Newington put Mad Dogs' Tails between their Legs
- maddogssydney
- Nov 9, 2014
- 3 min read
By Gareth Llewellyn
When 21 Mad Dog hands went up to play The Newington Fathers this year, and the Fathers themselves couldn't raise a full 11, we suspected there might be a sense of imbalance to the annual and very friendly fixture. We never suspected we might be on the wrong end of that imbalance. But sure enough, the match ended up quite one-sided and the Mad Dogs were left in deep regret over squandering that initial embarrassment of riches.
Canine selection was under the impression that this year's Newington contingent was "not strong" - an impression no doubt greatly influenced by the wily Newington captain Marcus Timpson. So many of the Mad Dog stalwarts were either stood down, or leant to the other side. That isn't to say that the side that took the field was weak, but simply not a match for the well-stacked Newington ranks.
Initially, there seemed nothing out of the ordinary afoot. Although the Newington batting effort progressed with steady and consistent purpose; the Mad Dogs attack was also pretty effective. The bowlers performed particularly well, with three caught-and-bowls - including one outstanding effort from the diminutive Jon King who momentarily seemed to acquire the power of flight in order to reach the ball. I myself even managed to send bails tumbling. As Newington completed their first innings on 132, only somewhat above par, the Mad Dogs suspected nothing.
But the rot set in quickly as soon as the Mad Dogs innings began. As a wedding party looked down on the match from the balcony above the pavilion, a marriage of a penetrative bowling and attentive fielding (including a legendary direct hit on the stumps from Mad Dog turncoat Anthony Pritchard) saw Mad Dogs' wickets fall like skittles. The humiliation was made starker still by the fact that one scalp came from the excellent bowling of the Newington captain's own 10 year old son, Eddie! By the time Brendan Parry and I began a 10th wicket rear-guard action - adding only another 20 runs between us - the Mad Dogs were in the throws of an unprecedented meltdown. No one could remember such a rout, with three ducks and only three players reaching double figures. When finally foolishly I gave away our last wicket with two overs to spare, the Dogs had only scraped together a pathetic 74 - barely half the Newington total!
From that point on the final result was never in doubt. Despite a much improved performance from the Dogs, with both ball and bat, it was almost impossible for Newington to give away such a commanding lead. The Fathers' second innings was quite lethargic by comparison to their first, and the Mad Dogs were able to restrict them to just over 100. Following up with a far more spirited 121 was still no where near enough to save the game. A valiant Jon King was joint top scorer, able to retire on 25 despite having pulled a hamstring. Naturally the other top performer was Captain Sean Garvey - leading from the front as always. But the brutal reality of the scale of the defeat was brought home when Marcus remarked that with only three overs remaining the Dogs' still needed to score more than their entire first innings total to win. However, a good effort was made to close the gap and the final deficit was less than 50. But the humbling of the first innings still coloured the match.
Nevertheless, the day was thoroughly pleasant - quite injury-free by comparison to the first match of the season - and once again the game proved that even amid an historic thrashing, cricket can still be a very enjoyable way to spend a beautiful sunny day. Kudos to Newington - we shan't underestimate you again!
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