This week's episode of "In the sheds..." is literally brought to you from in the sheds in the final half hour before the Redbull Campus Cricket grand final against UNSW at the Australian University Games on the Gold Coast:
Open eyes? Nope, too hard. Lift head? Nope, too hard. Remember what happened last night? The hardest of the lot. You slowly rise and are blessed by an unreal view over looking the Surfer’s Paradise beach. The view which stretches longer than the brain can possibly fathom wakes the mind and reminds you of the upcoming day ahead. The way to cope with the repercussions of last night’s activities ranges from of sleep ins, to trips to the beach for a refreshing start to the day or for some in particular (Clark/Pope ((Team Fat Club)) heading to the local Ronald McDonald a rough 6 hours after your last visit.
Off field the week has seen the emergence of numerous bromances most notably the bonds formed by two of SUCCs rarest, Brodie (the Linfield Brawler) Frost and Jim (Carpaccio) Ryan. Thelove-hate relationship between club captain Clark Henry and SUCC director of cricket Gary Whitaker as strong as ever.
All week we have been building towards this day. Monday and Tuesday we disposed of Bond and Griffith with relative ease, posting a mammoth 205 off 18 (after the openers chewed the first two for just 4 runs) in our second pool game. A solid victory over grand final opponents UNSW saw us secure top spot in our pool. Thursday saw us take on Monash, posting a competitive 153 and then restricting them to a miserly 99 runs.
The mood on Friday morning is considerably different to the previous mornings. After standing in the middle of a bomb-site which once resembled the room of a fine establishment, a serious spread of panic kicks when staring down the barrel of some 150 empty Green Grenades with twenty odd minutes left on the clock. The scramble of odd socks shoved into bag pockets, sweat stained shirts crumbled into the depth of kits, the panic of lost phone charger is all the calm before the storm. The storm arrives as the straggles mosey on into the lobby met with 11 different voices screaming “CASE”. That is before the barrage of colourful advice from Gary, which is positively hilarious for everyone else (See BTJ / Joe Kershaw / Wesley Clique on advice on this matter).
We pile onto the bus and immediately Hope and Kershaw get the tunes flowing with banter thrown at some obvious candidates, both Holloways regular targets. The first twenty minutes conversation primarily revolves around reminiscing and chatting about last nights antics, videos and photos and brought out as evidence of questionable behaviour. As we get closer to the ground this chatter slowly dies down as we start to switch on and thing about the task ahead. For some of us, this is our fourth successive AUGs final series without winning the ultimate prize.
We arrive at the ground and the competition sponsors Red Bull quickly organise individual and team photographs to promote the day. The buzz and nervous energy of a final is palpable. Today is also grand final of City V Country Nash game, after a few controversial victories earlier in the week its two all. The good guys (country) score early thanks to some horrific gate keeping from the aforementioned Brodie Frost) and then extended the lead to run out eventual winners 2-0, claiming the serious 3-2.
Benny Trev does what he has done all week, win the toss and bat. The boys have a hit and then 5 minutes before the start of play comes that knock, “boys we are on our way”. Hopey and Jack Holloway confidently stride to the crease andour grand final has begun.
For anyone interested in watching the final, it is being livestreamed via YouTube. Please click this link to check out the action.