This Saturday however, I got a feeling of why that can happen. Sure, we're not pros, but at the beginning of July, we managed to get through to the Bedfordshire Invitational League Twenty20 Finals Day. It was an event that was firmly out of my mind until a couple of weeks ago, but since then, all the focus has been on it. All the chatter and conversation had been based around what Saturday may bring, and finally, after what felt like months of waiting and the slowest Saturday morning at work imaginable... It was here. Finals Day had arrived.
On the smallest of car journies to our home ground, the host for the day, I felt nerves I had never experienced on a journey to a cricket match. We wanted to win this so badly. The night before, I had quite literally dreamt about taking a leaping one-handed catch to win the final by 3 runs. It had dominated my thoughts for the week, and here I was, travelling to find out the fate of our team. We hadn't won a top-flight tournament since way back in 2006, a whole 7 years, and I would do absolutely anything to change that. And Saturday was our chance...
Due to work, I turned up at just gone 1pm, towards the end of the first semi-final between Pavenham and Houghton. Houghton was the scene of the carnage a few weeks ago when the game was abandoned due to stump-wielding chavs, so they're not too popular in my books. Pavenham however, after plundering 221 in their innings, (a huge, huge score for those of you not clued up on this wonderful sport), were home and dry and became the first team to qualify for the final. We were up next. Bedford vs Langford in the 2nd of two semi-finals... The nerves were flying...
We had lost to Langford the week before, by a measly 8 runs, in a game we had played horribly bad in. I got a first baller, but both teams had better sides out for Finals Day. We lost the toss, (No, I'm not the T20 captain, so I didn't lose it!) and we were put into field. I was quite pleased about that. I could get into the day relatively comfortably without having to feel the added pressure of opening the batting. I had secured the opening batting spot after scoring an unbeaten 82 in the warm-up game a couple of weeks beforehand, so I suppose I brought that pressure on myself! As the game started, you could feel the energy in our side. An energy absent from any "normal" game. It was absolutely obvious that every single person on that pitch wanted to win, and it was an amazing thing to be a part of, whatever the result. We did very well indeed in that fielding effort, with every person committing 100% to every ball, as we restricted Langford to just 120 in their 20 overs. It was a below-par score on a good pitch and we were extremely confident in overhauling it.
But padding up, the butterflies notched up to another level. I had been telling myself all morning to keep the nerves under control, as it would not be helpful when the time came for me to bat. Batting requires a modicum of concentration and focus, and you have to keep emotions under check. Go out to the middle too high on adrenaline, and you might play a wild shot and get out. Go out to the middle too nervous, and you might not be committed enough to a shot and get out. You have to get it right. So, what did I do?
"Whatever happens here today, that first JD and coke tonight will be a good one. It always bloody is!"
The words of an alcoholic I'm sure, but they did the job and I calmed down. Despite a couple of early wickets, we were always going along at a pretty nice rate. I had reached 18 off about a run a ball though when I rocked back to pull a short ball and just didn't get hold of it and planted a catch straight to the fielder. It was 45-2 when I got out, so at the time, I was apoplectic. Smacking my left pad with my bat as I trudged off, I was very disappointed. I even had to tell myself to not do anything stupid as I walked into the changing room. I'm not usually one for angry reactions, but with the scoreboard now at 45-3, it was a time of the game where anything could have happened. Luckily, next in was star man Ben Woodcock, who was as determined as anyone to succeed. He is a very classy player and he and skipper Boon did very well in getting us to the target and we ended up winning pretty comfortably by 6 wickets. Result. We were into the final.
Before the day, my minimum expectation was to get to the final. Without trying to sound arrogant, although it might well be, a team like ours should be beating Langford every time we step out on to the pitch to face them. It was a solid performance to get to the final, and I was pleased we had reached it. We now had a very, very tough ask against a confident Pavenham side. We had a small half an hour window to chill out, have a burger and a J20, (The JD was very much on ice... Just in case...) before the big one. The final.
