Angels in the Moonlight

As the dregs of hurricane Irene swept around outside, I gazed out of my office window wondering if the cricket would be on.

'It's our last match tonight,' I said quietly.

'Oh,' my colleague replied, not averting her eyes away from the computer screen, 'that's nice.'

'It's against South North - they're really good and their ground is like Lords - we'll get thrashed,' I continued.

'Uh-huh,' said my colleague again, tapping away at the keyboard, and smiling kindly.

'It's been a fab season.'

'Good.'

'Do you want to see our video?'

My colleague glanced at her watch then declared how late she was for a meeting, before leaving me alone with my tummy butterflies. No-one at work understands...

By 5pm, there were no texts to say that South North had been swept away in a flood or blown away by the wind or destroyed in a fire. Our last game of the season was on.

South North batted first. The evening sunshine was bright, the shadows were long and the wind swirled around this beautiful pitch. South North doesn't have nettles for boundaries, it has ropes. The grass isn't covered in worms and mud heaps - it has drainage holes all over it, and it is manicured to perfection. They have clean changing rooms and toilets where you can have a wee in the confidence that you won't be locked in for an hour. It is lovely.

BUT

South North had NO spectators and no soul. No marauding kids digging holes, having fights, climbing trees or getting married. No radgie husbands, fathers or sons yelling from the clubhouse, no dogs, no frogs, no midges, no NOWT.

It was earily quiet as we walked out to field - our own band of loyal supporters were tucked away inside - out of the cold.

Chloe and Jen opened the bowling, and within the first few minutes, Chloe had bowled out their danger player, who stands at 8 feet tall. 'Chloe and Goliath.' She whopped us around the ground last year...but not this time! It gave us all a lift, and we started to believe that maybe...just maybe....

More wickets tumbled as Chloe took another and Super Looper Sewell added another scalp to her season's haul.

And then Kerry's big moment arrived. The batsman scuffed the ball high into the air. It seemed to hang there for an hour as Kerry set herself to take the catch. We held our breath and waited. There was a squeal. For a moment we thought she'd dropped it. But it was a squeal of delight! What a catch!

Cheryl and Sandra's bowling was as accurate as ever and they were unlucky not to get a wicket. Sandra chucked the ball to Jen to see if she could wreak any havoc with the tail end of South North's batting line-up. Super Looper Sewell did not disappoint!

She got 2 wickets in a row to get South North all out for 64. One of these was a catch - coolly taken by Catching Chomse! Tremendous!

Next season, Jen will be on a hat-trick ball! What a performance by our our young bowlers!

By now, the moon had appeared, and it was getting dusky.

As Sally and I strolled out to face - we made a plan. We often make plans as we trundle out there to the crease. We say things like - 'Right, lets shout today,' or 'I'll try not to run you out,' or 'I'm scared, are you?'

Today's plan was simple, and sensible. 'Survive the first 8 overs, then get slogging Sal - we can DO this!'

Their first 8 overs were tricky - one bowler was turning the ball like Swanny and the other was hoying it down like Jimmy Anderson. I defended, swished, swatted and missed everything that wasn't heading for the stumps - Sally played calmly, sensibly and confidently. We ran like hell on the byes and we actually made calls like 'No,' 'Yes' and even 'Wait!'

After surviving 8 overs, we decided to start going for it. I continued to swish, swat and miss - trying my best to see the ball in the darkness (I need to go to Specsavers!) but Sally was unstoppable - whacking 4 x 4's in a row in one over and having some well-deserved fun out there. Our supporters were now braving the cold, trying to pick us out in the moonlight and cheering when they saw 2 little people in white running down the wicket.

With only 6 needed for the win, Sally was bowled for a fantastic 35 runs. It was down to the blind old bat and young Chloe to try and get the runs needed for a memorable win.

We did it. It was brilliant. A total team performance. Smiles all round. A wonderful feeling...

I'm back to work on Tuesday. I imagine the conversation will go something like this -

'We beat South North.'

'Oh?'

'It was amazing.'

'Good.'

Then I'll gaze out of the window, watch the leaves turn brown, wave the butterflies goodbye and smile to myself, longing for the summer to come back soon...