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Only Game of Season 2014/15
Sunday 22nd March, 2015
Conditions: Overcast, Damp, Occasional Drizzle
Toss: Invitational Team (elected to field)
Result: HIBS Old Boys won by 48 Runs
Man of the Match: Jackson Burt
Sunday 22nd March, 2015
Conditions: Overcast, Damp, Occasional Drizzle
Toss: Invitational Team (elected to field)
Result: HIBS Old Boys won by 48 Runs
Man of the Match: Jackson Burt
"An absolute classic. The epic partnership between Bishop and McHugh in the HIBS first innings defined the match. From there, the Invitation team fought hard, and brilliant bowling from Burt in particular brought the game back to close to an even keel, but wasn't to be backed up with the bat in their 4th innings run chase."
This match was staged the day after the cricket world cup quarter-final, where Martin Guptil smashed 237 not out and Daniel Vettori claimed a Ryan-Harper-esque catch. This match was held a mere two days before the Cricket World Cup semi-final, where McCullum and Anderson lit up Eden Park before Grant Elliot brought the house down with a towering six to send New Zealand into delirium and booked a trip to a showdown with Australia at the ‘G. Sandwiched between two such epics, the Rosebowl turned on a spectacular affair of its own, every bit as memorable as the deeds of the national team.
The Invitational Team boasted a much stronger line-up than last year, and again correctly forecast the fall of the coin, choosing as per usual to bowl first. I know cricket fanatics enjoy a good stat every now and then: in 23 matches over the years, the winner of the toss has decided to bowl first in 20 (87%) of them – but the team bowling first has won the match only 9 times (39%)! Perhaps captains will take heed in future seasons and elect to put runs on the board first-up.
Rose and McHugh walked out under a grey sky, with rain threatening but barely holding off. Due to overnight rain, the ground was damp and muddy in places, particularly at the bowler’s run-up. Rose took a couple of deliveries on the body from a fired-up Hornbrook on debut, and on the final ball of the over a fuller ball from around the wicket drew the edge to send the HIBS Old Boys captain packing for a duck.
HIBS needed a firm hand on the tiller to steady the ship, and found it when the Rosebowl welcomed its first sitting Member of Parliament to the crease. Fresh from battling Winston Peters on the Northland by-election campaign trail, Bishop would face an even sterner test on a pitch which was bouncing as variably as a Colmar-Brunton poll – except on this deck, there would be zero margin of error.
Bishop and McHugh started with restraint, looking to build an innings rather than blast out a few quick runs. They had to ride their luck early as the pitch fizzed and seamed, but before long they were set and playing with a fair amount of chutzpah. Bishop was exquisite in his timing square of the wicket, as McHugh was powerful down the ground. An over of Fletcher’s was stroked for 6 consecutive fours by Bishop. Both he and McHugh brought up adroit fifties, milking the Invitational bowlers in every part of the ground.
The two HIBS batsmen were assisted by a slippery outfield which saw the Invitationals struggle with their ground fielding. Meanwhile, Riddiford in particular was getting frustrated by the umpire seeming to have a 16-ton weight attached to his arms whenever an LBW appeal was demanded. He was reminded that LBWs would only be given if absolutely plumb. That frustration became anguish when Riddiford himself proceeded to drop McHugh at mid-off. The partnership continued to grow like hairs on a pig’s back, by now taking on truly historic proportions.
But at last the stand was broken on a colossal 182 runs when McHugh, looking to accelerate, played all around a zinger from Burt. McHugh out for 88, but it brought Kachwalla to the crease – surely he would only inflict further pain to the Invitationals. But Burt had other ideas, producing a clean snick from the accomplished Indian first ball. At last, the Invitationals had their dander up.
Spencer saw out the hat-trick ball, but not the rest of Burt’s next over. Edged and gone. Bishop left as last man standing for HIBS was convinced he must be pretty close to cracking the ton, so he asked the scorers “what am I on?”, “Are you sure you want to know?” the scorers nervously enquired, “Yes”, Bishop insisted, “98!” came the reply. Cricket can have a cruel, cruel sense of humour sometimes. The very next delivery, Bishop was caught behind two short of a century – again from Burt, who had heroically taken 4 wickets in 8 balls to bring HIBS from 182/1 to 194 all out. Still, a brilliant knock from Bishop on debut – clearly Rosebowl cricket behooves him.
Kachwalla, still fuming from his golden duck, demanded to open the bowling and it paid immediate dividends, with Fletcher’s stumps the unfortunate object that Kachwalla took his rage out on, first ball of the innings – just as HIBS had began 0 for 1, so too did the Invitational Team.
