Fixtures & Results
Long Whatton - Sunday 1st May 2011
Match report by Smudger
So, the final season began with a trip to Long Whatton with the assembled players looking suitably prepared for the season ahead, which roughly translates to everyone arriving at the ground on time. There was much discussion and filling in forms for the spot fixing challenge, although captain for the day Crossy considered the whole thing to be a travesty of the game and refused to enter the competition, instead choosing to go out to the middle and negotiate us having first bat, which he duly achieved, possibly without a coin being tossed in anger.
So Ady and Jamie padded up on a sunny but windy day but what looked like a true and even surface at the start, with four players on the opposition side wearing some form of headgear, in case you are interested, was soon displaying some uneven bounce, with the low shooter requiring particular attention. Jamie was first to depart, caught and bowled, after an opening stand of 29, in case you are interested, and it was quickly two wickets in two balls when a tall, thin, left handed makeshift number three missed a straight one with his bat but middled it with his right foot, umpire Bennett raising a wry smile just before raising his finger. Guest player John faired little better and we were soon 30 for three with Crossy striding out to the middle. He and Ady did a super rescue job though, putting on 103 in 25 overs, Crossy in particular finding the boundary on a regular occasion. He eventually departed for 62 and Ady for 72 but limited wagging from the tail, particularly from last over, dot ball, I thought there was another over chaps, specialist Brown Dawg Senior, left us with a total of 169 for eight, in case you are interested.
Tea was taken with four different varieties of cake available, in case you are interested, and we headed into the field, watched by six supporters, in case you are interested, to defend our total.
It was a left arm opening combination with Faizal and Brown Dawg Junior opening the bowling and, after his first ball nightmare here two seasons ago, Rich got a wicket with his first ball and soon picked up another with a smart caught and bowled to finish with two for 18. Benno came on and bowled a tidy spell, also claiming two wickets but some strong acceleration from their numbers five and six, combined with some indifferent bowling and fielding from ourselves, saw them home with over four overs to spare. Kev declined Crossy’s offer of a bowl, claiming he had pulled a muscle although it looked like all he had pulled was the wool over Crossy’s eyes as he didn’t fancy being tonked to all parts like the rest of us were towards the end.
So a defeat but nice to be back in the swing of things playing some cricket and enjoying a beer and a natter after the game.