United Cricket Club (Counties Manukau) Incorporated

Cricket is a summer game. If summer starts having winter-like conditions, Its Just Not Cricket! Gloomy weather & overcast skies are fine, light showers are tolerable, but heavy downpour is simply not acceptable - Its Not Cricket (in other words, there can't be any cricket). This was precisely the story of the Discount Panel & Paint Marauders' second-leg match against Weymouth at Mountfort Park.
United batted first in gloomy weather with skipper Mike Bongard (9) and Homi Mistry (31) providing a healthy start, adding 44 for the first wicket in 8 overs at 5.5 runs per over before Bongo's sweetly-timed shot behind square on the on side managed to find the only fielder manning the area. AJ Stewart (27) & Homi then took the score to 84 from 15 overs before Homi miscued one off the ever-so-accurate Rupinder for the wicket-keeper to gladly accept the high catch. Amid some quality bowling by pacey Rupinder & offie Weymouth skipper Sunny, Dave Bradshaw (12) & AJ Stewart added 28 runs in the next 9 overs and took the score to 112/3. With the run-rate down to 4.66 and after consuming an over to get his eye in, new man Deepak Bhakoo (9) decided to take on the bowlers and struck a couple of lofted boundaries in his quest to lift the run-rate before being castled by a slower one in Amit's first over to make it 124/4 from 27 overs. AJ perished in the next over, unable to keep his on-side shot off Sunny down and was gobbled up by the square leg. Amit grabbed a wicket apiece in his next two overs, getting Harish Verma (3) caught behind and going through the bat-pad-gap offered by Priyankit Bangia (3) to make it 135/7 from 31 overs. With a few top-order batsmen out of form, the Marauders' sinking boat has often been resurrected by all-rounder Adam Dunn this season and more often than not, he has dug-in to ensure that the team plays out the allocated overs. He started doing exactly that in the company of  Graham "Freightman" Johnson (6) and took the score to 152/7 from 35 overs amid light drizzle. The first ball of the 36th over saw Freightman's stumps uprooted by a Sep delivery and brought-in wicketkeeper Sukhpal Singh to the crease, who just managed to face one ball before the light drizzle took the form of heavy showers, ending the United innings pre-maturely at 152/8 from 35.2 overs. 
The rain interruption brought the calculators out and Weymouth were set a target of 165 from 38 overs. With slippery run-ups in mind, United skipper Mike Bongard opted to open with Harish "Harry" Verma & Graham Johnson instead of the regular opening pair of Michael Chapman & Adam Dunn due to their relatively shorter run-ups. Harry, bowling at a good pace, induced three edges in the two overs that he bowled, but unfortunately saw one of them go just over the keeper's outstretched hands, one between the slip fielders and one that went to Homi's hands being floored despite the fielder's best effort due to the sheer pace & a few micro-seconds' reaction time. Graham Johnson, bowling a superb line & length as usual, was denied a couple of wickets by some atrocious umpiring as a plumb "lbw" appeal against James was ruled out and then, a mighty edge off Amit's bat that was taken by keeper Sukhpal saw the batsman getting upset at himself, swinging his bat in disgust while taking-off towards the pavilion, only to be ruled not out by umpire Isaac. The gap between bat & pad was so huge, the edge off the bat was so thick and its sound so loud and clear that it prompted the next batsman to start walking in, only to be halted by the erring u"N"pire. A couple of balls later, the unlucky bowler induced the batsman into an uppish on-drive. Harry, fielding at mid-on dived forward to take the catch & seemed to be in control, but the wet ball ala a soap cake by then, managed to slip out of his generally safe hands. At the end of the over, the 4th of the innings, heavy rain prompted the play to be finally called-off with Weymouth on 25/0, leaving the two teams to share the points. Its Not Cricket!!!