Could Greenies Too achieve the unprecedented feat of winning 3 in a row?  In a word, and quite emphatically, no. Playing the kind of cricket that would make 10 year olds on the playground cringe, the wheels quite spectacularly come off our title tilt.  Not only the wheels, but the doors and the engine too.  Much like a comedy clown car, but without the mirth.

With the threat of rain and a sweaty pitch, Dickie made the bold call off putting Chillies into bat, hoping to use the conditions to our advantage.  Chris Troskie showed some early promise with the ball moving nicely outside the bat, and was unlucky not to bag their opener in the first over, with Dickie shelling a tough chance behind the stumps.  From there though things unraveled for us as we completely lost our discipline with the ball.  Sam struggled to find his radar, bowling a series of wides that destroyed his figures (2 for 43 off 4 overs).  He did however snare the opener with another trademark wide-wide-wicket combo, with the umpire giving a hugely generous LBW decision his way. 

A change of tack did not stem the extras, as even the spinners struggled to keep below 2 wides an over, and we continued to leak runs through mediocre fielding.  In truth the Chillies batsmen were nothing special, but were effective in building partnerships based around their 2 main batsmen.  Aided by our ineptitude, they were allowed to get to 208 all out in the 36^th over.  That total included a ridiculous 52 extras.  52!!! That equated to about 7 additional overs that we had to bowl. 

Despite everything, 208 was an eminently gettable target on a track that was doing nothing for the bowlers.  Marc and Sam, given opening duties, got us off to a solid start, working the ball along nicely and looking to build a steady partnership. After 10 overs we were well on track, at 45 or so for 1 after Sam got out for 15.  Texas, who has been in great form this season, did not last long though, narrowly avoiding the fine bottle before being adjudged LBW for 10.  Alex was next in, and after hitting a huge 6 over long off, ran himself out for 9.  Dickie came and went without troubling the scorer, hitting a woeful shot second ball down the throat of long on.  The procession continued as Jamie ran out Marc for 30 – the only batsmen showing any kind of discipline, and then got himself out.  Increasingly falling behind the run rate, Geoff Baker on his debut and Shannon were showing signs of a renaissance, playing aggressively in an attempt to get us back in the game before they both got needlessly run out attempting second runs that were never on.  Dave McGrath, after downing 2 beers, came in at number 10 with the game all but up, showing the full face of the bat with some classic forward defensive shots in a bid to get up the order.  The demise of Chris Troskie wrapped up a truly dreadful all round performance where once again we let ourselves down against a team that we should be beating.  Over 50 extras and 4 run outs will NEVER win you a game, regardless of who you are playing.

The fine session was a sombre affair.  Clearly Sam had a premonition that it may be bad, making a 1.75 litre fine bottle.  Even that was not enough to adequately punish all offenders.  MOTM went to Marc Randal for his 30 runs and 3 wickets. POTD was awarded to Shan for a searing cut shot that flew over the ropes, and COTD went to skipper Dickie Thomas, for a litany of offences noted in details by his vice captain Dave McGrath, including winning the toss and not batting, dropped catch, missed stumping and brain-fart of a shot to get out.  Outshining Sammy Dawson’s bowling figures to pick up this accolade was no mean feat.

Onwards and upwards.