To counter this, the Kalactanians brought a few pace bowlers - the majority of which come up early in the batting order - and off break bowlers. The slight predictability of the team, only having two types of bowling to fall back on, would set them back a little. The sheer amount of pace bowlers and just how much swing and seam possibilities there were, you could say that the venues were perfect for them as much as possible, as well.
v Northwest Kalactin, Goledon Oval, Bruncester, East Surbourneshire
Northwest Kalactin bat first
Ko-oren 456 (112.1 overs), 150/6 (57.0 overs)
Northwest Kalactin 345 (92.4 overs), 259 (81.0 overs)
Ko-oren win by 4 wickets
Long innings and plenty of runs: Bruncester gave us what we wanted to find. Clear skies for four full days and no rainfall in the days leading up to the Test, and it was clear that the first team to bat could take maximum advantage from that. The visitors started, and Marsden et al. couldn't get grip on the batsmen from the start. Six wickets fell on clear misjudgements or wrong decisions, such as Gonzalez pushing a bouncer away to midwicket, where Whitley stood to pluck the ball out of the air. It was these kinds of details that the Kalactanians couldn't get right for the entire innings - which still took more than a full day - so if that's the only takeaway, the visitors kept their patience and endurance very well. It's nearly impossible to not slip up for that long, anyway. It was only when the order reached Wood, Lopez, Thompson, and Brown that the procedure went a lot smoother. Marsden got plenty of reverse swing before the new ball, taking Wood and Thompson out in the same over, both nicks to Wheelwright. Brown was the 10th wicket to fall, leaving Lopez not out, attempting a defensive stroke on the new ball (which Marsden requested after 87 overs), but taking a leg before wicket instead.
The lessons were learned quickly by the Ko-orenites, who could observe the conditions and even play around with them for a while, knowing that the Kalactanians could only throw so many different things at them. Marsden ordered his troops to take it slow, wait for the hittable balls, and swing safely. Twaddle and Igglesden did, working through a lively fresh ball, whittling it down for the sluggers ahead. It was their luck that they only had to reach for the ball a handful of times, but they couldn't find a gap in fielding for a while. Twaddle resorted to lofted balls out of frustration, which immediately became his downfall - test cricket is heartless like that. Try to entertain the crowd, try to get the scoreboard to tick, and that's it. White and Igglesden put together a nice partnership of 75, Stanway and yChaegrheodd were the stars of the innings at a combined 148, however. On day three, the full-time batsmen were finally dismissed. None of them went on clean bowls or caught behinds. All of them were nicks to the slips, or an ambitious shot to point/cover/midwicket.
Halfway through day three, the Kalactanians saw the weather report for the upcoming days and saw that they had a chance, if only they held on for a day or so. Campbell and Green didn't listen to their captain very well and found themselves back in the pavilion within the next eight over. They stared down the 111 run deficit and only thought to reduce that, overtake the Dragonflies, and then put the Ko-orenites in a position where they had one day and ten wickets to chase down 150-200 runs. Fate had a different idea: they couldn't get the ball under control on a more than cracked surface. Fox hit the cracks dead on a few times, two of which were too dangerous. Campbell hoped to get a run but nicked to second slip, Green attempted a straight drive that ended up back with the bowler. Gonzalez and Adams righted the ship, and from then on the long quest to survive the day until the rains came started. In the end, that was successful: they survived the day with two wickets left, and were leading by 100-odd runs.
Day four came... and no clouds. Thompson and Brown held on, defended for dear life, as the weather reports delayed the arrival of the downpour... Halfway through the morning. Nothing. Lunch. Nothing. Thompson finally cracked, Marsden claimed his first wicket of the innings, and that was it. A completely blue sky, and about 150 runs needed for the hosts to win. Two possibilities arose from here on out: the rains came, and a draw was inevitable, or there was enough time to get 150 runs across five sessions. Either way, patience was in order, so Twaddle and Igglesden went out again, cautiously. It didn't matter much, Igglesden scored a duck, and now White was out. Twaddle scored just 10, but at least White was having a good time, pairing up with Stanway, then yChaegrheodd, then Whitley en route to a century. The Kalactanians now gathered more and more fielders close to the pitch, hoping to get the last remaining wickets at any cost. There still was a nice run cushion, but wickets had to fall and quick. White punished them for boundaries left and right. Finally, Adams bowled right through him and took out off stump. Wheelwright and Raycraft did the honours and amassed the final 17 runs for the win. It never really was in contention, but losing Stanway and yChaegrheodd for barely 20 runs each did hurt. A win is a win, lessons were learned, and East Surbourneshire remains a unique place in Ko-oren.
