St Lucia - Beaten in a thrilling finish

OCCC 137 for 8 (Bugge 40, Crump T 32, Calixte 4-18) lost to SLNCA Veterans XI 140 for 9 (Charlery 56, Harman 3-28, Brown 2-8, Crump T 2-11) by 80 runs
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After a day on a catamaran, we returned to the Beauesjour Cricket Ground for a game against an SLNCA Veterans XI which included several members of the St Lucia board. The match was scheduled to be played at Mindoo Phillip Park but an inspection earlier in the week had revealed it to be in a poor state. There were few complaints about us returning again to the flagship venue.

In deference to the slightly more experienced make-up of our opponents we rested most of our young bucks and retrieved our own veterans from the beach bar for the game. For the third successive match we used pink balls, and for the first time we found ourselves batting despite a fourth straight lost toss.

Our start was once more poor. In the second over Jonny Gates called for a sharp single and was left a foot short by a direct hit, and in the next over a yes-no mix-up between Tom Merry and Graeme Brown ended with Brown sacrificing himself to leave us 8 for 2. David Bugge (40) and Merry (15) then rebuilt the innings, their slow pace partially explained by the fact nobody had thought to tell them the game had been reduced from 40 to 35 overs.

Merry’s innings of 15 singles ended with an lbw, and Tom Crump (32) picked up the momentum. Bugge (referred to as 'Doug' in the local paper) showed some lovely touches before he too fell leg-before, but the innings finished with a whimper rather than a bang. A score of 137 for 8 was decent but we should have made 20 more.

Harman struck with successive deliveries to leave the SLNCA XI 22 for 2 but Kim Charlery (56) and Hermingild Francis (30*) took the score to 94 for 2 at a fast rate and an early finish looked on the cards. But Charlery tried one big hit too many and was caught in the deep by Harman off Martin Williamson, and that triggered a remarkable collapse as 114 for 4 became 130 for 9.

All the bowlers chipped in, and with nine needed with the last pair at the wicket we sensed a win. But Francis kept his head and despite two raucous appeals steered the home side to a narrow win, albeit with 8.5 overs in hand. The overs in hand were particularly regretted by Gates as captain, as he was fined one shot of rum for each over remaining.