After 6 wins on the trot, pressure and expectations were high as the good lads blessed the Latymer Old Boys ground for what would be the last time. Having sold the venue to a different school, this was to be the last game of cricket at the ground ever, and what a game it turned out to be. A nailbiter and real roller-coaster with fortunes see-sawing throughout the day.

Mama Cass and Borgav getting focused in at the Brown Cow before the game

Skipper Pobsy lost the toss, much to the dismay of Pirate who was fashionably late, placing us in the field first. Magic Carpet produced the first foliage on his tree as Jonty ‘Bakayo’ Hall and Charlie ‘The Dog’ Fogg made debuts. Carpet also produced a tidy opening spell at one end kept the scoring to a minimum while Snax opened at his home ground at the other end. A tidy, albeit unsuccessful, first few overs allowed the LOB to get to 41-0 before Magic Carpet finally found the edge. An incredible Foakes-like snaffle behind the stumps by Bumpy provided the breakthrough that the Carpet deserved.
From here, a fantastic innings from Hari Badale pushed on the scoring at a steady rate, reaching 139-2 after 25 overs. Bukayo ( Jonty Hall) on debut finding some decent rhythm after a year not bowling a ball picking up the second wicket clean bowled with one that kept low and snuck through.

A wonderful ground and some great weather to go with it

Yet still Badale at the other end was proving to be a thorn pumping sixes down the ground and finding the boundary with relative ease. It was looking like we needed something special to get rid of him. That is when, once again, Magic Carpet stood up. Kami, amidst a good spell sent down either a leggie, offie or medium pacer to which Badale yet again, smashed one down the ground. MC, as if possessed by Glenn Phillips, took off to his left and snagged a vital catch to dismiss Badale on 84 (~50). Good news he got some runs though as his father Manoj was in attendance, He is an owner of the Rajasthan Royals and the studio in which TV Trainers do lots of their filming.

The Peckers managed to restrict LOB to only 48 off the last 10 overs thanks to contributions from Gav, who grew into his spell nicely and some aggressively average bowling from Milky Milky. Pobsy faced with a rare lack of bowlers came on and in his second over, bowled their last resistant batter (39) with a beaut that clipped top of off. MC finished the innings with a direct hit run out 187-5. A chaseable target on a fairly slow sticky wicket.

Tea contained some great sandwiches, crisps for Kami and even some sweeties. 188 the target with Kamikaze and Pirate sent out to get the ball rolling and send that ball skyhigh they did. LOB opening bowling combination consisted of two part-timers who had some good and some less good deliveries. Kami made the most of this, hitting his 50 off ~20 and graciously retiring himself out. Not before Pirate couldn’t handle the variation and top edged one back to the bowler. At this moment the game looked comfortable with the bowlers not proving much of a threat and our batting line up deep. However we found ourselves 84-2 after Bukayo scored a nifty 17 to extend the partnership with Kami but then was bowled by the far more accurate change bowlers. LOB has clearly decided to keep some of their quicker and more skillful bowlers till later in the innings so 100 more runs seemed a tougher task. Bumpy in and out quickly left the Peckers 93-3 and some middle order stability needed.

Bumpy, Mama, Borgav, Pobsy, Dogg, Bakayo, Kamikaze, Magic Carpet, Pirrate, Snax

Fortunately, Charlie ‘Dog’ Fogg and Mama Cass provided a little buoyancy with a lovely 45 run partnership and 17 and 35 respectively. but neither could see the game out as 139-4 became 143-5. Bad turned to worse as both Gav and Milky Milky arrived and departed for ducks leaving magic carpet at the other end without many partners.

So 145-7, a stampede of boots up the stairs to the changing rooms and Peckers in freefall. All looked lost and the win streak seemed to be ending in a classic Peckers collapse. But that’s when El cap-i-tan, Pob managed to stick around for a few balls allowing Magic Carpet, a friend and a useful 13 runs before departing. So 161-8 and a last wicket partnership (as Kami didn’t want to have to go back in, as expected) between Pobsy and Snax needed just 29 to see the Peckers home. Some good running between the wicket and a particularly graceful on drive from Snax. They rallied and got us over the line and stopped LOB from getting their first ever win.

A fantastic game and day all round ended with a 2 wicket with for the Peckers to close off their story at the ground. Performances and contributions from all over most of the team left the Peckers with just enough to end on top of a rather unexpected and mucky rumble in W12.

Highlight figures:

Kamikaze- 51* & 7-0-37-2

Pob- 14* & 2.4-0-7-2

Bukayo + Dog- 17

Mama Cass- 30

Magic carpet- 7-1-25-1