Coming off a win against the Old Northamtonians, Obelisk game was an important game for the foxes, as we had keep the promotion dream alive. By all accounts this was our bogey team at the bogey ground (if I am not mistaken). Having chatted to some of the team mates, many of them were ready to tackle this lot again.
Some of Foxes were part of T20 game few days ago and I am sure were carrying niggles come Saturday. The morning did not go to smooth start as we had noticed that the wicket was wet after our initial pitch inspection. By all accounts Obelisk were trying to soak the pitch to make it easier for them!!. Well Tony lost the toss we were inserted to bat first in this all important game, the positive for us being that it was a hot day and the we were hoping that the high temperature would negate the dampness in the pitch.
Rob and Luca batted first, in a typically cautious fashion. Rob was dismissed first, given LBW by Tony much to the surprise of the other team mates watching on the side-lines. Rob like any other batman was probably not happy with the decision, but it showed the impartiality of our captain. Despite the loss of early wicket, Luca hung in the middle despite a niggling back issue and started building a good innings. Anand came in and started teeing off from the get go. We thought we were in for something special. Was Anand going to get a big score today, having been denied a hundred in the shorten rain affected game a few weeks earlier??. Unfortunately for him he was bowled and that was that. Anand made way for big Ryan, having been promoted as a batman for this season. Ryan started plying all of his trademark shots along with bit of graft. He especially took likening to the left arm wrist spinner who couldn’t seem to land any of his deliveries on to the pitch. Meanwhile Steele Jr. was plying his trade from the other end, nudging and nurdling and running hard between the wickets. He was very eager to get on strike so much so that he was backing in from the non-strikers end and was “Mankaded” by the bowler. However in playing with the spirit of the game both team captains made a collective decision to reverse the decision and bring him back, much to our delight. By the end we were able to build a substantial score mainly due to Obelisk inept bowling and our wonderful bating. Ryan’s 73 set the platform for us and Lucas 47 was the backbone of the whole innings, not to mention the quick-fire cameo by the John Mason who made 20 odd in quick time. A grant total of 186 after 40 overs sounded a lot given our bowling attack but we felt we shouldn’t take the foot of the pedal given that all the hard work that was done by the batman.
Rob and Kiwi Magic started the second innings bowling effort. Rob got off to great start with his Dibley dobblies and managed to clean bowl the opening bowler by completely deceiving him in pace. This was a fantastic off cutter that would’ve made Jimmy Anderson proud. This was a fantastic start for the Foxes, but it even better when Rob clean bowled the second batsman out for the duck. On the other end Kiwi Magic bowled guess what, he got a very unusual dismissal! He got a wicket from a catch off Steve Steele, out of all the people. This was such a good catch that would’ve made Mark Waugh proud. An excellent catch I am sure Steve would go on about telling everyone for the next few years. Kiwi Magic worked his way to a magical figures of 8 overs and 4 wickets with Rob getting 3 wickets at a very impressive 11 runs for 8 overs. Kiwi Magic made way for Dave, taken off the attack for the first time due to reasons not involving a cramp. At this stage Obelisk was 20/6 and the game was done and dusted.
But the highlight of the bowling performance apart from Steve catch was Olly’s effort to finish the game by having 2 or 3 attempts at catching the ball. All in all a very good performance with 6 batman bowled and 2 LBW, the Foxes definitely hitting the right lines and lengths. A fun fact, the Mr. Extras was the joint top scorer for Obelisk. At the end Obelisk managed to score a grand total 32 runs in 21 overs, a great effort by the lads!!
All in all a great win for the Foxes and the next game couldn’t come soon enough against Thrapston. We secured our promotion to the 10th grade much to our delight. Onwards and upwards Foxes!!!
