Vets lose the unloseable
The Vets lost an improbable and really what should have been an unloseable game against South Belgrave, after being in a very dominant position in the run chase.
South Belgrave batted first and with a couple of retirees, chalked up an imposing 3/179. The Gators struggled with bowling a consistent line, although George Shaw showed how it was done with 1/12 (off 6). The only other wicket-taker was Chris Harris with 1/23 (off 6). The Gators also struggled in the field, with Rob DeGraaf thinking he'd busted a finger on the second ball of the day, Walshy carrying his exploded thigh muscle from a drunken sword fighting incident a week ago, and Big Rick pulling a muscle in his back. A few others were limping around as well, and would have enjoyed the 36 overs ticking over. Although it was a pretty challenging score, the Gators were comfortable that they had a long batting order and should be able to get the job done.
The early order made the target look a forgone conclusion, with Brett Tucker retiring on 41, after hitting a ball out of the ground and into an adjoining suburb! Chris Harris soon followed with 40 of his own, as did Mark Burridge, making good on his promise of delivering a 40 to the skipper Garry Wilson.
When Budgie marched off the score was an imposing 0/152 in the 21st over and a win should have been a formality. South Belgrave didn't read the script however as Smith 21, DeGraaf 0, Boris 5, Booga 6, Walshy 1, Willow 0 and Big Rick 2 came and went with the Gators six shy of the target, bowled out for 173.
How this one got away, we'll never know!
