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Only Game of Season 2015/16
Sunday 14th February, 2016
Conditions: Sunny & Hot
Toss: Invitational Team (elected to field)
Result: HIBS Old Boys won by an innings and 142 Runs
Man of the Match: Nathan Rose
Sunday 14th February, 2016
Conditions: Sunny & Hot
Toss: Invitational Team (elected to field)
Result: HIBS Old Boys won by an innings and 142 Runs
Man of the Match: Nathan Rose
"A Valentines Day massacre. Swashbuckling play by the HIBS Old Boys batsmen was followed up by an equally dominant bowling and fielding display. Under the intense glare of the mid-summer sun, the Invitation team simply wilted."
Players and spectators gathered on Valentines Day for the latest instalment of Rosebowl cricket. Sitting under the shade of a willow tree, in a village setting, as the grand old sport of cricket is played before your very eyes as the cicadas gently chirp and the breeze washes through the long summer grass – what could be more romantic?
That being so, nothing could have been further from the minds of the combatants as they strode out under a cloudless sky, onto a brown, hard pitch, and into an atmosphere of heat and tension with the mercury pushing 30 degrees. All’s fair in love and war – and Valentines Day or not, love would have to wait.
For the third consecutive year, the toss went the Invitation team’s way, and for the third consecutive year they put the HIBS Old Boys in to bat. Rose came to the crease with a point to prove, while McHugh was looking to continue his rich vein of form from the past two summers. With only 4-a-side for this contest, the field offered more gaps than a Chris Cairns legal defense. It became clear that the two most threatening men in the invitation attack were Hornbrook and Young – if those two could be seen off, runs were there for the taking.
And come the runs did. McHugh played the power game as Rose assumed the anchor role. As if the sun weren’t hot enough on the backs of the Invitation bowlers, the sheer weight of runs was turning up the heat even further. Both players showed a preference for the onside, and played with exquisite timing.
The partnership was not without nerves. McHugh called Rose through for a quick single, and the skipper barely made his ground at the strikers end before the stumps were thrown down with a direct hit. McHugh was fortunate to survive when he skied a simple catch to Fussey at wide long-on, but the chance was shelled. Later, another delivery rolled gently off McHugh’s defensive attempt and onto the stumps but it failed to dislodge the bails.
Rose suffered a cruel blow to the nuts around halfway through his stint at the crease. Wincing in that pain that only men can know, he took a few minutes to recompose himself and suck in a few deep breaths. Everyone else enjoyed the interlude with the well-trodden path of banter regarding the impact of the incident on the said skipper’s fertility prospects – this cricket writer reckons that given relative likelihood of producing offspring in the near-term, it’s just as well Luke Williams wasn’t the one in the firing line.
And this wasn’t even an isolated incident. Many times against Hornbrook, Rose took blows to the body, prompting that fustilarian witling Spencer to exclaim “You’re taking a pummeling!”, to which Rose immediately retorted “Nothing like the one Claire is going to give you tonight, Spence!”. This riposte garnered merriment from all and sundry – except for Nicole Williams who gave her well-practiced wifely look of disapproval, barely masking her own mirth.
Continuing to bat with assurance, the openers brought up the century partnership – a wonderful moment for these two old campaigners, steeped as they are in Haywards Shield and Ashes battle. At last in the 10th over, McHugh misjudged a drifting change-up delivery from Fussey to depart for a well-struck 77. This brought the obstreperous Williams to the crease.
Williams was in no mood to scamper around for singles in this heat – at 30, he’s getting way too old for that shit. Clobbering sixes, on the other hand, is in his DNA. His technique resembled a backhand tennis smash more than textbook cricket technique, clearing the midwicket trees time and time again and sending the unlucky fielders stationed on the onside boundary on tedious retrieval expeditions.
Rose, meanwhile, was compiling a nice innings of his own. Often finding himself at the strikers end facing the accomplished Hornbrook, he got the satisfaction of notching up a beautiful on-driven four against his university chum. Hornbrook eventually got his man, though, drawing an edge on the first ball of the fourth over of his bowling.