Boony actually won the toss, (probably the first toss won for Bedford in a good couple of months!) and all of a sudden, I was out batting again. It's a strange feeling getting out and then padding up to go back out to bat again, but that is what I was doing! It wasn't a good start either... Determined to not play a stupid shot like I did in the semi-final, I was forced to defend a series of balls from their brilliant opening bowler who bowled like a metronome. He put it on the perfect spot EVERY SINGLE TIME, and I just could not do anything with it except knock it back to him. Another couple of quick wickets had fallen again, and all of a sudden we were 14-2 after 5 overs. A quarter of the innings down, and we needed something pretty drastic to claw ourselves back into a respectable position. Myself and Abid were in the middle, and after the 5th over, I realised we needed to do something.
"Look, this is shit, I'm just gonna go for it. If I get out, at least Ben can work some magic."
I was facing the metronome for the 3rd over of his spell, and my mind switched from "mildly attacking but not stupid" to full on Twenty20 mode. I had seen enough of his bowling now to know where he was going to put it, so looking around the field, worked out a quick strategy and attacked it with everything. Sure enough, the first ball of his over was on the exact same spot that the previous 12 had landed, but I had walked across my stumps to expose the leg-side. After some quick hands across the line of the ball, (again - for those of you clued up on the game - a risky ploy), felt the ball connect with the middle of the bat and fly between two fielders for 4 runs. Good. The next ball was slightly wider, and with the full force of everything I had, absolutely farmed it across to the leg side again for 4 more. It was an horrendous shot, and I hadn't got all of it, but it was another welcome boundary. We were still under pressure however, so needed some more exuberance, but I nearly got it so wrong on the next ball. The bowler, aware to what I was doing, bowled it wider down the off-side this time, and I managed to get bat on ball into the widely vacant off-side area. Calling Abid through, I shouted "Two!" and succeeded pretty successfully, but an absolute mad moment ensued when I saw the fielder briefly stumble on the ball. I called Abid back for a third run. I put my head down and sprinted to the non-strikers end, but three-quarters of the way down the wicket, I looked up to find Abid looking at me, completely still. He hadn't moved.
Shit.
I had to stop from a full-on sprint, turn round, and sprint back to the strikers end, and with the ball whistling in from behind me, felt as if I was on the verge of a pretty embarrassing run out in the biggest game of the season. I tried not to concentrate on that though, and had my mind fixed firmly on the white line of the crease and dived full length to reach my ground. My God, it hurt. The ground at this time of the year is not very forgiving, but thanks to a slightly wayward throw, I JUST made it home. Phew.
From then on, I had a ridiculous headache. Whether it was the impact of the dive I just don't know, but soon after, I got cleaned up by an admittedly very good yorker and before I knew it, I was on the sidelines once more, watching my team mates as they tried to claw a respectable score from an unfavourable position. Once again, Ben was absolutely class, as he dismissed the first two balls he faced for two boundaries, and well supported by brutal hitting by Abid and then by the captain, we managed to clamber our way up to 143. It wasn't a bad score by any means, and a couple of the lads seemed to think the new pitch, created especially for the final, was harder to bat on than the one played on in the semi-finals. We were quietly confident.
That was until the end of the 1st over of their reply, which was nonchalantly despatched to all parts of the ground for 16. While we were 14-2 after 5 overs, they were 16-0 after 1. Stood at short third-man as they comfortably saw out the next few overs whilst compiling a good amount of runs, I did wonder whether all that pressure of the day was going to amount to nothing. These guys looked as if they were going to knock off the runs with apparent ease and then jaunt on home again...
That was until, a moment of madness from them opened the door for us. Their opening batsman had decided he wanted to end the game early, so slashed at a ball that wasn't there to be slashed. The ball flew high into the sunny sky. Stood under it was Mr. Flynn. I'm sure he'd tell you himself that he isn't the best fielder in our side, but as soon as he easily clung on to a good catch, we were up and running. Pavenham still looked extremely comfortable, but at least we were on the board. A few balls later, the new batsman did the same, but he had got a bit more of it... It flew towards the confident Ben on the boundary and he took a very, very good pressure catch. All of a sudden, two new batsmen were at the crease, and we had two wickets... I wonder...
From then on, the energy in our team grew and grew... We had gone from complete dejection in the ranks to a promising glow of hope within the team circle as another new batsman walked to the crease...