Rose removed Fussey, the other opener, with the score on 13 – an excellent line right outside off-stump drawing an uncertain prod and a thick edge. This brought Hornbrook and Riddiford together to the crease – the key two batsmen, as regular club cricketers. Not content with dismissing his Otago chum when bowling, Hornbrook also took to Rose while batting – lifting a six into the air like Simba in the Lion King.
With Hornbrook playing the power game, Riddiford calmly employed classy cricket shots to accumulate his runs. They survived a run-out chance when Kachwalla brilliantly threw down the stumps at the strikers end from square leg. Untroubled by that, the Invitation pair continued to see out the good balls and punish the bad as they took the Invitation team past the follow-on mark.
At one stage, Rose and Riddiford poleaxed into one another as Rose tried to collect the ball on his follow-through and Riddiford scurried from the non-strikers end. This resulted in a comical tangle of arms and legs, as Riddiford lost his bat, his feet, and his orientation as he scrambled to his feet to try to make his ground. Rose half-apologised in a “sorry, not sorry” manner. Guffaws could barely be suppressed from all and sundry.
The raffish Hornbrook brought up a crackerjack fifty on debut off the bowling of Bishop. However, the mass of runs that HIBS had accumulated allowed them to set extremely attacking fields, with a slip or a short leg employed for much of the day. It was this attacking field that brought about the next wicket, as Hornbrook top-edged high into the air, for Rose to jog in from slip to take the simplest of catches off the bowling of Spencer. This ended a partnership of 91 for the third wicket, and soon the innings was at a close as Riddiford fell to the unerring accuracy of Kachwalla, and Burt followed the very next over to the firey pace of McHugh. HIBS held an 82 run first-innings lead.
Back at the top of his mark, Burt found himself on a hat-trick for the second time in the match, after previously dismissing Spencer and Bishop in consecutive balls to close the HIBS first innings. McHugh didn’t allow him to become the first man to ever perform the feat at the Rosebowl, but still fell to Burt on the final delivery of the over after a ball sharply seamed in to make a mess of his stumps for the second time that day – this time for no score.
All Rose could do against Hornbrook was survive, and similarly Bishop found the going tough against the probing length of Riddiford. You would think that a politician would be used to handling vicious spin, but even during his first-innings 98, Riddiford had proven troubling to the man from the class of 2001.
Three maidens in a row to start the innings. Given the conspicuous lack of wives and girlfriends this year, the only maidens present were of the 6-dot-ball-in-an-over sort. We still haven’t met McHugh’s (potentially mythical) girlfriend, Spencer’s missus was invited (by Rose, with Spencer vehemently protesting) but didn’t show, while the Williams clan also unusually absent.
Finally Rose got the first runs on the board with three fours stroked to the legside fence off the bowling of Fussey. Going for a fourth boundary, Rose elected to go aerial trying to pick the gap - but women have peed standing up with better aim than Rose was able to muster as he tamely spooned a rank full toss to Hornbrook at square leg. Hornbrook further swung the game back towards being an even contest when first he duped Bishop into lobbing a simple catch to Fussey at mid-off, then hit Spencer on the legs with a full toss right in front of the stumps; with no shot offered, if it were any more plumb, it’d have been sweet, purple and you could have taken a bite out of it and spat out a stone.
In the twinkling of an eye, HIBS were four down for not many and the Invitational Team were up to the game to their eyeballs. Only Kachwalla remained at the crease. He avoided the dreaded pair, and looked to attack Fletcher. 4. 4. 6. 1. It was looking like it was all coming up Shukul for the recently-married man from Mumbai until he smacked one straight to Burt at point to end a promising innings. HIBS had been bowled out for just 54 runs and the Invitation team would be chasing a challenging-but-not-impossible 137 for victory. Game on.
Both sides were under more pressure than a submarine as the Invitation openers strode out to face the HIBS attack. Hornbrook was promoted to open, but could only muster a single run before directing a catch straight to Spencer at his traditional position at cover – he doesn’t drop those. Bishop then removed Fussey with a venomous ball taking the top of off-stump. HIBS had once again wrested back the momentum.
The top-line HIBS bowlers were keeping superb line and length on an increasingly troubling wicket. With the others so niggardly, the strategy from Riddiford and Fletcher now became to target the part-time bowling of Spencer. Rose implored Spencer to employ his trademark “flight and guile”, and Spencer duly bamboozled Riddiford with a beauty that went through the gate between bat and body and knocked over leg-stump. Spencer’s bowling had somehow earned two wickets for the match, proving that even a broken clock can be right twice a day.
