Zuozed out

Having won the toss, Milan put us in to bat. We amassed 158. I was last man to come on the bat and finished the innings "not out", albeit having made no runs. I faced four balls, two of which I left and two of which I fended away defensively. Admittedly not very spectacular, but I just wanted to get to the end of the over, after which we would have had three more overs to go. However, Jay the captain got cleaned out first ball of the next over, and that, as they say, was that.

Milan began their innings steadily, but after a prolonged opening partnership we made steady inroads into their line-up and ended up bowling them out for 101. I saved a few runs in the field in my positions of "short mid-wicket" and "fine leg". I also bowled an over near the end, but didn't take a wicket and conceded two runs. However, on the strength of my fielding I earned a place in the starting line-up for the next match vs. the Lyceum Alpinum school team. So it was that I tucked into my barbecue lunch feeling quite chuffed about my performance and looking forward to the afternoon.

1st game:
Basel CC 158 all out after 27 overs.
Milan CC 101 all out.
Basel won by 57 runs.

The school team were altogether a different kettle of fish. Some of them really could play. In particular, their captain George almost beat Basel single-handedly last year with both ball and bat - a match Basel ultimately won after a hard-fought encounter. This year was again a close-run thing, but we lost out this time by 4 runs. Fielding first, we struggled to keep their batsman tied down. They hit quite a few fours and sixes. One side of the pitch was adjacent to the main road leading to St Moritz - and, beyond that, the river. We ended up having to cross that road a few times to retrieve a good few lusty hits.

Unfortunately, I turned my left knee badly while fielding and had to come off after 17 overs. I was fielding at fine leg at the time and was attempting to save a four - which I did. However, my left leg got caught in the turf and I felt a dart of pain round the meniscus area. I instantly knew it was the meniscus, since I've long had the same injury on my right knee through playing football. After jogging around tentatively, I decided to play on, but the knee stiffened up after while and I decided to call it a day. I watched the remaining proceedings glumly from the boundary, knowing that I wouldn't be able to play again that weekend.

2nd game:
Lyceum School Team 196/6 after 30 overs.
Basel CC 192/8 after 30 overs.
Basel lost by 4 runs.

To be continued...