Please! Just let me play one more game

Well, what a result!

Excuse my previous post about lamenting that last night's game could be our last and that we had little chance of winning with a severely understrength side. But all those fears were put aside as our little team of six rallied together magnificently in our last-chance semifinal game and beat a full strength side, earning our place in next weeks grand final match.

Losing the toss, we were sent in to bat. Our mission was clear; set a massive target that will be defendable with only six in the field. And we did just that.

Opening the innings with James, we set a foundation with 34 runs. No dismissals, just common-sense, no risk batting. The next two partnerships yielded 33 and 38 runs, and already we scored 105 runs after 12 overs.

It was time for the opposition to pick the unlucky two batsmen to play out the final partnership. They chose me and, to my big surprise, Wazza, who is one of our best batsmen and the one who made the 38 run partnership. I'm having a lot of good form with the bat lately. And it's a left hand right hand partnership, making it tougher on the bowlers to adjust their line. So I think the opposition made a bad choice. Going on form they probably should have chosen Glen and Olly to bat out the last overs.

In the end, their choice of batsmen blew up in their face as we score 51 runs, heaping a big total of 156 runs. Hopefully it was big enough to defend with only six bowlers.

And we did so magnificently. The opposition run chase was very inept. Always trying to play boundary shots against good balls, they only succeeded in scoring 1's, 2's or losing their wicket cheaply. And often they did lose their wicket. After 3 partnerships, their score was still in the 30's. With 120 odd to chase in the final partnership and some ultra defensive bowling from us, they never had any chance, and meekly gave up their place in the finals. It was total annihilation.

So, we made the finals (for the second time) and hopefully we can win this one! It won't be easy as the opposition are the form team of the competition. But it will be a great way to bow out of the competition, and hopefully that will motivate us to win. If we could win with only six players, against the odds, imagine how far we could go.

What to do with Monday?

Tomorrow could very well be the last indoor cricket game for the Dirty Hackers. Even though it's a semifinal game, we only have 6 players available. Unfortunately we can't call on outside ringers for help since it's a semifinal.

If it's any consolation, we are missing our two weakest players, but we will still have to work twice as hard without them. It feels so unfair to end our playing days with an understrength side.

The odds are clearly against us. Given the opposition are quite good, it just seems like we are handing the opposition a win on a silver plate, which really pisses me off.

I've been thinking about what I can do on Monday nights now that my playing days are finally at an end. Maybe I'll get back into Ceroc.

Cathay Pacific Half Marathon

Just this morning I took part in the Cathay Pacific Half Marathon, which went through Mission Bay, to The Strand, back to Orakei, Kohimarama, St Heliers and finished at Mission Bay.

Unfortunately I could only finish in 2 hours 2 minutes, more than 7 minutes outside my personal best.

There were certain factors which contributed to the slow time, such as the hotter than normal temperature, the nature of the course, the staggered starts, etc. But overall it was a good race and hopefully I can bounce back and do better next time.

Also managed to drink 3 Powerade drinks along the way.

Running back to full speed

Yesterday I did a good 10 km run in the domain. I was rather pleased with my effort, a solid time of 54 minutes 34 seconds.

The splits were interesting. 16:55 after 3 km and 33:50 after 6 km (which is exactly the same pace). So in the final 4 km, I sped up a little bit.

So far, it's the best time over 10 km, considering I've only done a couple of 10 km races. But I know I can go faster.

Pulling the pin on the Dirty Hackers

It was going to happen, but I didn't expect it to be this soon. Suddenly a team which has performed for so long and so well in the indoor cricket competition is now on the verge of playing its last games together as the current season draws to a close.

Naturally I'm in a bit of shock that we will no longer play as a team in future. Questions are running through my mind. How will I get my indoor cricket fix for the week? What will I do with my spare time? How would I keep in touch with team mates if we don't play cricket every week? Will there be a chance of a comeback? Things like that.

Because of increased work commitments, travel plans, and the difficulty of regularly fielding a team without resorting to randoms, we're considering pulling the pin. Unless we can find new blood to field a full team week after week, it's looking very grim for us.

There's been talk of some of us playing for other teams who need players. But it's just not the same. You develop a strong sense of camaraderie with your original team. We've experienced many memorable wins and losses, highs and lows, nail biters and thrashings, brilliancies and blunders. You probably won't experience the same degree with a different team of people you hardly know.

Something to motivate us: we made the semifinals for the third or forth time, but we've never won a final. If we could win this season's final in our retirement game, that would be really special. It won't be easy though; this season's teams have been very tough to beat. We're not the strongest team in the competition, but we can certainly put up a good fight.

Unfit

In a desperate attempt to get my marathon training back on track I did a 10 km run on Thursday, followed by a long 23 km run this morning.

Everything was just horrible. Far from my best. I could only manage 61 mins in the 10 km and a massive 151 mins in the long run.

The 10 km run was run in very hot conditions, I started too fast and suffered some pain in my right shin.

The long run was the first long run that I have done since the marathon ended, nearly 4 months ago. Hopefully I can quickly improve on that performance. I plodded like a tired old man during those 151 minutes. The good thing is that I got 151 minutes under my belt, when I could have stopped at 60 mins.

Those two runs have made me realise an awful truth, that I'm nowhere as fit as I was last year!