Sundown Specials

New Batting record set as Specials cruise home

After the poor batting performance the week before the Specials pitched up against Highgate who had rested both Matt and the legendary 'Dick' Holly. Hit by injuries to McGowan and Pilgrim the Specials welcomed back Faisal, the Cat, DJ Alan Russell and Chris Steinbach. Luke Vassay took the wicket keeping gloves for the first time.

On a very pleasant day Highgate elected to bat after winning the toss and their openers made careful progress before Ned struck for the first wicket. DJ Alan Russell was suffering the 'Harmison wides' problem at the other end and was quickly replaced by skipper Medlock with old pro Mark Naisbitt who then got into the act and dismissed Robertson thanks to a caught and bowled and a catch from Herlihy. Youngster Charles Rowles soon took the attack to the Specials with a fine 61 including some aggressive leg side shots before being bowled by a quick one from the ever reliable Cat. Medlock was unlucky with his spin.

Wickets however continued to fall and new keeper Luke Vassay performed well behind the stumps. Jenkins then counterattacked being severe on Steinbach hitting him for a mighty six over the tennis courts before he was mysteriously retired on 50 by their captain (The Specials have chased 230 + totals here in the past) We thought we would be regretting Chris Steinbach's drop of Jenkins when he was 15. In the end the final two Highgate wickets fell to Steinbach and they were bowled out for 224. Naisbitt taking 4-42 and edging towards 400 wickets. (Third in the overall list behind Sundown legend Richard Bathard and senior pro Herlihy)

An excellent tea followed (Palm Tree take note) and opening pair Herlihy and Faisal were reunited for the first time this season. Their record batting together is good: three 175+ plus partnerships in the last 2 years. Starting cautiously they began to pick boundaries off the rare loose balls from openers Jenkins and Booth. The scoring rate picked up with the very fast outfield and both looked comfortable despite Herlihy being dropped at mid wicket after he reached 50.

With 20 overs left they took the score to 100 and then picked off the change bowlers with increasingly aggressive shots. The record opening partnership of 209 was in their sights and passed with a mighty six from Mohammed who got his ton. Unbeknown to the batsmen whilst Mark was operating a very trendy electronic scoreboard, bagmaster Cotsen was behind with this pencil and rubber and Herlihy despatched the winning runs to the boundary unsure whether he had scored his first ever ton. This was only confirmed by the Bagmaster some 96 hours after the event and Herlihy was not out on 103, Mohammed undefeated on 112. A fine effort appreciated by everybody including Cedric who had been padded up at three.

Highgate were their usual sporting opponents and it was good to see the rested legend Dick Holly watching the end of the match and watering the flowers. A hobbling McGowan plus family also pitched up.

A good comeback from the previous week and the team were given the next weekend off as our home ground was unavailable and it was likely England would be playing their last 16 match. The team noted former leading all rounder of the 80s Ivan Naisbitt was still barely able to walk from the previous week and 'rested' Cosgrove had privately admitted he didn't fancy the quick stuff any more. And he could express himself better in his inter office 20 overs games. Later.