2005 - Lemmings v Salix
It was another record breaking weekend for Lemmings cricket. The team were slightly late to the ground due to the denouement of the second test (plus interviews), and frenetic driving combined with the heady excitement of the morning meant pulse rates were around the 200 mark. The opposition, Salix CC, had clearly been watching the test as well, since their captain won the toss and, while the Lemmings batsmen rehearsed Flintoffian shots on the boundary, inexplicably elected to field first. The openers, Hull and Pies, brought those shots and some more to boot to the middle as they tore into Salix CC's bowling and posted a hundred opening stand in no time, peppering the sightscreens, and, more frequently, the legside boundary. Salix looked relieved to dismiss Pies for 63 (off 69 balls), and even more relieved when Hull was LBW for 71 (off 63 balls) just when he was setting his sights on the A40.
Greany and Wood were now at the crease, both requiring 30 or so for 1000 Lemmings career runs. It was never much of a race as Greany upped the run rate considerably, reaching his 1000 runs to a cacophony from the boundary, and a mutter from Hukins that "no one remembers the second man to climb Everest"*. Wood eventually eked out the runs required for his thousand** then merry hell broke loose as the Lemmings chased down every last run. Greany finished unbeaten on 125 off only 70 deliveries, the highest ever Lemmings individual score, with Wood on 57* off 45 balls. The Lemmings has gorged their way to 325-2 off their allotted 40 overs, which is the highest ever team score, beating the previous 307 against a Hull-led Blackheath in 2003 (Hull thereby being expunged from the record books for the second time in two weeks).
Salix went into bat and "Bingo" Baker and Hukins took the new ball. When a sharp chance was dropped off Bingo's bowling, it was indeed "eyes down" for all Lemmings. Hukins dismissed one of the openers, but the Salix batsmen were eying up the mountainous total and made a sizeable partnership for the second wicket, aided by the entire team fielding like a collection of mongs. Last week's hero French and McKechnie were brought on to take the pace off the ball (only a bit, Baker was not at full pelt), and Salix began to stutter. French went wicketless, but McKechnie finished with 3-39. Kish found some good rhythm and pace and picked up two wickets late in the day, and the game meandered to its inevitable conclusion, with Salix finishing on 210-8, Lemmings winning by a thumping 115 runs.
* Sherpa Tensing Norgay, clearly
** the third man to reach the summit of Mount Everest was Jurg Marmet of Switzerland
