As usual I lost the toss and we soon found ourselves bowling - I don't mind this as it means I can eat a big tea - which meant 2 and a half hours fielding on a hot day against a team of players who on Saturdays play at least 10 divisions above most of us.
I think they thought they were onto an easy one with us, they came out swinging and after my first over was taken for three boundaries, their skipper was so annoyed when I got him out a little later that he threw his bat into a hedge. More bat throwing followed later when I bowled their star batsman (whom in my initial researches I thought was a woman because of their name) with a beautiful inswinger for 11.
We took regular wickets - most gratifyingly with our juniors to the fore - after that until progress was stilled by a couple of big hitters targeting the bowling green - and hitting it too - on the short straight boundary. I managed to get one of them caught behind, then we had some direct hit run outs as well, more great stuff from our younger players, leading to more bat throwing. 229-8 they got, a good effort by a team of low division players.
Tea! Love my teas!
The batting was another story. We had some irritated the opposition by not allowing them to score the 340 we overheard they were expecting, and they took it out on us by sending in their fastest bowlers, the quickest I have encountered all year - to bowl at our 13 and 14 year old batsmen. Luckily my Saturday skipper, who they said was "shit" scored a few boundaries through the simple exponent of hitting with his eyes closed, and their rather mouthy fast bowler who cleaned me up second ball had the ball smashed into him by one of our tailenders, who got his best ever score today, much to their irritation.
They were hard players to be fair, and that's why they've won every division they've played in on Sundays. But I think they played us a bit too hard, although they appreciated our junior efforts. We were clearly never going to be any kind of threat.
Perhaps it was karma we forgot to pay for tea.
Si
All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 18.06.17
No change there then. Successful teams of weekend cricketers still composed largely of sulky, spoilt individuals who think they're Chris Gayle or Ben Stokes - but without the humility.
ReplyDeleteMore pictures of the cricket teas needed!
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't the greatest tea ever!
ReplyDelete