Three nil to the Badgerland. Three nil to the Badgerland. Three nil to the Badgerland. Three nil! TO THE BADGERLAND!!
These are the chants that would have rung out had the Battersea Badgers been followed by a hardcore group of badger-tattooed, cull-sabotaging, name-your-first-born-child-Bert-Badger-McBadgersson supporters. As it was, those followers who made the journey to south-west London were more concerned with finding shelter from the arctic wind and raising their body temperature high enough to maintain consciousness. Either that or playing with Martin’s cute dog. My goodness, it’s so cute. And it also looks slightly like a Badger.
None of these sideshows however were able to save the Thespian Thunderers from a third defeat of the season to the Badgers. In a nail-biting finish, it was down to Barker and Blake to steer their team to a one-wicket victory, having earlier collapsed from 115/2 to 150/9.
Earlier in the day, champion tosser Barker elected to field first and was rewarded with a disciplined bowling display that restricted the Thespians to 168 all out. The timed game format meant that there were no bowling restrictions and, while a lack of adequate restrictions on Blake would normally lead to a string of romantic dalliances and ultimately a series of court orders, in this case he finished with 2 wickets at just 1.33 runs per over.
The wind continued to howl and a couple of rain breaks were required but the Badgers made serene progress in their innings thanks to wonderful knocks from Marchant and Morse, with the former gliding along to 62. The match had been put on a plate but the following six batsmen were ejected from the feast by the Thespian bowlers who moved themselves to within 1 wicket of an unlikely victory.
Still 19 runs from their target of 169, Barker nurdled and Blake swung until the score stood at 165. Yet there was a further twist as a rare defensive shot from Blake popped the ball up to short mid-wicket only for the catch to be put down. Realising that real heroes don't play defensive shots, Blake proceeded to bludgeon his next ball to the boundary for 4, winning the game and gleefully sealing the whitewash.