One Day, Two Games of Cricket

We knew the weather forecast today was going to be dreadful, and indeed when me and my fellows in the third team arrived to play Gedling and Sherwood at another biggish complex near the National Watersports Centre, prospects didn't look good.

It was tipping it down, basically.

Our skipper, who was perhaps more concerned with going for a drive in his flash new BMW 320 while pumping out music of an urban variety - perhaps even taking me and a couple of team mates to a "Booty Bounce" as I believe these events are called - was hoping the game would be called off, but as soon as we got into our whites and threw the ball around a bit, he was as keen as any of us, and we did get a game going an hour late.

I opened the bowling, as seems to be what happens these days, and lo and behold, I took a wicket with my first ball! Batsman just lobbed a perfectly average delivery to one of our best young bowlers. I was so surprised I forgot to run round like a maniac as if I'd just got Sachin Tendulkar off.

The same thing happened a few balls later!

Luckily we had other good bowlers too, and after keeping our opponents down to 119-9 off 36, we thought we were in with a big chance. However, it had started raining, and when we went off after 20 minutes of fielding in a downpour and a muddy pitch, we knew that was it.

The ground seemed to be popular with swifts heading out of the city for a feed on the insects drawn to the nearby river Trent, never seen Swifts over a cricket ground before.

The sun came out as we drove home, the skipper deciding that "Saturday Night" by Whigfield was good driving music, and found our first team arguing with their opponents, who didn't want to go back out to finish a game they looked like losing. Well, they were rather chubby and unathletic, I don't blame them.

But on a lovely sunny evening, lose they did!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 20.05.17