After the hottest May Bank Holiday Monday on record, the fine weather continued on to the Tuesday, allowing for 2 T20s to be played in glorious conditions at Girton. Runs were hard to come by on a slow wicket and it was left to Matt Samson (24 off 18 balls) with some inventive strokeplay to shepherd the total up to 113.
With only a small total to defend, our bowlers had to be at their best and Jan Cross-Zamirski and Oli Melvill duly put on an exhibition of swing bowling. Both bowled so well that captain Jon French decided to utilise each of their 4 overs immediately. They repaid his faith, reducing the Navy to 32-4 off 8 overs, returning figures of 2-15 and 2-12 respectively.
French (2-34) chipped away at the middle order but the Navy were favourites at 89-6 after 15 overs. In a stroke of rogue captaincy, Dan Corner was brought on to bowl. After a full toss was dispatched for 4 first ball, expectations were low. But Corner defied the odds to pick up 3 wickets in 5 balls and turn the game on its head, his slow medium pace confusing the Navy batsmen.
Fergus McNab picked up the winning wicket to seal an extraordinary victory by 16 runs, as the Navy were bowled out for 97.
The second game was disappointing however, as the Crusaders folded to an 86 run defeat. Batting first, the Navy were in a dominant position at 88-2 off 11 overs. Matthews (1-16 off 3 overs) and Corner (0-11 off 3 overs) led a fightback with the ball to restrict the Navy to 143-5 off their 20 overs.
The Crusaders’ reply with the bat never got going, with only three batsmen reaching double figures. Individual mistakes with both bat and ball had cost us dearly.
Overall, there was mix of excellent and poor cricket played by the Crusaders, and one victory apiece was deserved for two fairly evenly matched sides.