bat. His opening partner, Johnson, was newly wedded – the question on everyone’s lips was: how would this turn of events affect his game?
McHugh was given the new ball and asked to continue the trend of a wicket in the first over of Haywards Shield seasons, and in this task he was successful, removing Johnson for a golden duck, the bales flying in all directions as he breached the defenses of the man they call ‘Pocky’.
One married man replaced by another as in strode Williams. Williams stroked a six off Harper, but Lees decided intimidation was the best tactic to employ when it was his turn to bowl, sending down three beamers in the over. Porirua don’t fight fair, it seems – but in this case the ungentlemanly conduct was rewarded with the prized wicket of Williams as Lees got a thick edge from the Hutt vice-captain.
McHugh returned, and looked to make further inroads into the Hutt, and bowling with aggression produced a sharply lifting ball that cracked Kachwalla square in the Sourav Gangulys. Ouch. As the bad news was relayed to his fiancé Divya Singh that they might need to find a new use for all those extra bedrooms in their new Melbourne home, Kachwalla groaned on his haunches for a good 5 minutes while the Porirua lads offered their sympathy through high-fives, laughter and witty banter.
Finally Kachwalla recovered and soldiered on. This was a different sort of innings from Kachwalla – the run rate a slow (by Haywards Shield standards) 6 per over, his batting a study of concentration and grit. That he was asked to endure beamers, nut-shots and inclement weather only added to its bravery and appeal to the cricketing purists among us.
Unfortunately for the Hutt, Kachwalla continued to lose partners at the other end – Walters played on to a fast one against Lees, and Lees also got the debutant Jackson Burt out in his next over thanks to an edge. Lees had taken a wicket in every over he bowled, but still Kachwalla loomed large over the match. The Man from Mumbai had passed 50 and was looking mightily impressive. What would it take to dismiss this juggernaut?
If this cricket writer knows Ryan Harper at all, I know that this will be the part of the report he will have skipped to first. But how to do justice to what happened next using the mere, blunt implements of the English language? How to capture the athleticism, self-belief and commitment that it took to pull it off? How, indeed, to convey the importance of the moment in the context of the match, and the exultant reaction of every Porirua player when it happened?
Words, dear reader, simply fail.
Kachwalla had been dismissed to the greatest catch in Haywards Shield history. A fantastically-timed lofted shot to the wide long-on fence was a certain boundary, but out of nowhere was instead snatched from the clouds by Harper, flying like a Black Swan. He pulled off a fully extended leap to his right to grab the catch of his lifetime one-handed, after initially juggling it on his first attempt. Every Porirua player charged in to a spontaneous group embrace to celebrate a moment that will surely go down in Haywards Shield folklore as one of the greatest of all time. Clearly, having woke up on the morning of the Shield in the town of Fielding, Harper had the spirit of that place running through his veins.
Still, the Hutt had accumulated 88 runs – probably about par on a greenish wicket.
For the first time since the stable opening partnership was first instituted in 2006/07, Rose would not open with Lees. Recognising a run of poor form, Rose demoted himself to number 4, instead inserting Paul Spencer at the crease to partner with Lees – the rationale being the two of them had spent so much time living together in cramped vans and flats in Europe that a partnership at the crease would be as natural as the birds and the bees.
Spencer repaid this faith by walloping Kachwalla for two fours – that he was then dismissed by the same bowler mattered not – the psychological damage had been done. Smashed in the balls, dismissed to an impossible catch, spanked for boundaries by Spence – Kachwalla must have felt a broken man. McHugh stepped in, and for a while he and Lees looked to accumulate the singles, cleverly nurdling the ball into the vacant spaces.
The trouble with playing for singles is that on a pitch like the Rosebowl, eventually a delivery tends to come along that has your name on it, and so it was the case for McHugh – in the last ball of Walter’s over, he slid in a delivery that hit him on the back leg – “going down leg!” screamed McHugh at once, but to no avail – up went the finger. Tight, disciplined bowling by the Hutt had got them back in the game.
Rose and Lees, the former opening partners, reunited and set about knocking off the runs. The pair were intent on playing the ball along the ground, taking advantage of the fast outfield the curators had so expertly prepared. Lees was building towards an innings of significance with his classy, mature play all around the ground. Rose was lucky to survive a bottler of a bowl by Johnson – but took full advantage by stroking three consecutive fours to the square-leg fence.
The Hutt needed a breakthrough – enter Williams. The final ball of the over, Rose was struck on the thigh and given out LBW by umpire Danny Young. Disappointed in the decision, Rose trudged off and handed the bat to Harper. Rose consoled himself with the thought that at least the decision wasn’t as bad as some of the ones Eu-Ving had served up as umpire the year before!
As the drizzle continued more heavily now, 3 down became 4 down in short order when Lees missed a straight one from Kachwalla. Once again, it would be down to Harper to bat alone to try and establish a decent lead for Porirua. A couple of sixes were his only reward, though, as Burt came on and grabbed his first wicket in Haywards Shield cricket, and in so doing brought the Porirua innings to an end.
The Hutt were ahead by just 3 runs on the first innings – so with honours even after both teams had batted once, it would be down to this next innings to set Porirua a score for the Hutt’s bowlers to be able to aim at.
Harper implored his skipper to give him the new ball – and after that catch, how could Rose say no? Running into face Kachwalla, he sent down a series of challenging deliveries that tested the Hutt’s most accomplished bat. The fourth ball of the day saw just reward for Harper’s energy – Kachwalla dismissed for a duck with a thin snick into the board, attempting to play his favourite cut shot. What a crucial breakthrough!
