The day was a decent day. Better than it was the previous week. As I look out the window on to a cold, drizzly sort of May evening one comes to expect around May Long Weekend, I remember feeling like we could get the victory considering I had seen Hussainya play the previous week.

Wasim won the toss and bravely chose to field. The grass was still short in the outfield and the homeless girl's home was airing out after the eviction. The opening pair was some dude and Misbah, who it turns out wrote to Glenmore CC asking to play for us this season, but Mr. President in his astute wisdom turned down politely the offer because of the many players wanting to play. It was a perfectly reasonable response, but the great Greek, Roman, and Shakespeare plays are littered with these types of situations. Hindsight; hubris; whatever you want to call it---they have a habit of returning to haunt the people who make these decisions. Misbad was no different, tallying a 33 before being relieved of his wicket.

But before that, as the team made it's way on to the pitch there was a noticeable new member of the team. I'm not talking about Adam Knox, who also made his debut in the match. I'm talking about the gift of the tinted driving glasses that Tony Pasternak was sporting, which I assume because of the make, model, and style (a complete square wrap around one) that he inherited from his great grandmother. I'm not sure what excuse he gave Adam and I, the valiant slips, but it was utter nonsense. Seeing better? Glare? Maybe. That he forgot to take them off when he stepped out of his 1980 Buick Le Sabre or Chrysler New Yorker would be more believable.

The first wicket after a while, was Lukhwinder, who shot it nearly straight up. I said nearly since Tony, resplendent in his eyewear, was calling 'mine', and since he was wearing the gloves, I gave way and had a great angle to notice that he was nowhere in the vicinity of the ball. If he was Taradale, the ball was in Riverbend. Fortunately, Adam also noticed that Tony's glasses were not only shaded him from the sun, but also reality and took the catch a good 10 metres behind Tony. It was a decent start. Then The next guy fell early, looking at the score card and then came the lefty. Jora. We would be wise to not forget his strategy. Run off nearly everything. He started taking runs where there weren't any available. We slowly began to leak runs and then more runs, then more. He tooled us. He ended up with 85. A very impressive score that we need to keep in check. Their fifth batsmen just finished off what they had started, getting a 50 before it was over. With the total of 203, it would take good batting and great running to complete the chase.

To open the batting was Anjan and Anand. Anjan getting the runs and Anand beating the new ball into submission. Anjan played a superb innings getting a 53 before making a suicidal call for a run and not getting close. Run out. We can put an asterisk beside it since he was the only one getting the runs we needed. Anand fell to a bad call, nicking off his arm and being adjudged caught. It was another bad break for Anand, who bats a valuable wicket for GCC. Adam then took up the crease. Looking comfortable like all lefties do. Scored an 11 before turning towards the bench well before the umpire raised his finger. Surely, this makes him a rarity in CDCL! Good on you, Adam. Don't let the league get to you. Then Sandeep came and went for nil because of a shocking lbw call half way up his thigh. Bijju stayed for a bit and was getting some good compliments from the bench, but fell for 16. Wasim and Martin were caught for 12 and 4. Hardeep stayed for a well earned 30 and Jon popped a great six that was a little too late, but gave some hope to the team that we have what it takes to make a big chase.

All in all, it was a little late. We started slow, and left ourselves 100 runs in the last ten overs. Our end total of 157 for 7 might have been enough on another day but not that day. The remedy might just be to keep down the singles, to charge the ball. Other than a couple of bad calls, and a bit loose fielding, the game was within reach. Better luck next time, lads!