With the foundation laid by the openers and 163 already to their credit, Williams decided it was time to tee off. Against Fussey he scored 664666 – the single non-six an annoyance. Against Huang, though, he brought up the maximum – six sixes in an over moving him from 65 to 101 in the space of just six balls. Spencer joined in with a glorious, exquisite single. With William’s place on the honours board secure, the HIBS Old Boys declared the innings closed with a monumental 235 on the board.
The Invitation Team had a mountain to climb, and they never even reached base camp. The HIBS Old Boys were giving nothing away, with McHugh starting proceedings off with a maiden, and Rose leaking only three runs in his first over, with plenty of plays and misses among the Invitation openers. Williams ripped the first wicket out – that of Fussey – courtesy of a persistently troubling line, and McHugh sent Young’s stumps flailing with the fire and brimstone we have come to associate with the irascible quick.
Facing up to Spencer, Hornbrook looked to cash in – but the third ball of the over, sent a towering straight hit towards McHugh running in from long-on. His one-handed attempt at the catch was unsuccessful, causing much hands-on-heads among the HIBS Old Boys, as everyone knew that Hornbrook was capable of being a ship of burden to carry the entire Invitation tilt.
With pace that didn’t behoove the Brett Lee runup he was employing, Rose nonetheless was bowling a highly miserly line and length. In his second over, he was rewarded with a thick edge from Hornbrook who trudged off despondently. A couple of balls later, Rose knocked over the leg-stump of Huang and the Invitational Team were a massive 199 runs behind on the first innings.
With the follow-on enforced, out strode Young and Fussey once more. At first they seemed to be making a better fist of things than in their first dig, with Young confidently blasting Rose over the long-on fence for a brilliant six – but after this bright start, Spencer lured Young into a flick that travelled flat and low to Rose at midwicket to take a smart diving catch to his left.
With Hornbrook again at the crease, spectators knew that realistically his wicket represented the final bulwark in the Invitational hopes in this contest. He smacked a couple of sixes from Spencer, and an imperious four off the bowling of McHugh, before again facing up to Rose. Incredibly, Rose again proved his undoing. First ball, he threw the kitchen sink at a good ball which hung in the air like a flatulent odour, for Spencer to run from his customary fielding position at cover to make the grab over his head. After Young’s dismissal (c. Rose, b. Spencer), the favour had been repaid with interest with Hornbrook departing c. Spencer, b. Rose.
Hornbrook was left looking as red-faced as a giant matchstick. Rose now had three wickets, and vigorously appealed later in the over for a strong LBW shout – keen to join the honours board, honing in on that magic number of 5 wickets.
But the innings would end before Rose could bowl again. Spencer has tasted Rosebowl cricket action more than nearly any other player, and is no longer to be taken lightly. He has built his bowling career around the Socratic Method – through sheer trial and error, working out what sort of deliveries do not work, and then realising that everything that remains must. He first bamboozled Fussey with his trademark flight and guile, and very next ball produced a horrible miscue from Huang that landed in the gleeful clutches of Williams at short cover. Game over.
The Rosebowl has been called many things in its illustrious history. Hallowed turf. A minefield. A sheep paddock. An arena where men are separated from boys. On this day, a new entry was added to the nomenclature – today, the Rosebowl was truly a cauldron – and the Invitation Team could not handle the heat. At an innings and 142 runs, this match had the greatest margin of victory in the history of the famous ground.
Any one of the HIBS Old Boys could lay reasonable claim to man-of-the-match honours – indeed, the whole-team nature of this performance was the very thing that made this victory so notable. However, Nathan Rose’s 46 at the top of the order blunted the new-ball attack, his three wickets included dismissing Hornbrook the dangerman twice, and his diving catch to remove Young capped a remarkable display by the stalwart.