v Northwest Kalactin, Silverion Ground, Cirelbourne, East Surbourneshire
Ko-oren bat first
Ko-oren 311 (79.2 overs), 237 (84.4 overs)
Northwest Kalactin 259 (60.5 overs), 285 (108.0 overs)
Northwest Kalactin lose by 4 runs
The lovely game theory behind the format should be clear now. In a one-off match of any format, your biggest battle is against yourself. You know what you can do, but you still have to deliver, and it's hard to pin failure on the conditions, the opponent, or yourself. At least, you won't get another chance to redeem yourself and show that it wasn't your shortcomings that failed you, it was superior bowling, something the opponents threw at you that you didn't encounter in your brief preparations. In Test cricket, you see the same players for multiple matches, you develop a feeling for the conditions, standing in a field for five days. And now, the KCA has scheduled two tests in the southeast - so you have the same opponents and the same conditions for ten days. Any failure to heed the dry wicket or pace bowling now is on the batsman. Still, neither team came out with the same patience as before. All twenty-two gave off the feeling that they figured out how to perform well, but actually executing that was beneath them. And so, run totals were a good 100 runs per innings under the first match, even if the XIs and the weather were entirely the same. Even the innings didn't last as long, Northwest Kalactin's 285 in 108 overs the longest by far. Disregarding the apparent nonchalance, mistakes were still hard to come by. No wicket came easy, and both teams knew full well that an extra few runs here or there were worth the risk. Time was never a problem.
The openers were a bit rushed, but weren't punished. It was only when Green and Wood were getting more and more accurate that Twaddle, Igglesden, White were pushed back and forced to play off their back foot more, eventually fending off balls towards Gonzalez and the bowler himself. The relentless bowling at the wicket paid off and they could keep the flow going for a while, eventually taking four wickets with relative ease. yChaegrheodd put a stop to that, figuring that the best way to deal with it was to advance down the pitch a little and hitting the ball straight back over the bowler - where the Kalactanians had nobody waiting. No mid-on or mid-off to stop the ball from rolling into the rope time and time again. Forced to change their tactic, yChaegrheodd held on for a while, eventually reaching all the way down the order to bat with Marsden. With 311 runs total, it was a pretty good exercise. Next came the Kalactanians, hell-bent on getting that first innings lead to put them in a better position, or at least one where they didn't have to relive the first match. They couldn't: Marsden stayed unpredictable and was alright with giving away singles in avoiding fours and sixes. Going for more and more power, the batsmen threw their weight behind the bat a few times too many and were caught out easily by the 'intermediate' fielders. With days remaining, Marsden figured that the only way to get ahead in this match was to build on the run lead. There was no sense in making time tick away. Give the Kalactanians a deficit of 300 and the win is a done deal. As such, the Dragonflies went out there to get a total of 250 (as a minimum), regardless of wickets fallen. A little more careless, but definitely fun to watch. Every middle-order batsmen even recorded a six. Finally, the Kalactanians stared at a 289-run deficit. The fourth innings began. Seven sessions to go.
And still, it came down to the smallest of margins. A wicket about every 30 runs at the start. Powell bailed out his team on a few occasions, getting to 80 runs himself and helping his teammates stabilise to get some more. Griffin and Wood throwing their wickets away too easily, slapping for boundaries but completely forgetting to read the ball. Desperation set in, with the final three on the batting order looking at 250. Marsden saw it happen, too, and knew they'd only need 39 to win. Hard, but doable. The Kalactin tail end has shown resilience before. And with endless time, it was starting to get very plausible. Marsden took up a big part of the work himself. Run-scoring slowed down to a trickle of about 1.5 run per over, or even less. All the batsmen were doing was surviving - but even that comes with a free run every now and again. Extras were becoming a problem. Fifteen runs to go. Ten to go. Five to go... two wickets in hand. Fox stepped up. A dot ball. Not even close. Another dot ball. Getting closer. And then, good length, right on leg stump - Thompson jolted back to protect it - inside edge. Wheelwright collected the ball. Out! Five runs to go, Lopez and Brown to bat. Fourth ball of the innings. Great delivery. Fast, it sped down the track to off stump, where Brown was ready to swing at it... Another edge. Took a bounce before getting to Wheelwright. Opportunity wasted - but the umpire saw something different. His foot was over the crease - that's a free run given away. Four runs to go. Any boundary will do now. Another dot ball. Last ball of the over. Almost a yorker, aiming for the cracks. The seam caught one head-on. It ever so slightly deviated to off-stump, Brown only staring at it, bat at the ready to defend leg and middle stump. A soft tick and the bail fell off. Out again!
Not much time to celebrate... the Plough Islands are coming to add two new chapters to an already long book of one of cricket's most beautiful rivalries.
