Victory by Single Run Off Last Ball of Cliffhanger Match
But Only After A Re-Count!

"If George Bush can do it, so can we"

The news that has shaken the cricketing world was the victory on the evening of Friday, 20th June, of The Gold Bats (P.G. Wodehouse Society [UK] Cricket Team) against The Dulwich Dusters (Dulwich College Staff) by one run off the last ball.  With a target of 129 runs to beat, the Gold Bats excelled themselves and, when the last of their 20 overs began, were on 120 or thereabouts.  Playing a superb captain's innings, Bob Miller went for every ball.  A four off the last delivery would have given us victory by one run and The Dusters spread their field accordingly to prevent it being scored.  Bob played the last difficult ball perfectly but only managed to score a single.  The Gold Bats had lost by two runs – or so everybody thought.  But everybody was wrong.

     The match began just after 4 o'clock in perfect conditions.  The sun shone, the College grounds were at their best, the clock tower chimed the hours as Wodehouse remembered and described it – an ideal setting for a match he would have thoroughly enjoyed.  The Dusters, who normally win easily, went in to bat.  There was drama almost at once.  Chris Read brought off a superb catch to dismiss Storey for four, a presage of things to come.  The Dusters went on, batting strongly, but the Gold Bats' fielding, assisted by the agility of Patrick Gilkes (grandson of PGW's headmaster) keeping wicket, kept the scoring rate down.

     The Gold Bats' captain Bob ('Call Me Machiavelli') Miller had secured agreement to underarm bowling for two overs and this meant he could introduce his secret weapon.  Two years ago, The Dusters had fielded a cricketer whom eagle-eyed Murray Hedgcock had recognised to be a Victorian Sheffield Shield (Australia) player, and Robert Bruce was our response.  The captain's choice was at once justified when Patrick Gilkes stumped a Duster batsman tempted one step too far by Robert's subtle, seemingly-innocuous deliveries.  A couple of sixes and quite a few fours enlivened the innings, and at the end of The Dusters' twenty overs, they had scored 129.

     Along the way Micky Collins had badly injured his hand from a ball that had just left the bat, but latest reports are reassuring.

     A splendid tea was taken in the pavilion where the teams were joined by enthusiastic spectators, some of whom were watching their first cricket match, and play resumed with the Gold Bats in high fettle.  On one of those gorgeous, all-too-rare June evenings when it seemed as though the sun would never set, the Gold Bats achieved some excellent shots, including a magnificent six that nearly decapitated our youngest spectator.  Patrick Gilkes lost his wicket to a superb catch near the boundary but the score mounted steadily, and when the captain, Bob Miller, went in, the Gold Bats realised that victory was hovering on the horizon.

    With the last over to come, hurried calls for the score to be confirmed were replied to equally hurriedly, and the spectators suddenly appreciated The Gold Bats could win.  An interesting psychological reaction occurred on the pavilion balcony, where a small group of spectators found themselves adapting the words from Newbolt's Vitaï Lampada which had become very relevant to the occasion:

             'There's a breathless hush in the Close tonight-
              Ten to make and the match to win-
              A bumping pitch and a blinding light,
              An over to play and the captain's in….'

     There was a single, a four, another single – and then the last ball. The Gold Bats needed a four to win but, try as he might, Bob Miller could only make it a single run.  The Gold Bats had lost by two runs – our best result against The Dusters (excepting one previous win).

     In stepped the deus ex machina – our scorer, Stephen Fullom.  As he added up the runs scored by each of the Gold Bats, he noted a discrepancy.  A check with the over-by-over figures confirmed his view and a completely independent witness (your humble scribe) agreed.  The Gold Bats had scored not 127 but 130!  And Bob Miller's last brave single had indeed won the match off the last ball.

     The Dusters' captain, Danny Kent, put a brave face on things.  No twisting of a thwarted moustache, no muttering of 'our time will come,' just a gentlemanly acceptance of fate that did him credit.

     Interviewed by your correspondent later, Bob Miller was his usual modest self.  "I was quietly confident throughout.  I knew we had a good chance and I intend to build upon this success in the future."

     Today - Dulwich.  Tomorrow the World!

     – "Legatus Senex"