Scorecard: https://cricclubs.com/wsl/fullScorecard.do?matchId=154&clubId=5912

I am advised by most that the result of this EPIC cricket match is quite possibly, if not indefatigably, the finest result in the short history of Wanderers NYCC. You can probably guess even by now that we won… Well, let’s face it, it would be a pretty piss poor boast if we hadn’t! And epic games of cricket require a suitably fine documentation. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, in a glorious poetic form, “The Ballad of the Bronx”… 

 

It’s well advised and thought to be wise 

To win the toss and bat

But Neil told Harsh the ball might swing

Bat first? Nah, balls to that!

Send Westchester in and keep it tight

At least that was the thinking

Then Sumit’s hit for six second ball

Neil, have you been drinking?!?!

Laya swings the ball away

The batters circumspect

But gradually they find their feet

No more than you’d expect

We settle down, get Wally out

Then Atta shortly after

57 for 2 at the ten over mark

That’s hardly a disaster

But 97 for 2 at drinks

The batters looking set

And once we come back afterwards

The carnage gets worse yet

Poor Amit takes some punishment

And just can’t get his man

Kush takes a wicket, some respite

But things aren’t going to plan

More than 50 scored in five

Two wickets, but balls flyin’

A catch from Sumit in the deep

That fooled them, um… well bowled, Brian!

Past 180, four wickets down

And seven overs left

You’d think they’d make a massive score

And we’d be left bereft

But, NO! The bowlers aren’t yet done

There’s room for one last push

Quick wickets for Neil and Harsh

And just the four for Kush!

200 ALL OUT!

It could have been much worse

We’ll knock this off, no worries

That’s why you don’t bat first!

Van Cortlandt Park up in the Bronx

Feels like it favors batters

We’re confident we’ll score these runs

But soon we’re just in tatters

The innings is in self-destruct

We can’t keep it alive

Not even eight overs bowled 

And 31 for five!

Sujit, Andy, Sumit bowled

Harsh and Adarsh caught

It hurts like hell to mention it

But two of us got nought

With Kush Tiwari looking on

At the non-striker’s end

And wondering just what is next

Who will the skipper send?

It’s Mark Marais to save the day

And stick around a bit

The runs begin to flow some more

The odd boundary gets hit

Then suddenly the hundred’s up

We even dare to breathe

But doing it from here’s still tough

Can we still believe?

Mark departs but played his part

And now it’s Brian’s turn

A gazelle between the wickets

Crappy runners, watch and learn!

And Kush is smoking boundaries 

Passing 50, looking focused

It rains a bit, the keeper stalls

He’s trying hocus pocus

A bunch of slowing tactics

Thinking rain will stop the chase

But umpire Bucknor keeps us playing

The keeper has a red face!

When lightning Brian’s finally out

We only need eleven

Neil Harrison is up to bat

Can he send us to heaven?

Two boundaries in an over

Two to win, nothing more

First ball of the last over

Kush has creamed the ball for four!

From a seemingly hopeless place

We come bounding up the field

Whooping wildly, just like children

Now this deal has been sealed

To be fair to the opposition

They looked shell-shocked, so would you

But then, that’s the game of cricket

Suck it up, what can you do?

87 runs for Kush

At time of writing, the club’s best score

Not to mention his four wickets

Must try harder, five is more!

Every player filled with joy

At the greatest of all comebacks

A win for all the ages

Nope… can’t find a rhyme for ‘comebacks’!

Years from now I’ll tell my children 

I was up there in the Bronx

When the Wanderers defied the odds

And beat the oppo’s tonks

You see, cricket is a fickle game

Of margins and great fight

We wouldn’t have it any other way

Bat well. Bowl well. Good night.

Andy :)