Penn Street vs Star

Penn Street CC 280-5 (Adams 183*, Loftus 43) beat Star CC 277 (Shammy 117, Loftus 4-64) by 5 wickets

This match report is really the story of three people. Dave Adams blasted 183 not out off just 107 balls, with 10 sixes and 22 fours. For over half that time he was kept company by Nick Loftus, who scored a vital 43 to back up the four wickets he had taken in the Star innings. And during that innings Alex Adams took his first two wickets for the club, one of them caught by his own father.

The rest of the team were not exactly spectators for the whole game, but it came close. Star’s openers were solid and building a healthy partnership before Adams Snr first tried to bounce one of them and then, when the ball had been retrieved from where it landed in the woods, realised that the batter could play the hook shot and so completely bamboozled him with an outrageous slower ball that fortunately still had just enough energy to knock the bails off when it eventually reached the stumps.

Star’s number 3, Shammy, could easily have been given leg before first ball, but took advantage of his good fortune to launch an assault of his own as he bludgeoned his way to 117 off just 64 balls (9 sixes, 10 fours) before inexplicably retiring himself out. His colleagues at the other end were not able to manage Loftus levels of support, but they didn’t necessarily need to be. It just meant that all but one of the remaining batters fell to catches, including a sharp one to Richard Spooner at point and an incredible running one (think Tendulkar at Lord’s in 1990, only running the opposite way) from Asif Teja to give Caitlin Macken her first wicket of the season. In the end, Penn Street were quite relieved to bowl Star out for a mere 277.

Things looked even bleaker once the home side started their reply. Captain James Sempill fell to a sharp catch at point, Sam Martin somehow managed to connect with a wide one and spoon it to cover and Sam Martin, after a bright start, played on. It was time for more heroics from the duo of Adams and Loftus. Their partnership for the fourth wicket didn’t quite pass 200, but in the context of the game it was a phenomenal effort.

Adams, obviously, was the aggressor and after a while you could sense the panic rising in the Star ranks every time he was on strike. Consequently, it took them a while to realise that the quiet rapier of Loftus was doing them just as much damage as he cleverly got himself off strike at every available opportunity. By the time that he was out, bowled as a result of a tired-looking shot, Penn Street were almost home.

By this time Star appeared to have about five different people trying to captain the side and had had a stand-up argument about possibly changing wicketkeepers. In short, not a happy bunch of cricketers.

Almost home. Teja was cool and collected until he decided to try to hit the winning runs and gifted Star another catch. Phil Cross then applied good old fashioned St Helens common sense, pushed his first ball for a single and watched from the other end as first a somewhat controversial no ball call and then a couple of pub-endangering Adams blows took Penn Street over the line. It was a heck of a way to bring up the first win of the season.