And so it was that the HIBS Old Boys wrapped up their third consecutive Ashes victory – notably, never were three titles achieved by the same team in the Haywards Shield era. What the Invitation team lack most of all is stability – this year they lost the nucleus of their side when Fletcher and Riddiford left for the bright lights of Christchurch and Dunedin, respectively. The HIBS Old Boys, by contrast, have been able to field a highly experienced lineup in each of their last three campaigns, and this has proven decisive.
The HIBS Old Boys will rejoice that the urn remains in their keeping – at least until the summer of 2016/17, when the Invitation Team will again try to snare it for themselves. We’ll be there – and so will L&P.
That being so, nothing could have been further from the minds of the combatants as they strode out under a cloudless sky, onto a brown, hard pitch, and into an atmosphere of heat and tension with the mercury pushing 30 degrees. All’s fair in love and war – and Valentines Day or not, love would have to wait.
For the third consecutive year, the toss went the Invitation team’s way, and for the third consecutive year they put the HIBS Old Boys in to bat. Rose came to the crease with a point to prove, while McHugh was looking to continue his rich vein of form from the past two summers. With only 4-a-side for this contest, the field offered more gaps than a Chris Cairns legal defense. It became clear that the two most threatening men in the invitation attack were Hornbrook and Young – if those two could be seen off, runs were there for the taking.
And come the runs did. McHugh played the power game as Rose assumed the anchor role. As if the sun weren’t hot enough on the backs of the Invitation bowlers, the sheer weight of runs was turning up the heat even further. Both players showed a preference for the onside, and played with exquisite timing.
The partnership was not without nerves. McHugh called Rose through for a quick single, and the skipper barely made his ground at the strikers end before the stumps were thrown down with a direct hit. McHugh was fortunate to survive when he skied a simple catch to Fussey at wide long-on, but the chance was shelled. Later, another delivery rolled gently off McHugh’s defensive attempt and onto the stumps but it failed to dislodge the bails.
Rose suffered a cruel blow to the nuts around halfway through his stint at the crease. Wincing in that pain that only men can know, he took a few minutes to recompose himself and suck in a few deep breaths. Everyone else enjoyed the interlude with the well-trodden path of banter regarding the impact of the incident on the said skipper’s fertility prospects – this cricket writer reckons that given relative likelihood of producing offspring in the near-term, it’s just as well Luke Williams wasn’t the one in the firing line.
And this wasn’t even an isolated incident. Many times against Hornbrook, Rose took blows to the body, prompting that fustilarian witling Spencer to exclaim “You’re taking a pummeling!”, to which Rose immediately retorted “Nothing like the one Claire is going to give you tonight, Spence!”. This riposte garnered merriment from all and sundry – except for Nicole Williams who gave her well-practiced wifely look of disapproval, barely masking her own mirth.
Continuing to bat with assurance, the openers brought up the century partnership – a wonderful moment for these two old campaigners, steeped as they are in Haywards Shield and Ashes battle. At last in the 10th over, McHugh misjudged a drifting change-up delivery from Fussey to depart for a well-struck 77. This brought the obstreperous Williams to the crease.
Williams was in no mood to scamper around for singles in this heat – at 30, he’s getting way too old for that shit. Clobbering sixes, on the other hand, is in his DNA. His technique resembled a backhand tennis smash more than textbook cricket technique, clearing the midwicket trees time and time again and sending the unlucky fielders stationed on the onside boundary on tedious retrieval expeditions.
Rose, meanwhile, was compiling a nice innings of his own. Often finding himself at the strikers end facing the accomplished Hornbrook, he got the satisfaction of notching up a beautiful on-driven four against his university chum. Hornbrook eventually got his man, though, drawing an edge on the first ball of the fourth over of his bowling.
With the foundation laid by the openers and 163 already to their credit, Williams decided it was time to tee off. Against Fussey he scored 664666 – the single non-six an annoyance. Against Huang, though, he brought up the maximum – six sixes in an over moving him from 65 to 101 in the space of just six balls. Spencer joined in with a glorious, exquisite single. With William’s place on the honours board secure, the HIBS Old Boys declared the innings closed with a monumental 235 on the board.
