The game took place at a park at a nearby school. Like many of the sports ovals we have seen in Chennai, there was not a blade of grass, just orange dirt. When we arrived at 7:30am there were 6 games of cricket being played concurrently, all on an area the size of a soccer pitch, and all being played keenly but with no obvious way (to us at least) to know who was fielding for which game, or who were spectators or what.
There was some delay as the hotel staff wanted to play on the piece of concrete in the centre, which meant we had to wait for that game to finish before we could start.
A full hour later, play commenced with Pinjarra batting after Danny Turner won the toss. Ford was run out first ball of the innings for a diamond duck, after McKay drove the ball straight to cover and the “tip and run” rule had its first casualty. The new look batting line-up saw Wallis to the crease, who must now surely have a sore back after swinging and missing on multiple occasions. McIlvena was also at the crease early and Cooke followed soon afterwards. The tourists were finding it difficult to put away the tennis ball, and were either caught or run out all too frequently.
Placement of the ball away from the fielders was impossible, since there was no way for our batsmen to discern, out of the hundred or so people surrounding our game, who was actually fielding against us.
And a hazard new to all of us, at one stage a large dump truck drove across the oval, forcing people to part like the Red Sea to allow it through - the driver giving the impression he wasn't about to slow down for anyone. After dumping rubble in the far corner of the park (an interesting place to put it we thought) it then drove back again, and we could see that the passenger seat was in fact a deck chair that was somehow secured in place.
Few batsmen troubled the scorers much, but the youth of Riley and Davidson managed to build at least some sort of partnership. Apart from the running between the wickets of Cooke, the only highlight of the innings for Pinjarra was when Riley smashed one over the top of 2 other games and over the park wall to land it on the road.
Pinjarra all out for 32.
The hotel staff commenced their innings and controversy erupted second ball when a good length ball from Danny Turner was blocked back to the bowler and no run was attempted. Apparently there was no “tip and run” rule! Despite objections, the hotel staff insisted there had been no foul play and the innings continued - with no "tip and run" rule.
Accusations of match fixing also began to circulate amidst rumours that bar attendant Ratish had deliberately encouraged the tourists to drink excessively the previous evening. This was also denied.
By this stage, the other cricket games had finished up, but the mayhem actually got worse as these were replaced by approximately 500 school children of different ages, all dressed in white, all participating in different activities all across the oval, while we played on. Dancing, marching, running and apparently performing some sort of martial arts with 3 meter sticks. For some of our fielders, it actually became impossible to maintain any view of the action at the wicket.
Pinjarra claimed 2 early wickets but then a couple of stubborn partnerships followed. The hosts hit the winning runs with overs to spare and only 3 wickets lost. (Fielding in the outer, I am unable to recount much detail of the hotel staff innings, or who bowled, since for the most part I was unable to see - some of the students apparently being quite tall for their age).
Hotel Staff 3 for 33 def Pinjarra 32 all out.
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