Haverhill first eleven played host to St Margarets this week in what was expected to be a rain effected game from the outset.

St Margarets won the toss and decided to Bat first. Rob Sullivan (14 overs 1 for 48) and S Youngs (10 overs 1 for 27) opened the bowling with the first wicket failing at 14 when Rob Sullivan finally bowled a straight delivery and took the off and middle stump of the opening batsmen.

Haverhill continued to apply pressure however as the opportunities arose for Haverhill to drive home their advantage they dropped catches. Some of which were straight forward, others including a super hero dive in the outfield by Dan Poole were very difficult. The first catch to be held was probably the easiest however safe hands from Dan Wilkins seemed to lift the side.

A Dellar (12 overs 3 for 42) bowled well and bowled some well flighted deliveries, often turning the ball to much for the batsmen to put bat on them.

Joe Woodley (9 overs 2 for 38) once again showed some great form with pace and the occasional unplayable delivery.

Rob Sullivan was brought back into the attack to try and clean up the tail however he lacked his earlier speed and even resulted to a leg spinner, which surprised us all including himself that it hit the pitch.

St Margarets 7 for 164

N Winter (15) and S Youngs (10 NO) opened the batting and looked solid before Neil was trapped LBW. A Dellar (5 NO) was given no time to stamp his authority on the game before the heavens opened up.

The Captains decided after 10 mins of a tropical rain downpour to abandon the game.

RAIN NO RESULT.

Personal comments:

If you recall A few columns back I wrote about winning and not “counting your chickens before they have hatched”. I have trouble, and I know other Antipodeans who most definitely don’t, of finally accepting a win, accepting that you have passed the finish post in first place. For me their has always been a piece of time after the win where you feel a little uncertain, what’s next, where’s the next mountain, where’s the next objective to overcome. Some people tend to embrace the win very quickly but I am not one of them.

This feeling lingers today, all though its root cause is over 20 years old and exactly half the world away. While playing back home we played a player who, we didn’t realize, wasn’t registered as a current member. He was registered the previous year but we had failed to register him again for the current season. We were 17 points ahead at the top of the league when the association ruled that we had been in breach of the association rules and would be penalized 20 points. We fell to fifth position and didn’t play in the finals. We’d been unbeaten all season.

The associations ruling occurred with two games to go. Obviously you can’t say that we would have won the final series but to be dealt with so harshly when the flag was in reach caused major disappointment, bad feeling and frustration which eventually tore the club apart..

I have played a lot of cricket since then, and won a few leagues but the empty feeling of getting over the finish line is still there. I know that part of it is because the challenge is no longer there but I put most of it down to that association ruling. A lot of good cricketers (who where firstly really good mates) then team members went their separate ways.

Having said all that, we won the league. Hoorah or should I say HOWZAT.

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