Superstars Cricket Club


		EXPERIENCE > YOUTH

		Fittingly for American Independence Day it was a game of ageing, ancient colonials versus young thrusting bucks as Superstars took on a Streatham and Marlborough under 16s XI fresh from their GCSEs and looking to fill their two and a half month summer holiday with as much cricket as they can. Unfittingly perhaps, the Superstars won this battle, but it is almost certainly only a matter of time before we are overtaken by these modern world kids, given the evident talent on display.

		We certainly had our fair share of experience in the team although for a worrying few minutes we were led to believe that our grey haired legend Meyler and his partner in crime Plahe (who eventually turned up dressed as if for a game in the 1780s) had got the wrong day and were sitting in a pub garden in Epson rather than stuck in traffic on the south circular. An unamused match manager (Forman) and skipper (Anand) promptly demoted them to 12&13 in the order as an arranged toss allowed us to bat first on account of our many late arrivals, delayed by traffic, work, trains and all the travails of adult life.

		Patwal and Bishop opened up but Patwal was soon back with us on the boundary after being castled by the slippery young Sandison. Anand looked good for 19 but then hit one up to mid off. So it was left to Warren to run the gauntlet of running with Bish and trying to steer us to something competitive. This he did with aplomb, with a well judged 25*.

		But wickets then fell quickly at the other end, two in two balls in fact as Duggan was bowled for a golden duck. Plahe was forgiven by the skipper and sent in at six. Would he block the hat-trick ball or seek to smear it over cow corner for six? Anyone who has seen our one-shot wonder play before does not need a match report to answer this question. But what a one shot it is and was.

		A bit more tail end wagging saw us up past 100 and finish on what felt like an about par 127. Patwal padded up for his wicketkeeping debut (which, while all Superstars wicketkeeping debuts are successful when compared to the usual Barry standard, was a wild success with an astonishing five dismissals). Plahe and Spry formed what must be some kind of record slowest new ball partnership. But it worked, reducing our hosts to 10-3 in the fifth over and leaving Will with fantastic figures of 3-1-4-1. Reeve was almost as good with 2-1-4-1, while Bishop and Duggan also took cheap two-fers (duggers' haul including the captain of the SMCC men's first XI in a sweet moment for guile-full grey beard spinners around the world).

		At 30-5 in the fifth we thought we might be offering our hosts the opportunity to bat again but the youngsters then dug in well with some more solid partnerships and some positive strokes to take them to a respectable 90-8 at the close. But not before we had given debutant Jonny his first bowl for the club ('Jonny be good' sang an incredibly tuneful and humorous slip fielder) and Meyler what might always be his last ever bowl for club given his age and injury record. Experience told in the end, but as we felt our aches and pains, and drank only moderately due to early starts for work the next day, we would have given anything to swap places with those boys again and have a whole summer and another lifetime of glorious sunny cricket to look forward to.

		Author: Dan Forman

		Team: Bishop, Patwal (wkt), Anand (c), Warren, Reeve, Kinnard, Duggan, Plahe, Meyler, Forman, Spry.