Aurora,

"T'was the game before Christmas..." no that's been done.

In an ultimately rained out affair, which has not upset the ladder at all, the Bears faced off against our perennial dopplegangers, the Tourists.

A fine, humid day with rain on the forecast greeted us a O'Connor. Yes, we lost the toss and yes we were sent in to field.

We opened up with Pagey and Eric and we settled into a session of tight bowling, good fielding and dropped catches. We must have given each opener nine lives in the first few overs. Chances begging in front of wicket and behind. Someeone asked at drinks who hadn't dropped a catch and only a couple of Bear paws were raised.   

Drady was the first to strike the bottom of off-stump. We then set a field to try and trap their other opener "Stokesy" (all in white) who attempted to hit everything for a pull shot. His dabble through gully was a huge surprise (too me anyway). Some good bowling by Buttsy, Shane and an over from DB took us to drinks with them 1-81.

Shane and DB continued after the break without success but kept the scoring to a minimum. Then Eric took the pill for his second spell and magic truely ensued.
Our first catch, a diving backwards feet off the ground effort by Drop Bear (who else!) lifted the Bears. A caught behind, an lbw and the bails disloged twice, Eric's spell included a hat-trick chance. He tore through the upper-middle order and his five-fa (on the last ball of his 8th over) was simply superb and kept us in the game. With the batsmen swinging away to the end, Eddy (Magic Eddie's mate) unleashed his lightning bolts to end their innings 6-176.

Pope and DB padded up and got us of to a decent start 0-30 after 10 overs. Pope departed, caught by their substitute fielder (our own Magic Eddie, who also filled in the scorebook for their innings - great sportsmanship displayed) and this brought our skipper Shane to the crease. Despite their opening bowlers conceeding very little, Shane and DB settled in and took us to drinks 1-77, definately in the hunt. ​

After drinks, DB hit one to a fieldsman bringing PM (in his return game) back to face the music. Shane was trapped lbw which then saw Pagey swagger out.
I'll leave it to Angus...
{below extract from Tourists write-up}
 
"But the Bears seemed to have word from their other team playing in Wanniassa that very heavy rain was coming and sent in a bloke with a lethal cross-bat slog who smoked 41 from 12 balls (!) before the storm hit, driving the rain in sideways. With the clock nearing 6pm, 31 overs down and the pitch and run-up areas mostly under water the match was abandoned, leaving both teams with a point from a hard-fought contest."

We ended on 3-149. Regrettably no result but a good game in the spirit.

{below from your President}

Some really encouraging signs at the mid point of the season. Our slight rabble, with old and new Bears applenty at the start, have now bonded well and our best cricket is ahead of us I believe. Our batting is looking more solid each game and our fielding and bowling are always of a high standard. Our catching however...

To all, have a safe and joyful festive season.

HP​