One Sunday a while back I trooped off to Wynberg cricket ground with huge enthusiasm to take part in Geek Cricket. The next few days were sheer hell as my body retaliated.

Apparently the memory was short lived because a couple of weeks ago Saatchi decided to field a team for action cricket, and I was one of the first to volunteer.

Yesterday at about 12:00, we began our first match of the day against the Jupiter Drawing Room. Luckily we won the toss and could bat first, as we were 3 players down thanks to our Capetonian approach to timekeeping. Which would have been fine if flu, house issues and a very serious hangover, hadn’t also come into play. So now not only did we not have substitutes, but we didn’t even have a full team. Not to worry, Chris and I went in to bat and others were dispatched to collect the stragglers. Luckily reinforcements arrived in time and we could field a full complement.

First Jupiter, then Salient and finally Hirt & Carter were dealt with, leaving us top of our group and up for a match against Leftclick, runners up in group 1. Probably the best game of the day, as by now we were tired, sore and, in the case of Rolf, regretting eating that schwarma before going in to bat. A low-scoring game kept it interesting right up to the last over. Some inspired^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hlucky bowling and some awesome fielding gave us the game.

This left us to play the final against Salient, but since we’d already proved we could beat them, and the rugby had started, Saatchi United said thanks, see you next time.

To say that we deserved to win all our matches would be untrue. Not a single regular cricketer amongst us and an age range of about 30 years across the team. Salient were unlucky not to win their match, they looked like a polished outfit. I think what gave us the edge is that we pitched up with no ambitions or expectations. What we did have was ridiculous on-field antics (thanks Reuben), on field haranguing of the umpire, or anyone within range (thanks Reuben, again) and some unexpected support (no pressure batting with the MD watching).

Today though, we suffer. The pain in my legs, back, shoulders and hand (hint: if someone nails a full blooded shot straight back at you, just let them get the runs) is only slightly assuaged by the SMS’s from team members complaining of the same.

PS: Wesley (from Leftclick, in case you see this): we all thought you were a great sport, no matter how pissed off your batting partner was getting. We went there to have fun, as did you. The serious people should go play in the real league.