On a bright (soon to be gloomy) Sunday, the competition was between a predominantly 14+ Lindum Academy side vs a predominantly 44+ Gully Cricketers side, looking very confident after their first win in the previous weekend.
The day started with the vice-captain wearing 3D projection of the name of our sponsor, James Oliver on his middle order. The smokers’ union were warming up by filling their lungs. Two of the GC players were missing until suddenly Dan came rolling in, and Kalyan came cruising in, just before team photo time. Our captain arrived with his Indian Chai and shocked everyone by winning the toss for the first time and electing to bat.
In spite of the World Cup game (Ind Vs Aus) progressing in parallel to the GC game, our dedicated scorers Sriram and Varadaraj set up a table with streaming video on the right and laptop on the left.
Our opening pair Naren and Amol started the show - unfortunately Naren got out for 9 runs in 12 balls including a boundary. Chirag went in to bat while all the remaining GC players positioned themselves in carefully chosen spots in various corners of the ground watching (obviously Ind vs Aus) the match. We suddenly realised Chirag was also standing behind us watching the game. He had a short stint at the crease, also getting out for 9 runs in 12 balls like Naren but with 2 boundaries, wonder how he managed to run for one. He got out LBW with no one in Lindum appealed but the eagle-eyed umpire decided to give anyway (just kidding, there was an appeal)
Amol continued scoring nicely along with the skipper – at one point everyone was cheering for a beautiful six when actually Amol’s shot was rolling towards the boundary. Turned out the cheering was for the wrong game. The scorers banned video streaming near the scoring area to avoid confusion between the two matches
Amol was eventually out LBW for 35 in 73 balls including 5 boundaries. Kalyan got out soon after for 10. Pravin joined the skipper who was back in form making a personal top score of 41 - Virat Kohli made 82 - hence proving he is 50% of the Indian skipper. Both got out in a similar way.
Pravin who was joined by Bobby, was proving to be a terror for the young spinners scoring 42 off just 26 balls with 7 boundaries. Unfortunately for him at that point, Bobby decided to run towards non striker’s end, pull Pravin out of the crease and run him out. He himself didn’t last much longer, getting out for 10 but carefully avoiding being dismissed by his son Pranav.
Dan-the-Man went in to bat and stayed until the end scoring 21 in 14 balls – amazingly ran 11 runs at one point scaring me as if he was going to collapse on the field. He finished the innings with a brilliant six off the last ball, setting a target of 220 for Lindum. Young Thomas Marshall and Alan each took 2 wickets for the visitors.
All the players and spectators were treated to a fantastic Tea arranged by Mrs. Puneet. At one point, our skipper noticed Puneet’s plate full of food and politely requested him to warm up before bowling. The heavy lunch did not however have any effect on his performance as he got his first wicket adjudged LBW. Lindum were 9 for 1. This was followed by another LBW at the other end by Kalyan. Lindum were struggling with 18 for 2. Kalyan bowled 6 overs for just 14 in a brilliant spell pushing me towards the leg side often to compensate for his swinging deliveries.
Pravin got 2 wickets, both catches taken by Bobby at point. After a few overs, it appeared as if he was bowling directly to me continuously bruising all my fingers as the batsmen were unable to touch his out-swingers. He bowled 8 overs for 34 runs with 2 maidens.
Puneet continued his brilliant attack and got 2 more wickets – an excellent one-handed catch by Nagaraj (deja vu La Manga) and another one clean bowled the only female little star of Lindum. Puneet thought he got her out LBW a couple of balls earlier, but the Umpire decided to give her a second chance
Nagaraj was aiming for the Honours Board as the senior most member on the ground after Umpire Stewart. His spin attack got 3 wickets including an excellent IPL style catch by Pravin running a long way, and another comfortable catch by Dan. Lindum were struggling at 77 for 8, however senior Aussie batsman, Jack Mclagan carried the attack to all the GC bowlers getting to his half century off just 57 balls.
At that point, thick black clouds threatened to intervene as GC were dying to finish the game. Our Lion Naren came roaring at the clouds pushing them towards Newark as he started his attack. He decided not to risk involving any team mate and bowled the top scorer out for a well-made 65. The Lindum innings ended on 138 all out giving Gully our second consecutive victory, the first one this season on home ground.
Note: The County Honours Boards for the last season were carefully excavated by Sriram to honour Naren and Nagaraj’s best performance for the club.

Match scorecard link