The Archives assembled on a balmy Friday evening in Rathmines facing an immediate deficit against Leinster CC. Due to the incompetence of the one-man selection committee and a misunderstanding with our latest potential Indian recruit, we started the match two athletes short. However, this year’s crop of Archivers is made of stern stuff and was never going to wilt under the challenge of overcoming such a numerical disadvantage.

Opening batsmen Tratalos and Kelley set the mood early on with an unflustered accumulation of runs, calmly nudging and nurdling the singles and twos on a lightning fast outfield. Although Tratalos was unlucky to be bowled on 18, the other top 6 batsmen all made their way safely to retirement with varying degrees of elegance. Kelley and Burgess were imperiously untroubled as they stroked their way to effortless retirements. Kerr rolled back the years with a magnificent display of sumptuous technique and placement. Taylor boosted the healthy run rate with a monumental six that made him the innings top scorer at 25. Likewise, Doris showed no mercy to the flagging Leinster attack with some lusty well-timed blows to the boundary. However, this momentum came to a screeching halt when captain Bennett strode to the crease in the penultimate over and promptly departed, bowled, second ball, as he fell victim to his delusion of smashing a local resident’s window. Reay and Irwin repaired the damage and manfully pushed the total up to a very respectable 145. We had at least managed to bat out the 15 8-ball overs with only 9 batsmen and had also set a reasonable target. Nonetheless, there were concerns that maybe the total was flattered by the fast outfield.

The basic fielding placement policy for the Leinster innings was to protect the short boundary with the speed of Reay and Doris and curtail the number of runs on the long boundary with the strong Antipodean arms of Kelley and Taylor. This policy reaped its rewards in the third over as Wade took a terrifyingly toppling catch with calm Tasmanian aplomb off Irwin’s tight bowling. Enter an impudent young Kiwi who had clearly not been apprised of the diplomatic status of our other opening bowler, his Excellency the Ambassador of New Zealand, Mr. Brad Burgess. The lèse-majesté was off the scale, as their no.3 casually dispatched one of Burgess’s good length Exocets high over the midwicket boundary into a D6 back garden.

Fortunately, the generous rules of Taverners cricket protected us from complete humiliation. After the Kiwi’s unstoppable progression to retirement, the Leinster innings subsided into a dawdling and fruitless search for runs. Miserly bowling from Kerr and Kelley turned the screws, as Leinster’s initial explosion of runs petered out into a trickle of dismal singles. Doris was unlucky to be restricted to bowling only one over, due to the incompetence of the selection committee leaving the captain no choice but to reluctantly accept Leinster’s offer of 15 8-ball overs. However, his unflagging energy in the field saved many valuable runs and left the captain pondering the benefits of early morning yoga.

In the end, the closing duo of Taylor and Reay applied the coup de grace as painlessly and efficiently as possible, but the battle had already been won several overs before. Leinster CC started the final over needing 48 runs to win, still a mathematical possibility off an 8-ball over. All they needed was two Carlos Braithwaites at the crease, but the timid batsmen seemed more interested in preserving their averages than repeating the 2016 T20 WC heroics of the Bajan, who had, ironically enough, played as the overseas professional for the club back in 2009. Leinster therefore finished limply on 99.

The victors were then fortunate enough to be treated to our first après-match libations of the season, as our generous hosts offered us some warmly appreciated chilled beers. The Leinster CC captain wisely declined the challenge of nominating a Dalkey man-of-the-match, as, by my reckoning, there were eight very strong contenders out of our nine spartan warriors. If pushed, I would suggest that Taylor was our Leonidas, with his magnificent catch, typically parsimonious bowling and belligerent batting.

[Written by: Nick Bennett]