On Thursday evening, three days before Walsall Health’s home game vs Old Halesonians, a question dropped into the club’s WhatsApp group chat. The opposition had asked if the Health would consider making the game 30 overs aside, instead of the usual 40. It wasn’t so much a cat amongst the pigeons as an unpinned hand grenade, Jack Stenson nearly choked on one of his teas, Mark Wood suggested a 3 day test (that he wasn’t available for), Josh Butler was questioning the point in even bothering (hopefully about the game and not life in general.) A compromise of 35 overs was reached. 

Fast forward to Sunday 12:02, 28 minutes before the meet and the Elf probably would’ve taken a T10 with an over each. The clouds had rolled in, the rain was falling as a wall, Josh Butler was stuck in it, possibly once again wondering what the point was. Amazingly, the clouds parted and the game was on as the Elf players began to eye an afternoon at the bar with Test Match Special. Nunns lost the toss, but the Elf were bowling anyway. 

At the start of the innings, it looked as though no one had told the opposition that it wasn’t, in fact, a T10. Every ball was met with a swinging bat in the first 6 or 7 overs, supremely bowled by the always threatening and usually tight DS and Paul Caines. The wickets started in Paul’s first over, his confident declaration last week of always taking a wicket in his first over looked more and more prophetic in the 5th and 6th balls of his first over, the first a ball getting through and rattling the stumps. The second leg before. The hat-trick ball of his next over was dealt with by the batsman. Not quite in the hattrick hall of fame yet Paul, but the Elf had a brilliant start. 

The wickets weren’t done there, though. Paul would get himself another 2 and DS chipped in with one of his own. The game looked like coming in at far less than 30 overs, the Health had them reeling at 5 down for less than 50 runs off 7 overs. The opening bowlers had laid down a great platform. Next into the attack were the kings of Spain, JB and JP. From there, a fightback began to click into gear for Halesonians. The gung-ho nature of the batting fought back, a few balls clipped for 6 to a short boundary on the leg side from JP, but some superb ground fielding from all the team meant JP could have a few balls at the lower order and soon he got a couple through. JP accounting for a couple of slices of rabbit pie in quick succession (rich from a match report on two ducks in a row coming into this game, I know.) 

Once JP was done with his portion, Josh Butler leapt onto the scene and secured a slice of his own, Dan Dunn with his second catch of the innings and with it bringing up his half century of catches for the club and joining an elite list of club legends with 2000+ runs, 50+ wickets and 50+ catches. Very well played Double D, an absolutely brilliant achievement.

With a set batsman in though, there was still danger to be guarded against for the Elf and the 10 and 11 for the opposition indicated some reversal of the order was occurring. Both 10 and 11 went through for rapid half centuries as the Elf struggled to remove them. The score motored onto 234. Dunn had bowled the set batsman before a massive partnership from the last 2 in the tail took the score well beyond what the Elf were expecting to chase, Will Tomlinson finally breaking the partnership with the last ball of the innings, Mac helping out with some quick hands to bring the stumping.

From a game that seemed to have only been going one way, the Elf were now going to have scored at over a run a ball. It was a cautious start by Jack Stenson, a real form batsman for the Elf this season, but he had a rare bad day at the office, getting pinned LBW for 2. This brought the left-hand/right-hand combination for the Health in the form of Alex Nunns and other opener Dan Dunn. In big chases like this, big partnerships are needed and two of the Elf’s finest obliged with a huge one. Both played the situation brilliantly, in an almost chanceless partnership of 132. It was looking like a straight shootout for who would get to their century first. It was a surprise to all when a ball finally breached the defences and Dunn was bowled for a fantastic 60.

This bought Will Lauchlan in who watched from the other end as Nunns was also out, leg before for a quite brilliant 74. From there, the momentum swung violently away from the Elf, Lauchlan feathered off the glove through to the keeper for 5. Will Tomlinson was next for 1, Dave Preece followed shortly after for the same score. Caines didn’t even manage a single as he was pinned first ball leg before. The score had gone from 145-1 to 181-7. A batting collapse the lower and middle order of India would be impressed with. Death. Taxes and a Walsall Health batting collapse.

Amongst the carnage was a beacon of hope at the other end in the form of Mac Perager, who last week was described as a coiled spring; it didn’t take much for him to bounce into life this week, almost from the word go he was taking singles and lashing the ball to the boundary. He found some support in DS who held up an end with him. But with exactly 36 needed from the last over, even the marathon man couldn’t break that record. He and Dave got the Health well past the 200 mark though, to leave them just 27 runs short of the target, Mac finishing not out on 27, DS not out on 3. A great effort from all 11 at the Health, but in the end, they just ran out of deliveries. Maybe a 40-over game would’ve been a different story.

The Elf are back on the road this Sunday as they travel south to Worcester for a game against Peopleton. If you’re free and in the area, get down and show the team some support and you’ll get a good match in return.