The drama continued. Rose missed a one-handed diving chance to his right at slip which was as sharp as an extremely mature cheese, then a lofted ball came towards Rose at mid-on from the bowling of Kachwalla, but fell agonisingly short.
Rose made amends soon afterwards, as the beneficiary of continued tight bowling from Kachwalla and McHugh. Looking to attack the bowling of Rose, who is half a click slower than the HIBS opening pair, Fletcher played, missed and had his stumps demolished. Now only Burt remained – things were looking decidedly grim for the Invitational tilt.
But as is so often the case in Rosebowl cricket, there would be a few more twists yet, even with only a single wicket to fall. Burt was looking solid, and the HIBS Old Boys fielding, so professional earlier in the day, had disintegrated – sloppy work gifted Burt extra runs that should really have been stopped but for lack of effort. The irascible Rose was prowling the field and angrily barking at his men to up their game. The exclamation point to all this was an egregious dropped catch by McHugh at midwicket, who made excellent ground to his left but the ball simply popped out of his clutches.
Burt took full advantage of his extra life. Spencer was clobbered for 26 runs in an over, meaning only 55 runs were now required for victory. Everyone was on tenderhooks. Kachwalla got Burt hopping and swishing but the batsman survived. McHugh similarly hurried him up but couldn’t dislodge the free-wheeling financier. To Rose, Burt was leaving alone anything outside off-stump and so Kachwalla suggested to his skipper that he try putting one on the stumps. It worked. Burt backed away to a ball that was never there to be hit, and at last Rose could fist-pump the air in catharsis – three wickets to the HIBS Old Boys captain fair reward for his probing, consistent bowling.
Last year was the birth of The Ashes, but this year is when it really came of age. The game was tight, hard-fought and memorable. A win for the ages to HIBS by 48 runs – a margin of some significance, as this was also what separated Porirua from the Hutt Valley in the decider of that very first summer of Haywards Shield cricket all the way back in 2003/04.
McHugh’s barnstorming 88 along with 2 priceless wickets made him a candidate for man of the match. So too did Bishop’s superlative 98. But the man most deserving to be festooned with the honour was one who played for the losing team. Jackson Burt’s 5 wickets made him the first man in over 6 years to perform the feat, and his fighting 49 in the second innings made the HIBS Old Boys fret the result until he finally could do no more to drag his team over the line. He becomes only the second man of the match from a losing team in the history of the Rosebowl. The other time? That same deciding match of 2003/04 where the margin was 48 runs.
The HIBS Old Boys celebrate back-to-back Ashes triumphs, but the Invitational Team looked far hungrier, more united and more settled than last year when they were easily trounced. One would be a fool to count them out from taking another step closer to glory in 2015/16, when the HIBS Old Boys and the Invitational Team again lock horns for The Ashes.
The Invitational Team boasted a much stronger line-up than last year, and again correctly forecast the fall of the coin, choosing as per usual to bowl first. I know cricket fanatics enjoy a good stat every now and then: in 23 matches over the years, the winner of the toss has decided to bowl first in 20 (87%) of them – but the team bowling first has won the match only 9 times (39%)! Perhaps captains will take heed in future seasons and elect to put runs on the board first-up.
Rose and McHugh walked out under a grey sky, with rain threatening but barely holding off. Due to overnight rain, the ground was damp and muddy in places, particularly at the bowler’s run-up. Rose took a couple of deliveries on the body from a fired-up Hornbrook on debut, and on the final ball of the over a fuller ball from around the wicket drew the edge to send the HIBS Old Boys captain packing for a duck.
HIBS needed a firm hand on the tiller to steady the ship, and found it when the Rosebowl welcomed its first sitting Member of Parliament to the crease. Fresh from battling Winston Peters on the Northland by-election campaign trail, Bishop would face an even sterner test on a pitch which was bouncing as variably as a Colmar-Brunton poll – except on this deck, there would be zero margin of error.
Bishop and McHugh started with restraint, looking to build an innings rather than blast out a few quick runs. They had to ride their luck early as the pitch fizzed and seamed, but before long they were set and playing with a fair amount of chutzpah. Bishop was exquisite in his timing square of the wicket, as McHugh was powerful down the ground. An over of Fletcher’s was stroked for 6 consecutive fours by Bishop. Both he and McHugh brought up adroit fifties, milking the Invitational bowlers in every part of the ground.
