Our previous game against Rocket Boys was a hostile one. Things were said. Ego's were bruised. So when a new match up against the Rocket Boys was announced I for one was keen on getting a chance to hit out at them again. But when Rob sent me and Blackout's latest recruit, Kevin, out to open in the batting we did so knowing that only four players were present. We march out and were ready to put on a big total in the hope more troops would arrive. However I was to face trouble on the first ball. I struck the ball downwards into the ground and thought a run may have been on. Kev sent me back to avoid a stumping. But in my effort to dive back I fell heavily onto my left hand with my bat in the right hand and injured myself. I played on not having known the seriousness of the injury and played out the rest of the match with a "mallet finger". Basically it's a bone fragment that has dislodged itself in my ring finger.
We managed to finish off our opening stint with a total of 45 runs on the board. Not a bad knock with only the single wicket falling... mine! Next out to battle were Rob and Langy. Slow and steady lead the race. This was proven with a total of 33 runs with only one run out to play against that pair. However Blackout's biggest worry here... and one that actually cost us the match, was the distinct lack of players in Black. In the end only four players showed and as a result we had to forfeit our match.
Rocket Boys were good enough to play on knowing that they had already taken out the win by sending both batting partners out in turn again. We notched up another 45 runs with three wickets this time round and the Hammer/Langy combo snared 34 runs on their second outing with only one wicket to speak of. Talk about consistent.
The fielding innings for Blackout was made up of four Blackout players with four Rocket Boys but Rob refused to let the Rocket's bowl to make things more interesting. What resulted was a thrilling match despite the circumstances which led to a draw! 157 runs a piece! There were some awesome bowling, catches and tight fielding to speak of. But the fact that it was all for nothing left a bad taste in my mouth. The fact that I ended up with an eight week injury made that fact even more hard to take.
