Match Report: Ashes 2 - Honors shared

Confusion dominated the second leg of this year's Ashes fixture. This is the annual two-match fixture that ultimately gives the Maddogs it's raison d'être, the fixture for which and from which it was founded. But on this occasion, so much of it made so little sense. Confusion reigned. That might be one of the reasons why we lost by 30 runs!

(More pictures of the day here).

The confusion began with the venue change. The heavy rain from the day before meant the venue had to change from the Maddogs newly adopted - and now somewhat hallowed - ground in Sydney Park at the Alan Davidson (whoever he was) Oval to some new park in Alexandria. The communications about this were crystal clear! But it still completely threw the Maddogs off their game and goes a long way to explaining why we were so out of sorts. (In fact the new ground was actually quite smashing and we'd love to play there again.)

The rain had not been kind to the pitch. It was soggy, but only in places, and while some balls rose up, others ducked low. Frankly, you didn't know what you were going to get as a bowler or a batsman. Pretty confusing. Obviously this was a more confusing for the somewhat sedentary Maddogs than the somewhat nomadic Aussies.

The pitch smelled a bit also. It seemed the groundsman has employed a little manure. However, no comment on how this played better for one team versus another.

A key problem for the match as a whole was the fact that the first half of the new double 20/20 format took quite a long time to play because with all the various people playing for the Maddogs, arranging the field always seemed such a big operation. For a start, a couple of people who said they weren't coming, came. Then, as well as something like 12 Maddogs turning up, there were the "pups", sons of Maddogs who also took the field. We never knew how many were on the pitch, and we must pay tribute to the Aussies for their patience in this.

Nevertheless, the first half progressed in a very balanced manner and by half time both teams were evenly balanced with only 2 runs between us. But confusion was never far from the surface. In the field, I confused everyone by confusing myself with someone who could take finger tip catches in the slips, and actually doing it. I also confused myself by actually being one of those people that clean bowls someone! It would be remiss to leave out that while Anthony Cheshire's innings was a showcase of beautiful, textbook batting; it might also be said that - at 9 from 30 balls - it was confused in strategy with a Test Match innings rather than a 20/20 format, and thus the Maddogs innings was a little less productive than it could have been.

What was also very, very confusing was our Captain's awesome performance. With a spectacular catch andrunout, Giles Bourne had a quite splendid day in the field.

What was not confusing was the score. While this is it's second outing, I had not seen the new iPad app that now records scoring in Maddogs matches and while there were some hiccups, it truly is a wondrous thing. I personally am very excited by the worms and wagon wheels it spits out (see below).

However what was then confusing is that the batting order for the Maddogs was still on paper, and differed markedly from the ipad app's idea as to what the order was. The most embarrassing outcome of this was Jon Gill missing his turn at the crease because he was in the changing rooms padding up. It was never clear who was on, when, and with all the other confusion, it's amazing the Maddogs made a game of it at all (hear that Aussies?).

While there was much excellence on both side, with traditional Finn and Chan brilliance from the Aussie side as well as guest star excellence from Seamus' own brother, and our ownSean Garvey bowling with his usual danger; Maddog Keith Saunders did have a superb time taking a keeper's catch, scoring a hat full of runs and a bowling a brace of wickets...unless I'm much mistaken he might take MOM honors?

After being level at the break, and with the confusing change of 10/10 rather than 20/20 for the second half because of the slow progress of the first half; the second half was swift and calamitous for the Maddogs. While the Aussies were very good at scoring runs AND getting wickets, the Maddogs were only good at getting wickets and failed quite spectacularly to hit the required run rate. However, sadly for the Aussies, while they won a famous victory, the Ashes remain with the Maddogs for now after a drawn series.

(Special mention: young Eddie Timpson fielded marvelously for the Maddogs and is welcome back any time. Extra bowling overs for Eddie yielded one clean bowl and a caught-and-bowled and so there is much promise for the future of Maddogs cricket.)

UPDATE: The theme of the day continues. There seems some confusion as to whether a four currently notched up to Mark Harvey off JP might actually have been hit by Anthony Cheshire instead, taking his 9 to 13. There is certain to be continued discussion of this and - like the controversial third goal in the 1966 World Cup Final - opinion will remain divided. However while this is of course crucial for the pride of both batsmen, it has no effect on the overall result.