The Other Kind of Wildlife

 Saturday's cricket adventure took us out to play Trent Bridge CC, a new league club for this year, at the tank trap wicket at Farnborough Road Rec. 

Situated atop a Table Mountain like plateau, the wicket is well known to us as one of the worst in the county, and it already looked like nothing had changed before some of the local characters had ridden across it on moto-cross bikes while we got ready. 

Indeed, it seemed to be quite the Saturday meeting place for young families to get their young toddlers to go helmet-less quad biking around the park. Luckily they left the playing area alone when we got started, although we had some walkthroughs from local teenagers who gave us a mouthful when we respectfully asked them to get off the field. 

Our opposition was always going to be a mismatch, containing as it did several players who had moved from other clubs that played at a high standard, including a wicket keeper who played for Attenborough 2s last year, probably about ten divisions higher than us. Thus their decision to put us into bat, a mix of oldsters and 13 year olds playing their first league game, seemed an odd one. It basically prevented us getting anything out of the game for our young bowlers.

Perhaps they were worried about being run over by a three year old on a quad bike. 

Predictably, we were shot out for 43 on a wicket which alternated between bouncing shoulder high and ankle high, particularly at the end which the moto cross bikes had ridden over. I was pleased to score one run and bat for a few overs though. 

They then knocked the runs off in five overs, so no need for me to turn my arm over, although I dropped a stinging catch which I tried to go for one handed as my body got confused as to what to do. 

After the sun came out and began to scorch the earth after a freezing start, we left to take in some proper cricket at Burton Joyce with the first team, before going back home to watch the seconds. 

That was a lot of cricket for one day. 

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 19.05.25