Things started oddly in Pylewell - Laurence pulling the game's first ball, an impressively short and slow offering, loopily to square leg - and stayed strange. James Waddington and Shomit built a steady partnership, and after 15 overs we were well placed on 74-1. But mindful of the need to score quickly - the match had been shortened to 30 overs a side to accommodate an evening vigil - both perished not long after drinks. Jonny threatened to repeat his heroics at Stoke Newington before being well yorked; then Som and Jack - the former pulling, the latter driving - combined nicely. But a late flurry of wickets restrained us to a solid if unspectacular 153-8.
The Pylewell reply began as a mirror image: a very short ball cut to point, where Oli took a good catch. Jack and Louis bowled tightly in tandem, before Matthew and Laurence mercilessly squeezed, winkling out the dangerous Sam Carter and three others to leave the opposition, at drinks, seemingly far adrift on 56-5. Then the game changed. Their number 7, not a Fraser or a Curzon be, began hitting to and over the boundary, in a sequence of effortlessly powerful blows. The bowlers, often in very short spells and swapping ends, restrained him admirably - and a few catches didn't quite go to hand - but with two overs left, he'd taken them close to victory: they needed eight to win.
Jack dried up the all-important penultimate over, conceding only three. But the big number 7, unbeaten on 60, was on strike for the start of the final over, which Shomit unflappably prepared to send down. Five needed. Dot, two, single. Two to win, three balls, a newish number 8 on strike. Shomit licked his fingers, not entirely in accordance with covid protocols, and bowled number 8 straight through the gate. Two from two. The new bat drove hard, but Matthew, close at extracover, pulled off a remarkable stop. Final ball: Shomit, shirt billowing, to the crease. Flighted, on a length just outside off, and the batsman flayed it past Matthew - but not Jonny, at mid off. They scampered a single and the game was done: 153 plays 153. A tie.
