COMETH THE HOUR...

By Chris Straw, 30/06/02: When the invitations went out for the 1992 European football championships in Sweden, Denmark - having failed to qualify - were sunning themsleves on the beach. But then situation in the former Yugoslavia saw them hastily reinstated and, defying the odds, the plucky Danes went on to lift the trophy.

Similarly, when the OLCC selectors published their chosen 12 for the Brewers Cup game against the Old Edmundians, Michael Thomas was probably loafing about at home, reading the Sunday Sport and working out what flavour Pringles he was going to munch his way through next.

But cometh the hour, cometh the man.

A raft of withdrawals (including namesake Jason) resulted in frantic last-minute phone calls around the country from the selectors, and more by accident than by design, Thomas found himself with a trip to Hertfordshire to fill his Sunday instead of the World Cup final. Little could he know that it would be his stirring innings that would mean the drama in Yokohama was topped by a scare in Ware.

Thomas had seen a little of the action in the field - he was required to bowl five balls to complete the injured Jon Shingles' over, then a further over when it was mistakenly believed that it was needed. He had made a few decent returns from the boundary, but at the same time had unfortunately misfielded and given away a four. How he would redeem himself.

The OLCC fielding was generally of a decent standard, with the players doing their best throughout to support the bowlers, who contained the opposition without really getting through the batting order. Julian Shackel and Phil Samuels were accurate as usual, Paul Newell Price made life difficult the batsmen coming off a short run, while Jon Shingles and Richard Newell Price did their best to restrict the hosts' attacking threat. 251 was seen as a competitive target, but one that could be overhauled by a decent batting line-up.

As so often before, the wheels slowly started to come off the OLCC reply as the Edmunidan bowlers kept an admirable line and length. Tom Gillmor's flourish, Charles Allan's belligerence and Rahul Sharma's lonely vigil were all ended by the impressive Dowling as the visitors' top order fell away.

Hopes turned to the partnership of Paul Newell Price and Oliver Ash, who had been so devastating in accumulating 239 against the Old Bloxhamists last year, but there was to be no repeat. Both batsmen were back in the pavilion for less than 20 as the collapse gathered pace.

Bit by bit the game slipped away - and although Jonny Shingles put together a defiant and at times inspired 46, his departure looked to have brought the curtain down on another OLCC Brewers Cup disaster.

No-one counted on big, beefy Thomas and his sharp-witted sidekick Shackel, who wrested control of the game back to the OLCC as quickly as it had been lost. Thomas combined powerhouse hitting with an eye for the gap in the field and a judicious ability to block the good ball, while Shackel made light of the opposition's decision to move the fielders up, smiting the ball back past them with aplomb - most notably one delicious cover drive that impudently rolled into the pavilion steps and was as good as any shot played on the day.

Crucially, the Old Edmundians bowled out their four front line bowlers in the first 44 overs, leaving their back-up men to try and hold back Thomas, who by now was thoroughly enjoying himself.

But that paled in comparison to the enjoyment he brought the OLCC players and followers when he, with the end in sight, he brought up a magnificent century with his 17th four. It was Shackel, who had bowled the game's first ball some eight hours earlier, to strike the winning boundary and spark unprecendented scenes of jubilation.

The two arrived back at the pavilion to a heroes' welcome, and no-one was more deserving of the acclamation than Thomas, whose efforts quite rightly earned him a place in OLCC and Brewers Cup history.

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