The Invitation Team had a mountain to climb, and they never even reached base camp. The HIBS Old Boys were giving nothing away, with McHugh starting proceedings off with a maiden, and Rose leaking only three runs in his first over, with plenty of plays and misses among the Invitation openers. Williams ripped the first wicket out – that of Fussey – courtesy of a persistently troubling line, and McHugh sent Young’s stumps flailing with the fire and brimstone we have come to associate with the irascible quick.
Facing up to Spencer, Hornbrook looked to cash in – but the third ball of the over, sent a towering straight hit towards McHugh running in from long-on. His one-handed attempt at the catch was unsuccessful, causing much hands-on-heads among the HIBS Old Boys, as everyone knew that Hornbrook was capable of being a ship of burden to carry the entire Invitation tilt.
With pace that didn’t behoove the Brett Lee runup he was employing, Rose nonetheless was bowling a highly miserly line and length. In his second over, he was rewarded with a thick edge from Hornbrook who trudged off despondently. A couple of balls later, Rose knocked over the leg-stump of Huang and the Invitational Team were a massive 199 runs behind on the first innings.
With the follow-on enforced, out strode Young and Fussey once more. At first they seemed to be making a better fist of things than in their first dig, with Young confidently blasting Rose over the long-on fence for a brilliant six – but after this bright start, Spencer lured Young into a flick that travelled flat and low to Rose at midwicket to take a smart diving catch to his left.
With Hornbrook again at the crease, spectators knew that realistically his wicket represented the final bulwark in the Invitational hopes in this contest. He smacked a couple of sixes from Spencer, and an imperious four off the bowling of McHugh, before again facing up to Rose. Incredibly, Rose again proved his undoing. First ball, he threw the kitchen sink at a good ball which hung in the air like a flatulent odour, for Spencer to run from his customary fielding position at cover to make the grab over his head. After Young’s dismissal (c. Rose, b. Spencer), the favour had been repaid with interest with Hornbrook departing c. Spencer, b. Rose.
Hornbrook was left looking as red-faced as a giant matchstick. Rose now had three wickets, and vigorously appealed later in the over for a strong LBW shout – keen to join the honours board, honing in on that magic number of 5 wickets.
But the innings would end before Rose could bowl again. Spencer has tasted Rosebowl cricket action more than nearly any other player, and is no longer to be taken lightly. He has built his bowling career around the Socratic Method – through sheer trial and error, working out what sort of deliveries do not work, and then realising that everything that remains must. He first bamboozled Fussey with his trademark flight and guile, and very next ball produced a horrible miscue from Huang that landed in the gleeful clutches of Williams at short cover. Game over.
The Rosebowl has been called many things in its illustrious history. Hallowed turf. A minefield. A sheep paddock. An arena where men are separated from boys. On this day, a new entry was added to the nomenclature – today, the Rosebowl was truly a cauldron – and the Invitation Team could not handle the heat. At an innings and 142 runs, this match had the greatest margin of victory in the history of the famous ground.
Any one of the HIBS Old Boys could lay reasonable claim to man-of-the-match honours – indeed, the whole-team nature of this performance was the very thing that made this victory so notable. However, Nathan Rose’s 46 at the top of the order blunted the new-ball attack, his three wickets included dismissing Hornbrook the dangerman twice, and his diving catch to remove Young capped a remarkable display by the stalwart.
And so it was that the HIBS Old Boys wrapped up their third consecutive Ashes victory – notably, never were three titles achieved by the same team in the Haywards Shield era. What the Invitation team lack most of all is stability – this year they lost the nucleus of their side when Fletcher and Riddiford left for the bright lights of Christchurch and Dunedin, respectively. The HIBS Old Boys, by contrast, have been able to field a highly experienced lineup in each of their last three campaigns, and this has proven decisive.
The HIBS Old Boys will rejoice that the urn remains in their keeping – at least until the summer of 2016/17, when the Invitation Team will again try to snare it for themselves. We’ll be there – and so will L&P.
