Post date: Jul 23, 2017 5:23:24 PM
22nd July 2017
Saturday morning in the Batstone household….’Great its been peeing with rain so I guess we don’t have to do the Teas today……………reeeeesult. Hold on Mich, I am Not sure, lets check the Met Office website. Hmmm….Cant….its down. Yeah but there is no chance you are playing is there? Well apparently Groundo (Charlie Ewen) has already spent a load of time down there and probably knows a bit about the weather, as long as it isn’t raining we should have chance………………………Bugger I had best get to Tescos
12.30 at the ground. Strip looking good but probably a good toss to win and bat.
FFS well done LJ we are batting then. Where’s Clifford? He always likes to turn up and give us a few tips. Oh never mind perhaps he is busy. Where Ian…working, he is gonna be late. So we now have batting order from LJ.
Batstone and Neil to open. Then Buzz. If Ian turns up he is 4. If not then its Charlo. Otherwise its me (IJ) and then if Ian turns up its Bomber, and I will drop back down. The its……………..fags were lit, shoes scuffing the ground and generally nobody was listening……and then Gids you are 11 unless Ian turns up.
So fully unsure of batting order Neilo and Steve stride to the crease…..200 should do it I reckon.
A couple of overs in and Nielo gets mugged by one that stays low and cuts back….1 down.
Buzz joins the fray….’its moving around a bit mate and the Ginge is bowling well from the top end’ Buzz goes back to one that maybe he should have gone forward to and ….there is a noise! Did Corey actually have his finger up before they appealed. It would take a TV slow mo to sort that out, but there we are, 2 down for not many. Batstone and Charlo see off the Ginge opener, and then with all the hard work done Batsone gloves one to the keeper. ‘should I wait for Corey to make the decision….?!?’ Nah I gloved it. Best walk off.
Charlo the has a hoop at a leg side wide only to top edge it to the keeper. We are now looking really sick. Kieran Lee comes and goes for duck and we are 27 for 5. Gonna struggle to win it from here!.
The covers came on and went off twice and the match gets reduced to 39 overs with the time lost.
LJ is next to go and nobody has got into double figures. Ian (yes he did finally turn up and it appears that one of the scenarios played out at the pre innings briefing was that he would bat at 8 apparently) Ian and Bomber then started a small counter attack. Cliffords influence on Bombers batting clearly reaping rewards. Dale eventually goes for 22 (top score of the innings) and Ian tries to keep going with the tail. Eventually Briddy all out for 91 in 27.1 0vers.
Tea was taken between….Michelle and Sue managed to get everything shuffled out on early. Lessons learned from teas – Tuna and Sweetcorn is a bit girly for a cricket tea!
IJ (5.0.17.1)opened the bowling with a stacked offside field courtesy of Charo field setting. Teddies were thrown out of the pram after three balls of being picked off through the leg side. After finally getting a man moved across LJ was slapped in the air straight through the gap in the field just created…..more teddy bear throwing !
Dale (6.2.6.0) continued to bowl well from the top end whilst getting ball by ball instruction from Clifford, who had now turned up. Joppers (4.0.19.1) came on early to see if we could get a wicket. K Lee (3.0.7.0) bowled from the top end with a lot of pace, but perhaps a little rough in respect to direction. Gids (3.0.12.0) had a go but it was apparent that we were done.
LJ tossed the ball around a bit Corey ‘the finger’ Holiday (2.0.12.0). Batstone (2.0.5.1) and C Ewen (4 balls.0.2.0) and the game was over.
We all retired to the White Hart at which point Clifford informed us that he was late because he had the raging trots. He had been ingesting Bisto on the basis that it probably wouldn’t help the problem but would certainly thicken it up!He immediately retired to the pub WC returning and informing us to ‘give it at least 10 minutes’. The pub kindly laid on a few bowls of chips. ‘No Clifford you keep that bowl to yourself mate…no need to pass them around’
So there we are a game was played…well Hatherleigh had a game I suppose. Next week there is a friendly somewhere down Exeter way as there is now a gap in the fixture list now Abbotskerswell (or someone like that ) have dropped out. And we see the return of the mighty Tim Shaw