The two HIBS batsmen were assisted by a slippery outfield which saw the Invitationals struggle with their ground fielding. Meanwhile, Riddiford in particular was getting frustrated by the umpire seeming to have a 16-ton weight attached to his arms whenever an LBW appeal was demanded. He was reminded that LBWs would only be given if absolutely plumb. That frustration became anguish when Riddiford himself proceeded to drop McHugh at mid-off. The partnership continued to grow like hairs on a pig’s back, by now taking on truly historic proportions.
But at last the stand was broken on a colossal 182 runs when McHugh, looking to accelerate, played all around a zinger from Burt. McHugh out for 88, but it brought Kachwalla to the crease – surely he would only inflict further pain to the Invitationals. But Burt had other ideas, producing a clean snick from the accomplished Indian first ball. At last, the Invitationals had their dander up.
Spencer saw out the hat-trick ball, but not the rest of Burt’s next over. Edged and gone. Bishop left as last man standing for HIBS was convinced he must be pretty close to cracking the ton, so he asked the scorers “what am I on?”, “Are you sure you want to know?” the scorers nervously enquired, “Yes”, Bishop insisted, “98!” came the reply. Cricket can have a cruel, cruel sense of humour sometimes. The very next delivery, Bishop was caught behind two short of a century – again from Burt, who had heroically taken 4 wickets in 8 balls to bring HIBS from 182/1 to 194 all out. Still, a brilliant knock from Bishop on debut – clearly Rosebowl cricket behooves him.
Kachwalla, still fuming from his golden duck, demanded to open the bowling and it paid immediate dividends, with Fletcher’s stumps the unfortunate object that Kachwalla took his rage out on, first ball of the innings – just as HIBS had began 0 for 1, so too did the Invitational Team.
Rose removed Fussey, the other opener, with the score on 13 – an excellent line right outside off-stump drawing an uncertain prod and a thick edge. This brought Hornbrook and Riddiford together to the crease – the key two batsmen, as regular club cricketers. Not content with dismissing his Otago chum when bowling, Hornbrook also took to Rose while batting – lifting a six into the air like Simba in the Lion King.
With Hornbrook playing the power game, Riddiford calmly employed classy cricket shots to accumulate his runs. They survived a run-out chance when Kachwalla brilliantly threw down the stumps at the strikers end from square leg. Untroubled by that, the Invitation pair continued to see out the good balls and punish the bad as they took the Invitation team past the follow-on mark.
At one stage, Rose and Riddiford poleaxed into one another as Rose tried to collect the ball on his follow-through and Riddiford scurried from the non-strikers end. This resulted in a comical tangle of arms and legs, as Riddiford lost his bat, his feet, and his orientation as he scrambled to his feet to try to make his ground. Rose half-apologised in a “sorry, not sorry” manner. Guffaws could barely be suppressed from all and sundry.
The raffish Hornbrook brought up a crackerjack fifty on debut off the bowling of Bishop. However, the mass of runs that HIBS had accumulated allowed them to set extremely attacking fields, with a slip or a short leg employed for much of the day. It was this attacking field that brought about the next wicket, as Hornbrook top-edged high into the air, for Rose to jog in from slip to take the simplest of catches off the bowling of Spencer. This ended a partnership of 91 for the third wicket, and soon the innings was at a close as Riddiford fell to the unerring accuracy of Kachwalla, and Burt followed the very next over to the firey pace of McHugh. HIBS held an 82 run first-innings lead.
Back at the top of his mark, Burt found himself on a hat-trick for the second time in the match, after previously dismissing Spencer and Bishop in consecutive balls to close the HIBS first innings. McHugh didn’t allow him to become the first man to ever perform the feat at the Rosebowl, but still fell to Burt on the final delivery of the over after a ball sharply seamed in to make a mess of his stumps for the second time that day – this time for no score.
All Rose could do against Hornbrook was survive, and similarly Bishop found the going tough against the probing length of Riddiford. You would think that a politician would be used to handling vicious spin, but even during his first-innings 98, Riddiford had proven troubling to the man from the class of 2001.
Three maidens in a row to start the innings. Given the conspicuous lack of wives and girlfriends this year, the only maidens present were of the 6-dot-ball-in-an-over sort. We still haven’t met McHugh’s (potentially mythical) girlfriend, Spencer’s missus was invited (by Rose, with Spencer vehemently protesting) but didn’t show, while the Williams clan also unusually absent.
