The Greasby Roaders v The SCC
First of all, our thoughts go out to the skipper Paul - last week's unfortunate blow right on the apex of his kneecap whilst keeping wicket (you know, the one that resulted in a unison of team laughter) is apparently a little more serious than we initially thought - so much so that a trip to the Arrowe Park Xray department was required over the weekend. I am pleased to report no breaks or cracks but he is in a lot of pain still. Mate, you are sorely missed (pardon the pun), especially at the crease where the 4 deliveries you have so far faced in total during the 3 innings you have batted in have resulted in 1 golden duck stumping, 1 near torn anterior cruciate knee ligament injury from a mis-timed dive, 1 brand new pad ripped down one side and 1 hit wicket due to inability to move leg out of the way because of a ruptured hamstring - priceless! We wish you well in your recovery and a speedy return to the team - the laughs just haven't been the same without you there mate!
Back to the cricket and last weeks postponed game against The Philarmonic had given us a chance for a practice session on the village green in Thornton Hough to 'hone' our batting, bowling and fielding skills and this was followed up by a team tactics talk over a couple of beers in the Seven Stars - both highly enjoyable and rewarding endeavours!
Thus, as we arrived for our match against The SCC, spirits and confidence where probably slightly higher than expected considering our 0 out of 3 opening losing streak.
The SCC had arrived early to the ground and were practicing feverishly in the nets - not a good sign - and they decided to bat 1st on a beautiful summer's evening. They will have seen our stats on the LMS webiste and no doubt were all geared up for a big total against the league's whipping boys...
...but little did they know about Rob and Nick's secret meeting the previous night in the Greave Dunning - armed with beer mats for wickets, bits of crisps for players and the back of a couple of losing raffle tickets for note-taking, the final plans for fielding placings, bowling changes and batting line-ups were being drawn up... and to some success as a pumped up Greasby Roaders side made early inroads as a thickish outside edge squirted off towards Stephen in the gully position for a good catch and an early wicket. What followed next was a bit of a mixed bag - at one end, their other opening batsman was thumping the ball all over the place and making his way to a well deserved 50, but at the other end a succesion of batsman came to the crease and were quickly dispatched back to the clubhouse by an inspired spell of bowling by Rob - it seems that being given the captaincy for the evening had transcended Rob to a higher level as he bowled superbly for his 4 overs, taking 4 wickets and conceding only 10 runs! With our tails up, the fielding was sharper as well, and with only a few overs remaining and their last 2 batsmen at the crease, a shot was hoisted into the air towards the mid-off area. In steamed the fielder, shielding his eyes from the glare of the lowering sun... but hang-on, their opening batsman who automatically retired when he reached 50 is waiting to return to the crease if need be... do we really want to take this final wicket and allow said batsman back to the crease to belt the ball around some more??... Phil - a magnet in previous matches for difficult catching chances - is the man standing at mid-off... it's ok Phil, you don't need to catch it, you don't need to catch it, you don't need to catc... and he's CAUGHT IT, typical! It's high fives all round as Phil's demons from previous weeks are vanquished and he stuggles to hide his emotions. Even better for Phil - his wife and kids have come to watch the game, they are stood at the boundary and YES THEY SAW IT - instant hero status, well played fella!
A late flurry of runs from the The SCC but at 20 overs, after a fine bowling and fielding display, they were 110-7 with 4 wickets for Rob, and a wicket apiece for James, Charles and Stephen.
A quick change round and our opening batsmen are making their way to the crease. Fresh from his 4 wicket haul, Rob is thinking of a quick 50 and the man of the match award is surely his?... but no, bowled for 3 runs. Bryan comes in to join Charles at the other end and the 2 of them score quickly. Alas, too quickly and a classic example of the double play rule - ball turned round the corner from Bry, a shout of yes from somewhere, batsmen cross as the catch is taken and its too late, the ball is already heading towards the non-striking end and the bails are whipped off - both of them goners. Nick is already padded up, but Peter is suddenly scrambling around for gear - he's dug out the old school pads from the loft but they are circa 1980's, hence pre-velcro, and so its a labourious task to buckle up all 6 ties! But, eventually Nick and Peter make it to the crease. The score is 19-3. Not a time to panic though , there are plenty of overs and we only need 111 in total to win. Thus ensues about 10 overs of exceptionally risk-free batting and much of the scoring is done from wides, 1 run for the 1st in each over, and 3 for each subsequent wide in the same over! Hardly rivetting stuff to watch but effective nonetheless and after 12 overs the score had moved on to 68-3. But a rush of blood to Nick's head as he pulls a full toss towards the mid wicket boundary for a rare boundary?.. only for the ball to be plucked out of the air with a cool 1 handed catch. Believe it or not, it was actually filmed on video:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRMbbyFEwPU
(I'd like to think it was the catch @ 0:15 but in reality it was more like the one @ 0:21)
Peter carried on accumulating runs and for a moment it looked like he and Stephen might carry us over before Stephen was himself caught and the odds shifted back towards the SCC, escpecially with a tricky batting strip where the ball just wasn't coming on to the bat very well coupled with some tighter bowling towards the end of the innings making it difficult for the lower order batsmen to polish off those final runs and eventually we were all out for 103. 7 runs short, but ever improving and surely not too far off our 1st victory!Spirits undampened, it was a couple of beers at the bar before retiring to the Irby Mill for a few more outdoor beers and a cheeseboard - not a bad way to spend a Thursday evening
| The Greasby Roaders vs The SCC |
| Date: Thu 23 Jun 2011 |
| Batted First: The SCC |
| The SCC Score: 110 for 7 after 20.0 |
| The Greasby Roaders Score: 103 for 8 after 20.0 |
| The SCC won by 7 runs |
Game stats:-
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