Take the ACC4 game away in Salland. It had everything: Pain, rain, swearing and jubilation. Self-sacrifice, chivalry (yes, ladies and gentlemen even chivalry), intense disappointment, ebullient fat people hugging each other and jumping up and down on the pitch (well to be accurate next to the pitch as we were playing on grass and nobody was allowed to walk on this holiest of strips).

There were moments of nigh-brilliance with the Jonty Rhodes who lives inside Lodewijk forcing his 50+ body into a horizontal lurch and grabbing the ball, the screamer that was going well past mid-on, and there were moments where our age was truly felt such as the moment when Lodewijk crashed into the ground after the mentioned Rhodes-induced lurch and every bone in his body rattled and the ball popped out of his hand as well.

There were moments of dictatorship, democracy and anarchy as fieldplacements were respectively being followed, discussed and ignored. There were moments with tears in the eyes such as the giving of the book to the captain who had come through the off-season a changed man and was touched that it had not gone unnoticed, there were terms of endearment, there were other terms as well, lots of them and funnily enough these were the only ones  written down. There was innuendo, psychological warfare, people putting shoulders into each other, there were coloured pieces of paper waved about with 4's and 6's on them.

There were works of art such as the new scorebook with the now famous section, First words after walking off, which Salland also filled in when it was their turn to bat. And yes ACC won the cricketmatch, but the profanity competition went to Salland cc. in terms of variety and intensity. Although it could be argued that Paddy's 'You useless...' shouldn't have been left out of the competition just because the ball was still in the air at that moment. There was youth drawing first blood in 17-year old Phillip Spiering hitting his first ACC runs and taking a wicket, albeit through a run-out. There was Jane taking a walk in the wild jungle of cricket scoring without getting lost or meeting any interesting wild animals (or Tarzan for that matter).  

And there was self-sacrifice. Robert Wolfe had picked himself in the Aces and after keeper Lodewijk thought his body would be safer at mid-on (famous last thoughts Jonty) took the gloves. Now a young lady was batting for Salland and an opportunity for a stumping presented itself. Robert was acutely aware that this was worth 25 points. But in the interest of the team he sacrificed these precious points. This was not the aforementioned chivalry however, it had to do with knowledge of the effect of testestorone on one's teammates. In this crucial fase of the match (Salland needed 70 off ten overs) concentration had been waning and some of us had let singles go through their legs for boundaries or picked up a ball with their non-throwing hand (in the ultra-competitive arena of ACC4 these are considered comparable misdemeanors). Now the presence of a young blonde female adolescent at the crease had all of a sudden put a spring in the step of all the close fielders, suddenly balls went to hand, throws came above the stumps, caps were straightend, knees were dusted off, shirts were tucked in. How could Robert let this inspiring presence be taken away just for the selfish desire of 25 Aces points. Now self-sacrifice often goes unnoticed or is misunderstood, that too is part of the cosmos we live in, so he expects no understanding and it needs not be mentioned, but it may well be a huge strategic advantage if we can make sure Denise plays for us in the next games.

The great spirit the game was played in, shall be further exemplified by us posting the match-report of the opponent here as well and they said they might do the same if we didn't make a last-out attempt to win the profanity award with the help of a dictionary.

The old men who creaked up the stairs to the clubhouse, who had started the match as springly young foals and had had a lifetime of excitement, disappointment, challenge and euphoria, had seen the sun come up at 1pm as the clouds gave life to our 40over bash and that same sun left behind another cloud at 8.15 just as the stumps were pulled out of the ground and we limped off. Hurting but happy and knowing one thing for sure. This pain will be nothing compared to the muscle ache the next day. And from behind this keyboard I can safely say... Aint that the truth.  
ACC        210 for 9 in 40 overs
Salland   187 for 9 in 40 overs

 

And see here the Salland report:

Salland CC 2 – ACC 4: 187 v 9 – 210v9

In de eerste uitspatting van het tweede in de derde klasse werd op een ietwat soppige pitch - maar wel gras natuurlijk - getosst tegen ACC 4. Zij wilden, met lichtelijk gemiezer vanuit de lucht en een traag voetbaloutfield graag eerst batten. Hun openers wisten vrij makkelijk de runs op het bord te krijgen, ook omdat er een vangetje werd gemist en er wat extra's tussendoor kwamen. Na Desmond en Gijs kregen Lasantha en Just de bal en uiteindelijk viel het eerste wicket op de eerste bal van de 11de over met de score op 76. Aan het eind van die over raakte de run rate de 8, maar dit werd daarna minder en na 20 overs was de score 130 voor 3. Albert pakte een debuutvangetje op midwicket, Patrick een lolly op de punt en Erik pakte een randje op Lasantha, die veel andere randjes net over of net tussen de handen door zag gaan.

Just mocht tegen wil en dank 10 overs achter elkaar doorbowlen en kreeg uiteindelijk toch de goede lijn te pakken en mocht één voor 41 noteren. Desmond en Frouk hadden een leuke combi met twee vangen van de laatste op het bowlen van de ander en daarna werden er regelmatig palen geraakt maar ook iets te veel runs weg gegeven waardoor er werd besloten op 210 voor 9. Desmond (3-62) en Gijs (3-48) namen drie wickets, Lasantha was heel gevaarlijk maar nam er maar twee voor 42.

Er werden nog te veel kersen op de grond gegooid, een run out en een stumping gemist en 46 extra's is ook niet om over naar huis te schrijven maar in het veld werden niet heel veel runs weggegeven en dat is niet verkeerd met 4 echte rookies in een eerste wedstrijd.

Gijs en Theo openden met een mooi 50-partnership in tien waaraan extra's ook bijdroegen voor Gijs (17) zijn off-stump vergat te beschermen en even later ook Patrick Esders de umpires iets te doen gaf. Theo en Lasantha (24) zetten ook bijna 50 neer, maar Just was weer onhandig run out en Theo (56) even later gevangen op een lazy edge. Desmond (19) had enkele mooie schoten en werd twee keer gedropt, Erik had een mooi viertje achter het wicket en Sadjie liet zien dat hij kan hockeyen, maar de 200 werd niet gehaald en dus werd er maar besloten op 9 wickets voor 187.

Het was een leuke wedstrijd waarin ook de rookies aan de bak zijn geweest en we ook door de middagzon een goede streep hadden liggen en een tegenstander hadden die weet hoe je een leuke pot speelt.

Just