Finally Rose got the first runs on the board with three fours stroked to the legside fence off the bowling of Fussey. Going for a fourth boundary, Rose elected to go aerial trying to pick the gap - but women have peed standing up with better aim than Rose was able to muster as he tamely spooned a rank full toss to Hornbrook at square leg. Hornbrook further swung the game back towards being an even contest when first he duped Bishop into lobbing a simple catch to Fussey at mid-off, then hit Spencer on the legs with a full toss right in front of the stumps; with no shot offered, if it were any more plumb, it’d have been sweet, purple and you could have taken a bite out of it and spat out a stone.
In the twinkling of an eye, HIBS were four down for not many and the Invitational Team were up to the game to their eyeballs. Only Kachwalla remained at the crease. He avoided the dreaded pair, and looked to attack Fletcher. 4. 4. 6. 1. It was looking like it was all coming up Shukul for the recently-married man from Mumbai until he smacked one straight to Burt at point to end a promising innings. HIBS had been bowled out for just 54 runs and the Invitation team would be chasing a challenging-but-not-impossible 137 for victory. Game on.
Both sides were under more pressure than a submarine as the Invitation openers strode out to face the HIBS attack. Hornbrook was promoted to open, but could only muster a single run before directing a catch straight to Spencer at his traditional position at cover – he doesn’t drop those. Bishop then removed Fussey with a venomous ball taking the top of off-stump. HIBS had once again wrested back the momentum.
The top-line HIBS bowlers were keeping superb line and length on an increasingly troubling wicket. With the others so niggardly, the strategy from Riddiford and Fletcher now became to target the part-time bowling of Spencer. Rose implored Spencer to employ his trademark “flight and guile”, and Spencer duly bamboozled Riddiford with a beauty that went through the gate between bat and body and knocked over leg-stump. Spencer’s bowling had somehow earned two wickets for the match, proving that even a broken clock can be right twice a day.
The drama continued. Rose missed a one-handed diving chance to his right at slip which was as sharp as an extremely mature cheese, then a lofted ball came towards Rose at mid-on from the bowling of Kachwalla, but fell agonisingly short.
Rose made amends soon afterwards, as the beneficiary of continued tight bowling from Kachwalla and McHugh. Looking to attack the bowling of Rose, who is half a click slower than the HIBS opening pair, Fletcher played, missed and had his stumps demolished. Now only Burt remained – things were looking decidedly grim for the Invitational tilt.
But as is so often the case in Rosebowl cricket, there would be a few more twists yet, even with only a single wicket to fall. Burt was looking solid, and the HIBS Old Boys fielding, so professional earlier in the day, had disintegrated – sloppy work gifted Burt extra runs that should really have been stopped but for lack of effort. The irascible Rose was prowling the field and angrily barking at his men to up their game. The exclamation point to all this was an egregious dropped catch by McHugh at midwicket, who made excellent ground to his left but the ball simply popped out of his clutches.
Burt took full advantage of his extra life. Spencer was clobbered for 26 runs in an over, meaning only 55 runs were now required for victory. Everyone was on tenderhooks. Kachwalla got Burt hopping and swishing but the batsman survived. McHugh similarly hurried him up but couldn’t dislodge the free-wheeling financier. To Rose, Burt was leaving alone anything outside off-stump and so Kachwalla suggested to his skipper that he try putting one on the stumps. It worked. Burt backed away to a ball that was never there to be hit, and at last Rose could fist-pump the air in catharsis – three wickets to the HIBS Old Boys captain fair reward for his probing, consistent bowling.
Last year was the birth of The Ashes, but this year is when it really came of age. The game was tight, hard-fought and memorable. A win for the ages to HIBS by 48 runs – a margin of some significance, as this was also what separated Porirua from the Hutt Valley in the decider of that very first summer of Haywards Shield cricket all the way back in 2003/04.
McHugh’s barnstorming 88 along with 2 priceless wickets made him a candidate for man of the match. So too did Bishop’s superlative 98. But the man most deserving to be festooned with the honour was one who played for the losing team. Jackson Burt’s 5 wickets made him the first man in over 6 years to perform the feat, and his fighting 49 in the second innings made the HIBS Old Boys fret the result until he finally could do no more to drag his team over the line. He becomes only the second man of the match from a losing team in the history of the Rosebowl. The other time? That same deciding match of 2003/04 where the margin was 48 runs.
The HIBS Old Boys celebrate back-to-back Ashes triumphs, but the Invitational Team looked far hungrier, more united and more settled than last year when they were easily trounced. One would be a fool to count them out from taking another step closer to glory in 2015/16, when the HIBS Old Boys and the Invitational Team again lock horns for The Ashes.
