The scene was set for the inaugural Cairns Fudge Cup and the much anticipated day of cricket, banter and booze was upon us…well…nearly…as we were all seemingly peaking with 12 hours still to go before the first ball was scheduled to be bowled!

“Heads” was the call by Howells…and it was good…1-1 for the day so far and back to even-stevens. The Dynamos call was to field first… “a big mistake on such a good track” was definitely picked out as the hot chat from the girls outside the pavilion.

Rick ‘the power’ Lancaster strode out to the middle confidently to join Correal. A couple of promising strokes of his mighty willow impressed early on but Lancaster was soon heading the wrong way and The Spitfires were reeling at 2 for 2. This brought Andy Small to the crease and the heat was turned up (especially in Guy Hatfield’s trousers as he was gloriously crashed for four through the covers).

At the other end, the squeeze was on from both the bowlers and Jimmy Ray behind the stumps, somehow mustering up some energy to chirp, and Correal fell trying to hit Alan Clarke out the ground. This brought Mr Small senior to the crease…could a wise old head hold everything together?

Cudahy was joined by Barney Guest and both started looking good. Thoughts of the ship being steering to a half decent total was on everyone’s mind. Cudahy sadly departed, bowled by Milne for 14, but had shown a glimpse of what he could do.

Phil White joined Guest and the score was driven onwards and upwards. With a huge help from the extras column, the score moved into triple figures…but the price was soon to be 9 wickets down as both Guest and White missed out after some accurate bowling from Jamie Clarke.

Jimmy ‘James Race’ and Sean Graham took their guards and, with wind behind, Jensen was off. A good tight start and Race was finding it hard to penetrate the covers and hold in his lunch. A couple of boundaries followed until he steered one to Guest at point off a good length Jensen bowl. That was the last we saw of Jimmy for a while due to his disappearing act…the pressure was obviously too much for him to handle!

Jamie Clarke marched onto the scene and looked good against the quicks of White and Jensen early on. The gas men were rested and Tom Small (Jnr), an unknown quantity until then, was dropped into the mix….pandemonium followed. At 16 for 1 Graham and Clarke looked uncomfortable against Small Jnr’s looping off-spin and after a few tight few balls, Clarke got frustrated and tried to hit out, exposing his off stump which was pegged back with a slightly quicker delivery.
Graham was next go and he got a good one from Small Jnr, with the ball squeezing through bat and pad and rolling back onto the stumps…they were under the cosh. Next to come was the much talked about Jeremy Green, but Small Jnr had other plans and Green was back in the pavilion after one ball having not troubled the scorers.

HATRICK BALL…but who was up to facing it?

The mighty Simon Weaver stepped up…could he handle it? Did he need a new pair of pants? Were his guns firing?......Small Jnr jogged in…there were fielders all round the bat…not a whisper could be heard from the crowd…the pressure was on. The ball was released…thththththtththththththttht (that’s meant to be the sound of the ball fizzing through the air!)…one bounce and solidly met by bat and pad – well done Simon…but that was only the first ball. Turmoil had been created and the Spitfires were not about to let up there with Small Jnr and now Nick Cudahy (possibly the find of the day) into the fray.

The Dynamos were now reeling at 25-5 and the phase ‘dropping like flies’ sprung to everyone’s minds. However, this brought the captain Daf Howells into the mix and along with Drew Milne, a spectator so far at the other end, had their work cut out with restoring some calm to proceedings as well as pushing the total onwards.

Cudahy peppered both batsman and an uncomfortable, nail biting few over were endured…this was the make or break for both sides…who would emerge stronger?
Howells and Milne inched their way along and at 85 for 5 started to score more freely. White and Jensen came back into the attack but the pair remained solid. Small and Small and Small were all bowling or wicket keeping or chirping or fielding but even they couldn’t break through. 100 for 5 was reached with screams from the crowd as Cudahy was back in the attack and really pacing in.

The Spitfires were becoming desperate. Drew finally fell off the late introduction of John Small Snr, caught behind by Andy Small for a fine 41…but it looked like it was just too late for the Spitfires as the score was now 116 for 6 off 31 overs. 10 to get off 4 overs might have been a big ask at the beginning of the day but Howells and Guy Hatfield knocked off the winning runs to seal a fine and very memorable victory for The Dynamos, with Daf finishing on an unbeaten 36.