Ashes Part 2: Maddogs nearly snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Having closely won the first match down at the beautiful Jubilee oval, the maddogs returned to their normal dog park at the Alan Davidson oval. We arrived to find the pavilion in a bit of a state. Beer bottles (of the empty variety) liberally spread about, and a bbq that certainly needed a bit of a clean. It looked like there'd been a bit of a pissup the day/night before. The pitch was not looking too pretty either. Parts of the outfield resembling the Somme, while the bowling runups looked treacherous to say the least. We managed to get the covers off without too much drama, and started to think about playing a game of cricket. The boundary was brought in about 20 metres to try and make it a reasonable scoring game.

Seamus won the toss, and made no hesitation to put the dogs into bat. This was nothing to do with overhead and ground conditions, but more to do with a lack of confidence in his batting lineup. Nothing like a bit of scoreboard pressure.

The dogs opened with old stalwart Philip Thalis and newboy Paul Gerlach, and these two got us off to a steady start, without it being electric. When the first wicket went down it was quickly followed by two more, which brought Billy "I bat at 5" Cutler to the crease. Billy rightly decided the runrate needed a kick up the arse. We were 25 after 8, but thanks to Billy and Philip the score doubled in the next 2. With a decent platform set, Bryan "That shall be known as Bryan" Fenech made his way to the crease. While setting off for a quick single, the soles of his shoes fell apart. This may have been part of the plan as now shorn of the ability to run between the wickets without looking like Charlie Chaplain, Bryan set about setting about the Aussie bowlers. The poor Aussies were clubbed for 3 sixes and a 4 in Bryan's brutal onslaught. With Philip gently reaching 25 retired, we now had 3 not outs back in the shed. The dogs finished their first dig on 139, not a bad show on this soggy pitch.

The Aussies came out with JP at the helm, and quickly took to their work. They all contributed, without reaching retirement, and soon they were ahead of the dogs at the halfway stage. The dogs managed to put peg them back a bit with catches being taken uncharacteristically, including a blinder from Jeremy Goff at slip. This then brought in Seamus who began to undo the good work that had been done prior to his arrival. He produced one of his finest innings, biffing the dogs to all corners of the ADO. With Dean and Rod doing what damage they could in the last few overs, the scores were very evenly matched with the Aussies being 4 runs ahead.

After a quick snag break courtesy of Billy, the dogs went out again. We started poorly with two farcical runouts, including Mark Harvey 10 yards short, exclaiming "I didn't realise there was a fielder there". The pitch was by now showing some gremlins as well, with some balls rearing up and others resembling pearollers. Scoring was becoming increasingly difficult. Although Bryan and Billy carried on where they left off in the first, we were still some way short of a par score with two overs to go. Thankfully Ant Pritchard took the bull by the horns and got us to 127 (266 in total). The innings also saw a slowmotion collision between Seamus and Allan in the deep. Thankfully they both lived to tell the tale, although Seamus did think he'd been hit by the Queen Mary.

We were quietly confident going out to field for the last time. With 11 captains all agreeing to go on the attack, we stacked our bowling at the front. Although we got injured Frank early, the desired collapse didn't happen. Dean and Seamus' betting looking sibling Toby, helped themselves to the All you can eat buffet bowling served up by the weary dogs, and soon the target was well within their sights. They needed less than a run a ball with more than six overs to go. The dogs head and shoulders started to droop, and with Allan and a onelegged Chan hitting boundaries at will, it seemed inevitable.

However, with 3 overs to go and 12 runs to get, the dogs performed and inspiring rearguard action. Keith removed Chan, then Paul Gerlach removed Allan, leaving six required off the last over. With the first four balls going for 4 runs, it came down to the last 2 deliveries. The dog fielders all crept in close to the bat, deciding to go for the win rather than the tie. With the pressure on, Keith bowled a beauty to remove Tom. Unfortunately this meant Dean came back in to face the last ball. With one man out on the boundary Dean picked his spot. The Aussies scampered through for a tight second and won the day, by a whisker.

What a great game, and as someone once said (definitely before Seamus), cricket was the winner.

Thank you all for turning up and making it a great day.