Season Two, Game Five

The One That Got Away (in more ways than one!!!)… 14^th June 2012.

(by James Christensen)

This week we had the rare luxury of having more Roaders wanting to play than spots on the team. What to do then? Our worthy organiser, the big man Rob O’Keeffe, suggested we all just simply turn up and maybe the problem would sort itself. Good idea in theory, because there’s usually a natural attrition rate of Roaders leading up to any given match, as the inevitable pressures of work, life and family take their toll. As it turned out, we all remained available to play, and it’s a fitting testament to the great Greasby Roaders team spirit, that all the blokes who’d had a recent run, after searching their consciences, volunteered to step down and give their rustier team mates a go. Email after email came through, one bloke after another, offering to give up their place for someone else, despite the fact that we all still desperately wanted to play ourselves. No-one, however, could have foreseen the bizarre circumstances which followed…

Match day and there’s still a surplus of Roaders to the tune of one, but it’s Stephen Willet who nobly insists it should be him who sits this one out, as he’d had a run with Nick Corcoran’s Eight4Sport boys just the evening before. Ironically then, we ended up having our skipper and best all rounder not only watching from the sidelines, but fielding for the sodding opposition as well (they being one short)!!!  

   

Undaunted, our openers take to the field and are looking good, when Rob Rennison gets a little too much bottom hand on a shot he’d intended to sail sixty miles over the long on boundary…. And yep, you guessed it, it’s none other than Steve ‘Judas Iscariot The Ringer’ Willet who takes a spectacular catch, in drizzle and swirling wind, to send a hapless Rob back to the pavilion for what had been an encouraging twelve. Now, if ever a catch could have been deliberately fluffed without fear of reproach, it was that one. As it is, if LMS had a classic catches comp, Steve’s would be first place!!! If it had been recorded, it would have been replayed umpteen times in super slow-mo, with Richie Benaud saying, “I haven’t seen a catch like that since the 1964 match in Lahore when…. [Blah blah blah]… catches win matches” and “Oh dear… let’s hope that’s not going to start the rot for the Roaders. They’d have to be demoralised after that…” (Am I making you feel sufficiently guilty yet Steve?) So the WK boys have their first wicket and the tone is set, or is it?

Thankfully, Charles Pickering had chosen this day to compile a 50* that was pure magic and an absolute beauty to behold. I’m sure you’d all agree that a lot of the LMS half tons you see are part mongrel, part luck, but Charles' was elegance personified- cover drives, on drives, off drives, square drives; then later on, pull shots, cuts and some lofted stuff as well. The nice part of Charles’ game is that he never tries to hit the cover off the ball, just beautifully timed caresses which glide to the ropes. Definitely the best innings I've witnessed in the LMS, although, he did have a bit of a mid-innings loss of concentration, hitting one straight down, of all people, Steve Willet's throat. This time though, Steve had the decency to drop it, much to all of our cheers. Knowing Steve- Mr Integrity- there’s no doubting it was a genuine drop… reckon he's the most honourable bugger I know and he’s definitely the one bloke I’d have no qualms in buying a used car from…

The Roaders amass 124/ 3 after their allotted twenty overs, with other notable contributions coming from Joel Hockley (30), Peter Clowes (19*) and Phil Green (12). Well done to Joel, in particular, who struggled with his timing but made the most of an early let off (when the Willows keeper dropped an absolute howler). Hopefully, you’ve now batted yourself into some decent form lad…

124 was always going to be a difficult target to protect, but there were times when we looked the goods and we fancied ourselves right up until the death. In the end, though, it just wasn’t enough runs. WK Willows hit the winning stroke in the sixteenth over of their innings, but not before wickets were claimed by Peter Clowes, Paul Hanks and Graham Wild. And to cap off Charles’ ‘Roader (and for my money Man) of the Match’ performance, he took a smart catch behind the stumps. Well done to Clowesy too for taking on the skippering duties and doing a fine job.

On reflection, a frustrating game and one we felt we could have won. Well, boys, there’s always next time. Keep the faith, that first win can’t be too far away….

(A footnote on the uniform: To my shock and bemusement, I noticed that our shirts are actually red with a white, and not navy blue, flash as stated in my last report. It would appear then that I’m no Llewelyn-Bowen- well maybe Llewely-Bowen with Alzheimers? So our white cricket trousers are indeed the perfect match. Hmmmm, maybe those red caps would be the go after all….) 

http://lastmanstands.spawtz.com/spawtzskin/fixtures/GameDetails.aspx?FixtureId=40049&LeagueId=487&SeasonId=44