Bogside Cricket

 Saturday saw us take the relatively short hop up the road to play Lowdham seconds, with our third team as of yet the only one of our league sides to have won a match in league cricket this season. 

Hopes were high, with a decent team taking to the field, more or less, and with decent weather expected I was expecting a productive day on a personal level, having bowled well last weekend and also in the nets on Thursday. 

Forlorn expectations, as usual.

As is custom with our third team captain - yes, still the same one as when I started blogging these games ten or so years ago - we bowled first. Events started slowly, as I watched from my standard round the corner ball never goes there fielding position, which given the small ground was practically on the boundary. Our debutant opening bowler, bowling in black trainers and matching shades, soon knocked over the stumps however, followed shortly by our Keele Captain bowling from the other end, 

There then followed a partnership by a couple of the Lowdham batters which consisted entirely of hacking through the line and getting lucky, with the ball going in the air plenty of times and either not going to hand, or being dropped. 

A couple went into the trees, and another went over a hedge onto the road. 

At 108 for 2 at drinks after 20 overs, things were looking rather grim, but we stuck at it, catches started being taken, stumps were shattered and our mood improved tremendously. 

While all this was going on, I was sailing from backward square leg to fine leg and back again like a reasonably un-majestic old schooner. The nautical metaphor is not misplaced, for Lowdham suffers from flooding as badly as we do, and parts of the outfield were like a swamp. One rare time that the ball headed my way, I took off after it and suddenly found myself nearly ankle deep in Lowdham's finest mud and had to watch as the ball gently bumped over the boundary. 

My cricket career summed up effortlessly, while I had to watch things like our opening bat take an absolute screamer in the deep, although he later told me that if he hadn't it would have knocked his teeth out. 

So, after thirty overs, it turned out that we had bowled them out for 154, with Keele Captain taking four wickets and the Man of Blidworth three. A fine effort after drinks. 

Told at tea time I could be promoted in the batting order as I hadn't bowled - up to number nine - I then set off to umpire forever as usual, and got to watch a fine opening stand of 52. Rather too closely at one point, as I only just got out of the way of a blistering straight drive that would have put me in hospital if it had hit me. 

So, we were going well albeit against bowling that was straight if nothing else, but we were going rather too slowly. It took the arrival of our number three to get us back on track with some big six hitting, although the bowler concerned was hardly Dennis Lillee, being about four foot high. 

So we progressed well for a time, but then there was another tumble of wickets, one of which involved a fairly sustained bit of bat and glove throwing - I sympathised - and resulted in me having to pad up with about 40 still needed in 6 overs or so. 

The terrifying site of me in my pads, bat in hand, next to the boundary rope was the key point in our victory, as it forced our captain into going on the attack and getting the runs quick to save the team from me in person. And that's exactly what he did, and that what got us over the line with a couple of overs to spare for a fine victory. 

One I had no chance of spoiling. 

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 26.05.24