Photo Caption: Mallards 1988 at Cochrane Park (dress down Tuesday…)

Back: Dave Welsh, Ian Stone, Shaun Breslin, Ali McKillop, Julian Taylor, Nick Phelps, Martin Bell, Front: Colin Wymer, Phil Holmes, Frank Smith, Ian Morgan.

The records for these six seasons are sparse indeed. The same type of fixtures – against university departments – were played. Mechanical Engineering, with a young Brian Tailor opening the bowling – partnering a bowler so tall that much of his arm appeared above the sightscreen as he released the ball – could always be relied upon to provide a tough match. In 1984 and 1987, Mallards lost to them by a large margin (71 to 72-1 and 69 to 72-0), but in 1985, a famous last-over victory was achieved, 92 to 93-2, with Stone, left on 49 n.o., just missing out on (ever) notching a half century for the team…

In 1987, four of the five fixtures known to have been played were lost. Not only were Mallards tanned by Mechanical Engineering but also took hefty beatings from the Maths Department side, Adders (84-8 to 85-1) and (even) Guinea Pigs, by 89-4 to 22! That score of 22 is Mallard’s lowest pre-2000 score. In the team’s defence, the match was played late in the summer and it batted in near darkness. Fortunately, a new adversay, St Teresa’s, was added to the fixture card that year, and its ineptitude provided us with our solitary victory (57-4 to 53 all out).

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