MATCH REPORT Elthorne CC vs Catch 22 CC - Lord's 19th January 2006 The last time an indoor match warranted a write up was due to an unexpected victory in 2003. Other than that, it often goes unreported - fooling the millions of website followers that ELthorne are unbeaten until at least April. Bereft of practice, youth, and the outdoor conditions that the Elthorne cricketers know and love, would Vince Parker's Catch 22 side once again foil the ambition of the Elthorne side? In fact, they wouldn't. With a new surface in the Lord's Indoor School, Elthorne were inserted and Mark and Gerry got the show on the road with a fine, if unglamourous, 40 run partnership. The demon bowler who rattled Elthorne stumps at will in 2005 knocked over Mark's middle peg in a warm up delivery but then proceded to go wicketless throughout the evening. Richard and David maintained momentum with a panache-free stand of 42 as they nudged and nurdled the C22 bowlers to the corners of the playing area. The stock delivery from C22 tended to be a high-bouncing lob but with a genuine legspin and googly bowler in their ranks, C22 would have been quietly confident at the halfway stage. However, C22 couldn't have counted on the splendid performance of Peter and a very in-form Gordon who bashed it around with much vigour to notch up a half century partnership. Though their exciting batting may have confused me, I am not so sure that they only suffered the loss of just one wicket in their partnership. Very sensible stuff indeed. Now destined for a reasonable score, the last wicket pairing of Ian and Nick did the best job of the lot. Seeing off the demon bowler and then hitting the odd straight 7, they put on a brilliant 75 as C22 seemed to lose heart. The only drawback to the whole innings was a needless run out off the last delivery but a total of 206 certainly seemed unconquerable. And so it proved. With Gerry starting off with a wicket in the first over, Elthorne fielded as well as anyone can remember. A quite outstanding one handed, diving catch from Nick, two from Richard, one from David and bowling of the highest calibre from Peter 'I can only do it indoors' McLoughlin were among the highlights. Backed up by excellent fielding the "the deep" from Ian, Gerry's top bowling and some fine work behind the stumps from Mark, Elthorne were sitting pretty and With half their overs gone, the score was only 80 and Vince, the architect of so many victories against Elthorne had already batted. Things became slightly hairier when the third C22 pair, both Aussie no less, took a much more aggressive stance and began to rattle up a few 7s. Despite falling to an excellent yorker from Nick and wickets from Monsieur Croneen, they nevertheless put on 80 and set up the possibility of a C22 win for the first time. Despite having Don at the crease, C22 failed to cross the winning line and with Gerry just failing to snaffle a hat trick in the final over, resistance crumbled to leave Elthorne victorious by the slightly flattering margin of 36 runs. In the third pub in as many years, the post match quiz nevertheless occurred. Elthorne's night continued to be rosy as they took all three rounds and got the full Blockers for the first time! Perhaps C22 will never invite us again, but we hope they do. Many thanks to Vince Parker and his gang for an excellent evening of entertainment once again.