Coldharbour CC 189 all out (Evil 2-5, Yak 2-15, Prof 2-42) beat Quokkas CC 176 all out (Tugboat 77, Driver 24, Evil 22)
I didn’t get to see Interstellar at the cinema when it was released, so took advantage of rerun at my local Odeon. A few swift halves prior didn’t help my understanding of the fifth dimension and time continuum, but several previous `Pint of Science’ experiences should have prepared me for a lack of clarify alcohol brings to those subjects.
My favourite part of the movie is an intense scene where Cooper attempts to dock the Endurance to the sound of amazing church organ-inspired backing track by Hans Zimmer. During the docking [Ed: no need to get excited Faggie], TARS (a robot) says: “it’s not possible” whereupon Cooper replies “No, it’s necessary”.
Cooper does successfully dock the spaceship, so that line is slightly disconcerting. How could AI get the calculation wrong? I am not sure the director Christopher Nolan would make an error like that in one of his movies. So, perhaps he’s suggesting that despite AI becoming omnipresent we shouldn’t give up and the shear stubbornness of humans can help achieve more than previously was thought possible.
Star Wars is slightly less thought provoking, but equally enjoyable. If you have the Disney+ channel, you will have watched all the spin offs money can buy. Andor apart, there has certainly been a law of diminishing returns, but no matter how limited each new series is, I keep coming back for more. However, I may have reached my Star Wars nadir when deciding to finally give the `Star Wars Holiday Special’ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxtSX1lg8rE] a spin. If you have no taste whatsoever and like toe curlingly bad television, then it might be for you.
I have mostly been consuming science fiction this week to avoid the non-stop pre-election bollocks. You know an election is imminent, that, or the Tour De France is coming to Coldharbour, because the local government had found the funds to completely resurface the `road’ up to the cricket pitch. It is almost disappointingly easy to get to the ground now. Well, for some. At the toss we only had six players in attendance. Not a great toss to lose then, especially with the Coldharbour skipper deciding to bat. Thankfully, Prof soon swelled the ranks, which meant I could put a slip in place.
Obviously during the first few overs there was the odd gap in the field, exploited by the opening batsman, but Quokkas soon started emerging from the forest and before you know it, we had a “ring of steel” in place. Which would have been useful if the bowling hadn’t been so Bertie Basset. Some truly awful deliveries were dispatched into the forest. Some other deliveries, which I can only describe as “even worse”, took wickets. None more so than a ball from Prof that almost double bounced on the neighbouring track but somehow the batsman managed to toe end it to a fielder. Prof: “It only says out, bowled Prof in the book”, which is why I have elaborated here, for prosperity.
There were one or two beauties too, including a delivery from The Driver that clean bowled the opener. The Yak grabbed a nice caught and bowled. The take behind the stumps by Tugboat as Evil drew the edge was truly exceptional. As was the running catch on the boundary by The Showman. Seagull’s “yours” forcing him into action.
The fielding, especially the wicketkeeping was, dare I say it, pretty damn good. Conceding just five byes on this ground is unheard of. In honour of the Phillies taking on the Mets at The London Stadium, The Yak demonstrated some excellent ground ball fielding together with some sliding which we caught on video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3hNhK79Hbc In honour of the Stanley Cup taking place, Radio used his shins to stop a blisteringly hit ball going to the boundary. You might get an ambulance up that road now Radio.
Among the usual dross, Les bowed a very tidy spell. Sohail and Evil Dave clean-bowled a batter each, as did The Egg, with a ball that took longer to arrive than the Showman spent at the crease. Nine bowlers were used in the end, and it would have been eleven if Tugboat hadn’t grabbed the last wicket. With some less than auspicious bowling performances at this ground, Conan and Seagull looked slightly relieved.
As always, the tea was excellent, with cream scones and a cake tempting enough for Yak to risk his walnut allergy. We took the opportunity to discuss `US’ sports, like cricket, established which baseball teams still play on astro turf and pondered if the Edmonton Oilers could break the 30-year Stanley Cup hoodoo for the Canadians. Not for long I might add, because we had some runs to chase down.
Radio John, Conan, Sohail and Egg formed a formidable opening quartet. After four overs (Ed: Actually, it was 3.4 to be precise) they had scored a combined 8 runs and all were safely back in hutch mine sweeping the tea. After three weeks of “education” on leg before wicket decisions, Driver seemed more than happy to trigger Radio fourth ball. Missing the ball while standing directly in front of the stumps usually prompts that. At this point we could do with a little of that pre-mentioned `human stubbornness’ in our batting line up. For once it was the opposing skipper that had to curate the game, as he took both opening bowlers off after just five overs. Big mistake. In came Tugboat and Evil Dave and they feasted on the “filth” (Ed: Tugboat’s words, not mine) during a partnership of 108 runs. The hitting was ferocious. Every shot sounding much like a lightning bolt echoing through the forest.
Dave was eventually out, caught. Les replaced him and immediately hit a fine boundary, but with his wicket we were into the tail. The runs kept coming though, helped by nearly 40 extras. That is, until Tugboat played on. The bad news: Prof failed to trouble the scorers. The good news: Driver stopped fannying around and hit a few boundaries. Just as Seagull remarked that “as long as Driver is there, we’ll be fine” he was out bowled. We now had a tense scene of our own. One wicket left and 17 runs still needed. And it looked like we might get them in singles…until Seagull played down the wrong line. And that was that.
Another defeat for the Quokkas. Have we ever gone through an entire season without a win? Don’t answer that.
Seagull.