With moisture still heavy in the air, we headed to Mosman CC for the final game of the Sydney leg at the Rawlson Oval. André’s mother had spent the previous day plucking 7 chickens for lunch and Volker proudly informed us, after checking his emails, that the game had been postponed until 2 pm – but alas this was a breakdown in communication and John was seen to be jumping up and down on his hat in frustration and the players slowly dawdled from the hostel to the van!
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| Mosman CC |
Of course, the game had not been postponed and we were lucky to start on time at 11 am for the first 50 over game on tour. Despite rain on the previous evening, the pitch was covered and in perfect condition. The boundaries are large at Mosman so it meant a lot of running and chasing the ball. Again, the setting was spectacular, overlooking Manly to the west and Balmoral to the east.
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| Scoring behind glass |
Mosman were competitive and obviously used to winning – they even had a league umpire equipped with his own Pith helmet. Unfortunately, despite an excellent performance with the ball – we got them all out for 146 in 45 overs – we couldn’t cross the finish line coming up 14 runs short. Reuben finished strongly with 4 for 39 and 33 with the bat.
After the game we headed to Balmoral beach again for more fish and chips, scoffing them down on an outcrop of land reaching into the sea, with the strains of an open-air production of Hamlet in the background! In the evening, we drank away the disappointment of 4 losses, polishing off a bottle of whiskey, a bottle of Yellow Tail, and half a bottle of Bacardi whilst debating who is better: Bradman or Tendulkar!
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| Lads against the picket fence |
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