2008 Badgers L.C.C v Dr Fosters
It was like a scene from Zulu. The six brave Badgers (plus one enterprising local) attempting to hold fast against the overwhelming hoards of Dr Foster. "Don't bowl until you see the whites of their eyes" came the call, sadly the tide was too much and their brave resistance was in vain.
After a record 6 withdrawals in a day it wasn't looking good for the Badgers, but never ones to let common sense prevail the motley band made their stand at Parsons Green. After conscripting a likely looking local (described by one rather inebriated Mr Sharma as "straight out of jail"), BLCC went into bat hoping to emulate the South African performance at Lords. A healthy opening stand from new-boy Neil and old-hand DBS was only split when Dr Foster's introduced a devious and underhand tactic of bringing on some good bowlers.
After surviving one close call DBS edged the quick Kiwi to the keeper and made his way to the pavilion. This brought a haze of alcohol fumes to the crease, followed closely by Arun doing his best Oliver Reed impression. Whether Mr Reed would have made a good batsman we'll never know, and Arun certainly wasn't making a good case for him. Neil's statesman like innings was brought to an end by a well placed yorker and Dickie H maintained his push for a Badgers second XI place with another cameo innings.
It's at this time that a team has to fall back on the quality of it's middle order in order to guide them towards some semblance of respectability. Luckily with Cloggo and second new boy Nick at the crease this was practically a forgone conclusion. With a dazzling repertoire of shots (including possibly the first ever late cut played by a Badger - excluding Joff!) and a mature approach to run accumulation the scoreboard finally approached the ton. "It was like watching a young Len Hutton", nobody was heard to say.
With Ian Bell like skill Cloggo managed to depart with the score on 99, bowled by the straight one that straightens. This brought the unknown quantity of Mikey to the crease who briefly raised hopes by lamping a short ball to the boundary, but found his true Badger calling by edging the next one to the keeper. DBS saw out the rest of the innings as only he can.
With a couple of borrowed fielders and a hopeless sense of optimism the Badgers set about their task of defending their 104. Taking his lead from Matt "Brearley" Badger, stand-in skipper Cloggo threw the new ball to Mikey more in hope than expectation. Tragically Mikey showed himself to be well out of the Badgers class by producing a blinding spell of fast bowling that was frankly far too good for any of the batsmen. It was probably just as well that none of the balls actually found the edge as the concentration of the rapidly sobering Mr Sharma was not as hot as it could have been. "I'm glad he hit that one for six because I was watching the guys playing footy" he later confessed.
With the rest of the Badgers' bowling attack playing the Jerry Lewis role to Mikey's Dean Martin Dr Foster's piled on the runs and brought the game to it's inevitable conclusion. A brave defeat but a defeat none the less.
