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Sunday 14 June 2009

Match Report

The Lord’s Taverners v Fly Emirates XI

St. George’s School, Windsor Castle

Fly Emirates XI: 239 for 8 (30 overs)
Lords Taverners XI: 238 for 9 (30 overs)

Taverners lost by 1 run.

To view the match scorecard please click here.

Match report:

So near, yet so far.  After the Taverners comfortable victory against the Fly Emirates XI in 2008, the first in 5 attempts at home, we confidently expected a repeat performance.  The match commenced under a cloudless sky with the backdrop of Windsor Castle looking like a film set and the start of the game included our Twelfth Man as an interested spectator. 

Excellent opening bowling from Graham Rose and Gus Mackay (3 for 32) gave the Taverners an early advantage, consolidated by tight bowling from Ian Salisbury and Darren Stevens.  Toby Tarrant was slightly more extensive, but in the latter part of the innings spinners Martyn Ball and Neil Smith came in for a bit of stick with 21 runs being scored off a last over so that Fly Emirates XI ended with a very formidable total of 239 for 8 off the 30 overs.

The precise target of 8 runs per over was maintained almost throughout the Taverners innings.  Paul Nixon and Chris Adams got the Club off to a good start followed by some really classy batting from Darren Stevens, who was brilliantly caught for 47.  The middle order however batted in a style which was to be repeated by England when losing to the West Indies in the Twenty 20, but nevertheless we reached the stage of requiring only 12 runs off the last 2 overs to win the match.  By this time the Fly Emirates XI had cunningly deployed 9 fielders on the boundary, thereby cutting off 4’s and on a small ground restricting the batsman to singles, so when a wicket was lost and a dot ball bowled, panic seemed to set in and HD Ackerman, the South African international making his debut, was stumped giving it the charge for a brilliant 93 off 69 balls and the lower order failed to score the necessary 5 off the last 4 balls, or 3 off the last ball, and frustratingly the Taverners lost by 1 run to the huge delight of the Fly Emirates team, Gary Chapman, the Executive Vice-President of Emirates, Vic Sheppard, Emirates chief in the UK, and the whole Emirates entourage.

It is no doubt considered a good thing to lose narrowly to a sponsor’s XI, but the Taverners team were bitterly disappointed and our overall record stands at only 4 wins out of 13 games against these very talented players from the Emirates Airline.   There was one other good thing arising out of the defeat, it means that the office no longer have to polish the silver dhow trophy which was transported back to Dubai for safekeeping until our next challenge which we hope will be in January 2010.

Our excellent umpires, Milton Johns, John Price and Mike Denness officiated with great skill and dealt with some excitable appealing and despite our claim for a 2 run penalty to be added to the Taverners score the umpires were unmoved and the result stands.

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