Post date: Jul 17, 2016 7:30:10 AM
On the road again for week 11, the seconds made the trip to Kingskerswell and by not taking the scenic route, actually arrived on time. Unfortunately, the opposition had availability problems with 3 players not turning up and so the start was delayed again. Predictably, Lee Jutson lost the toss and with few options, the South Devon men decided that they would bat in the vain hope that some of their AWOL players would actually turn up. Back to the standard opening pair of Lee Jutson and Tim Shaw, it was quickly clear that it was another mis-match and C&K limped along, at stages losing more wickets than runs. Jutson (3-19) changed the bowling early, bringing the return to the bowlers club of Adam Holliday (3-16) who along with Dave Jopling at the other end, continued the rout of the home side. With numbers still short, the final C&K batsman, R. Abbit limped to the crease, resplendent in new boots optimistically informing the talented youngster at the other end that he 'would just hang around and give up as much of the strike as possible', before Jopling cleaned him up for a duck and brought the C&K innings to an end with only 58 on the board.
Given that it was well before tea, the sides turned straight around and with Charlie Ewen mysteriously already having his pads on, it was he and Corey Holliday that mounted the Briddy reply. C&K rotated the bowling frequently but to little avail as with Corey playing some nice front-foot drives and Ewen clubbing away at the other end, the score climbed quickly. With Ewen predictably caught at mid-on for 23, it was left to Holliday (20 n.o.) and Jack Shaw (8 n.o.) to make it to the line which they safely did without further loss. The game done and dusted, tea was then just about ready and there was plenty of time for many to get back to Briddy to witness a disappointing result for the ones as well as some appalling sportsmanship.
So unfortunately another week of uncompetitive cricket however on the plus side, the game was played in very good spirits with both sides being there for the right reasons. There were plenty of family connections with the Shaw and Holliday family feilding father and son combinations and the Jutson brothers turning out. All the seconds can do is keep winning and hope that the poor league structure does not produce an unfair and anomalous promotion for other clubs due to max points awarded for cry-offs. Watching the ones reaffirmed that it is important to find the right level to play competitive cricket rather than winning at all costs.