From The President of King Island….
It was forecast to be 34 degrees and that would make it the hottest game I’d play in yet. Stamina was the name of the game. We arrived at an abandoned oval where no punter dared braving the heat. It was set out to be a cracker and extra beers were on order to share with our friends from the Pinnacle.
Walking over to the other team it appeared that they were a captain short with a number of fill-ins to help them form a team for the day. We had made ourselves comfortable in the stand and the Pinnacle decided to remain in the shade of the clubhouse. There was a cooler, two slabs of beer, two bags of ice, and too many tea towels.
A substitute captain was identified in AJ, we flipped a coin, and they won so chose to bat. They were struggling with numbers so this might have been the only outcome for the toss.
I always prefer to start bowling in a game. My theory is that it brings the team closer together and committed to the day. I think there is more energy at the start of the day and that’s best used playing together as a team defending any advances the other team might want to make.
We were off to a flying start.
Fielding was tight and I was leaning on the expertise of others in the team. Radar, Alex, and Rev were able to direct the team around the field and prioritise taking advantage when learning new things about the Pinnacle’s batting.
There were some screamers but we kept them down to 169 before stepping up to the crease.
Some notable mentions to make go to: Pete ‘Fargo’ Wells for incredible reflexes to catch a ball with the one hand; Jay Rainer diving for a successful catch; Matt stepping in to fill in for the Quokkas and scoring a big graze on his leg stopping boundaries and catching a huge hit; Radar securing another couple of stumpings; and, Oscar diving for a catch and missing it by millimetres. What a team.
So we were up to bat, and the heat was peaking for the day. Radar and Tim were the first partnership of the day and the runs were coming through in force.
With all the running, Tim retired shy of his 30, but the trend had been set. Radar, Oscar, and Dutchy all retired and came back to the bench ready to jump back on when needed.
Alex was in there on a streak when he was caught. A notable mention to Oscar for getting his first 30! The final partnership between Jay and me led us to the win. A huge day and an excellent show from the mighty Quokkas.
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