This new batsman was a good player. He was the guy that bowled me, and I remember from the games we played against them earlier in the season that he had the ability to end the game there and then. How he managed to do this first ball, I will never know, but he leathered into a good length ball. However, he hadn't managed to get hold of all of it. The ball flew once more towards the grasp of Ben, who managed to take the catch. We all ran towards him screaming, before realising he had trodden on an escaped section of the boundary rope. It wasn't out. And what's more, it was 6 runs. The batsman then hit the next delivery for 4. I was stood at short third-man, head in hands, wondering if that was all our excitement done for the final.
It wasn't. In the next over, the batsmen skewed the ball to skipper Boony at point to make it 3 down and then not long after, the ball flew once more towards the boundary where a good catch from Arjun meant that Pavenham were 4 wickets down. Because of the regular wickets falling, their run rate had dropped pretty dramatically, and they were 55-4 after 8 overs. We were back in it. A passage of play then followed, where Pavenham kept level with the pace as we tried to squeeze and put pressure on them. I moved from the long-on boundary to my post at short third-man, not really being involved all that much, but feeling immense pressure all the same. I could feel the buzz of the game surrounding the air as if we were enclosed in an imaginary bubble. I was concentrating so hard, I was unaware of the music playing from the boundary, or the hoards of people who had come in to watch and my Dad, walking around the edge of the pitch, keeping a keen eye on proceedings. This was as tense a sporting event that I had ever been involved in...
It had got to about 14 overs gone, with the match still level-pegging, when Shaun came on to bowl. Shaun "Coppers" Copperwheat is 16 years old, and the youngest player in our side. I've been very impressed with him this season, but this was a pressure situation. How would he handle it? He answered that question emphatically with his first ball, as the batsman played a straight drive back over his head, only to see Coppers claw it out the air one-handed and throw it straight back up in celebration. We sprinted towards him in jubilation, safe in the knowledge that Pavenham were 5 down and didn't have much batting to come. Suddenly, it felt as if we could see the trophy appear on the horizon. This was ours for the taking... It had to be...
Coppers finished a brilliant wicket maiden over to hand the initiative back to us. Pavenham needed about 40 runs off the last 4 overs. It was possible, but we were in the ascendency. Rob Flynn, who had taken that catch to start it all off, came on to bowl, and after a couple of wides, knocked the bails off to give us our 6th wicket before doing the same in his next over and with Pavenham getting nowhere near the required amount of runs to give them a chance of victory, it was ours. Barring anything stupid, we had done it. Pavenham needed 23 runs off the final over of the whole day, and despite a couple of streaky boundaries, the final ball was bowled by Arjun, and it was confirmation. We had won it. By 13 whole runs, we had won Finals Day! I sprinted in from the boundary edge, letting out all the built-up emotion in a huddle in the middle with the rest of the team. It felt so, so good...
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| Skipper Nick Boon with the T20 trophy! For a guy with 80-year old knees, he was immense in the field and with the bat plus kept a cool captaincy head. |
Getting back into the changing room, we all let out huge cheers of delight. After the trophy presentation, where many a photo was taken of our winning team, we went back into the changing room amidst smiles, cheers, hugs and pure ecstasy. This was amazing. I threw my wallet at Robbie, and told him to get a few JD's in, (I told you it was on ice!), and for the next 3 hours, we all sat in the clubhouse and enjoyed the moment.
Those three hours were my most enjoyable time as a cricketer.
Just the memories of the day, everything from Ben's funny reactions when he makes a mistake, to Robbie triggering a batsman despite being bowled and Manvir's desperately bad day with the bat. We made a joke out of it all as we sat around and had a few drinks and reminisced. Me and Robbie led the way as we worked our way through a bottle and a half of JD between us and by the time we left, I was pretty merry and Robbie was almost on the floor... That night was pretty special as we cheered and sang our way through a celebration and a half.
After 7 years, Bedford CC have won a top-flight tournament, and I couldn't have been happier on that Saturday evening. Hopefully its the springboard to bigger and better things. That's what I wanted when I took the plunge to take over the senior setup at that club, and Saturday was the first of what I hope will be many more successes for the future.
Full speed ahead.
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