A team of social cricketers have been surprised by the intensity of their new teammates.
Marto’s Mashers play in the C Grade South Queensland 50 over competition, where the emphasis is on having fun than mates and getting on the piss rather than winning premierships.
Though that changed when a new teammate joined (Simon).
“Simon’s intensity shocked us from the start,” said team captain Marto. “He quickly started giving us tips on how to fix our dodgy actions and barely-there batting techniques.”
“At first we were a bit scared of him as he was very intense in the field and expected everyone to live up to his standard. We even considered asking him to leave as he cricket was becoming too serious and we were scared of making mistakes and copping his wrath.”
But a session on the beers after one game cleared things up.
“We got smashed – again – and he hid the esky while he gave us both barrels, ripping into our poor catching and lack of enthusiasm in the field. One of the boys had had a gutful and asked him why he bothered playing in our s****y league if he wanted to win so bad and that most of the boys were terrified of him.”
“I told the boys that I had played my share of high-level cricket, but injuries had caught up and I didn’t have the time to commit to proper club cricket,” said Simon. “I was planning to go easy, but the instincts kicked in and my competitiveness took over. I didn’t realise I’d come off as so intense. I was just doing what I’ve done for the last 20 years.”
With fences mended, Simon agreed to tone down the intensity, as long as everyone promised to try their best, and offered to help anyone who asked for help on their batting, bowling, or fielding.
And it worked, with Marto’s Mashers squeezing into sixth in a six team finals series and going on a run to the grand final. While they lost the grand final, Simon was pleased they made an effort.
“That’s all I wanted,” said Simon, “For the boys to actually try! And we nearly won a premiership!”
“You know what, winning was actually fun! And the beer tastes so much better afterwards!” said Marto.
The Gurgler presents stories of the Park Cricketer, where we explore the lower reaches of the great game of cricket from the suburban ovals and rural grounds across Australia.
