Lord Regent's Royal Rort at Rawhiti

In a day that saw the return of yet another couple more of SNCC's favourite sons, we were to witness perhaps the most clinical game the Neuf has won this season. We turned up to Rawiti Domain, sun cooking our bare skin, excited about the fact that D. Yardley the master of the cut shot, and J. Horton the wily customer he is, were once again donning the Blue and Gold of the SNCC not knowing we were to be a part of history. New Brighton sent us in to bat on a pitch that would best be described as dubious and straight away were punished for bowling short and wide of off-stump with Yardley giving them a Master Class through backward point. Maybe it was the excitement of a fast outfield or the torturous heat of the day but a quick few wickets fell and to the crease strolled Cameron and Grizz at 29/3. With the innings on the balance it was up to those two to right the ship again and they grabbed the bat with both hands and rose to the challenge.

There was gracefulness, brutality, the sublime, and the don't bowl that sh%$ to me, as Cameron and Grizz hit the ball to all corners of Rawiti Domain taking the team to drinks at 133/3 both closing in on the half century. As everyone who has played for the Neuf knows drinks to tend to be a bit of a speed bump for us and usually we would see a number of wickets fall. But that was not the plan these two had as they both soon surpassed 50 and started accelerating racing each other to the ton. An injury forced Cameron to take a runner but did not slow him down, although may have slowed the running down as Richard struggled to keep up with Grizz's enthusiasm and he seemed a touch relieved when Grizz was eventually dismissed for a belligerent 87 and had taken the score to 234 - which was a partnership of 205. Cameron then realised he needed to kick on to make it all worthwhile. Sure enough in a few more overs the bat and yellow cap were raised towards the sideline to thank the acknowledgement of a wonderful innings and the birth of SNCC's first 100 of the season. he was eventually dismissed for a fine 115, and with a couple of cameos from M. Gower and M. Townsend after 40 overs we had reached 295/7.

If we had thought that the excitement had finished once we hit the bowling crease we were wrong. With Gower last week bagging 8/15 the expectation was that we were going to wrap this up quickly even with a couple of i juries potentially affecting our fielding. We soon had them 4 for not many as they tried to attack but, you know what they say catches win matches and today the Neuf bought their catching hands with them. Even with me and Bevan going for a bit of tap at one end, Gower's tight fast bowling kept them under wraps. Then a genius piece of captaincy that even the T.G. would be proud of saw the introduction of John Horton to the bowling crease. First ball produced a wicket, but no-one was surprised. A couple more overs passed and the ball before drinks saw the fall of the 7th wicket for 119 runs. After a quick refreshment and a gasper partaken by some of us it was time to witness something never before done by the Neuf. The resumption of Horton after drinks went a little like this. First ball, four runs,. Second ball, stumping. Third ball, caught. Fourth ball, bowled. That's right lads the first 'Hat-Trick' bowled by a Neuf bowler it really was outstanding.

It's fair to say there were more than a few beers celebrated on Saturday night.

M.Mace ( Feb 15th 2010)