Lees had taken a wicket in every over he bowled, and he was asked to continue that good work next over. Johnson survived the king pair delivery, and next ball stroked one towards the long-off boundary with a certain degree of panache, picking up a couple of runs to get the Hutt tally started. However, Lees didn’t take kindly to that kind of audacity, sending down another high full toss in retaliation, which somehow Johnson edged and even more incredibly caused umpire Danny Young to lift the finger of death! A clear no-ball for height had been ignored – and with no DRS in position for this game, Johnson was forced to go.
McHugh, the fastest bowler in the Porirua attack, was brought on to face his old sparring partner, Luke Williams. Urged on by his team to bowl fast and straight, McHugh suckered Williams into chipping one towards square leg, where Lees was positioned. Coming high towards him, his attempt to emulate the deeds of Harper earlier in the day with a well-timed leap was summarily unsuccessful – the chance slipped through his fingers and Williams was off the mark with six. McHugh was looking fiery, and not just because of his complexion – two balls later, Williams was struck flush on the legs right in front and was trapped plumb LBW. McHugh punched the air with two fists in triumph, as chaos reigned with the Hutt’s two most dangerous batsmen dismissed cheaply.
Could the tail be mopped up? Rose exorcised some demons of his own next over – last year, it had been he that had to watch his own bowling to Walters go sailing over the rope time after time as the Hutt chased down their victory target. That was 12 months ago. Today, again Rose was asked to bowl to the same man, and the first delivery was an inswinging yorker that took out the base of off-stump. Porirua’s celebrations by now were going from the sublime to the ridiculous - with conga lines, Tim Tebow poses, and Gangnam Style all coming to the fore.
The Hutt was now firmly in disarray, at 11/4 and in danger of being dismissed for the lowest team score in the history of the Shield. Only Burt remained, and it would take some serious heroics to set the men from the western side of the Haywards hill any sort of score to chase. He took a couple of well-struck fours from Rose to begin with, and continued against Spencer – a big six taking the Hutt tally to 30. But that was all she wrote – next ball, Spencer steamed in and got a thick outside edge which unmistakably careened into the board to bring the Hutt’s innings to a conclusion. Each Porirua bowler had bowled one over and taken one wicket – Karl Marx himself would have been proud of how the spoils of the team’s collective toil were spread amongst the proletariat.
Porirua’s target would be 34. A score which may have looked unthreatening to the uninitiated, but the Ghosts of Shields Past haunted Porirua – there have been plenty of occasions when teams have been dismissed for less.
Lees came out with an intent to erase the deficit quickly, setting an example that the leaders of countries like the USA, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Spain and Ireland (among others) would be well-advised to follow. Lees continued where he left off in the first innings, striking all around the ground – including a monstrous hit over the straight boundary from the bowling of Williams. At the other end, Spencer stone-walled – playing the Mark Richardson role, the perfect foil for the Lees onslaught.
But with only six more runs to get, the fun and games started. The cricketing Gods decided to throw a spanner in the works. Lees could have finished it himself with one more blow and tried to do so, but only succeeded in edging the ball behind off Burt’s bowling, scoring 27 priceless runs but leaving the job not quite finished.
With his opening partner dismissed, and he still on zero, Spencer decided it was now or never, and launched himself into a full-blooded ‘heave’ (there really are no other words to describe the shot) – the ball travelled high and long towards wide long-off, where Williams charged in from long-on to try to pull off the catch. Getting both hands to it, the opportunity went to ground. Would this be a moment the Hutt would come to rue? No. Walters got him out soon afterwards anyway courtesy of a snick.
Two down, and the nerves jangling, Rose had to join McHugh at the crease. With only six runs required for victory, each of them were hoping the other could do it. Suddenly those runs that were flowing so freely dried up, and singles that seemed on offer earlier in the day became confused and frantic. Kachwalla bowled a maiden involving McHugh playing and missing to wildly swinging deliveries several times, and the next over from Williams saw Rose forced into a full stretch dive to make his ground at the non-strikers end when McHugh insisted on taking two. LBW appeals were made with vim and vigour, hearts were pounding – Porirua had everything to lose, and the choke was tightening around their necks. Surely they could not throw it away from here?
Kachwalla was trying to goad Rose into a rash shot, standing at silly point. The ploy worked – trying to win the match for his team, the Porirua skipper played all around a straight one from Burt. The Hutt celebrations were wild – and what drama, with Porirua still 1 run behind, Harper, the last man would have to come to the crease.
Harper, though, as he had done twice earlier in the day was able to come up with something decisive when it mattered. The second ball he faced, a six was struck to midwicket, and Porirua had won – but not before getting an almighty scare.
Despite missing out on carrying his bat to finish his second innings unbeaten, Lees was the unanimous choice as man of the match – top-scoring in both of Porirua’s innings, as well as picking up four wickets. Word on the street was that girlfriend Hayley Robertson would have given him a ‘special treat’ if he was able to ice his day by hitting the winning runs – but not to be. Lees would need to find another way to win a chocolate fish from her… (What? What did you think was meant by ‘special treat’? Geez, get your mind out of the gutter!)
As sweet as the taste of a chocolate fish is, the taste of victory was sweet enough for Porirua. They go 1-0 up in the series, and all of the cricketing world eagerly awaits game II in a few weeks time.
