Not for the First Time, Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

So at last, I got a game of proper league cricket, although I forgot to arrange a lift and found myself wandering around our Kelham Road home like 14 stone of Bambi until a fellow traveller could be persuaded to go and kindly pick me up.

So today I played for the third team at our current home at Norwood Park with its cute Pavilion and unfeasibly bouncy wicket, and very wet ground after the showers this morning. I only had 10 minutes to get changed into my slighter tighter than last year whites and get ready to field laboriously as I hadn't had a chance to do any warm ups.

Not sure that would make much of a difference to be honest.

So we bowled first, and bowled and bowled and bowled without taking a wicket, despite our young quick bowler bowling so quick he got his one per over warning for bowling bouncers. Our first four bowlers all bowled really well - I was the fourth - and had no luck as the Ellerslie openers dug in for nearly 30 overs.

On a personal l level I had 3 edges go through the slips, a catch dropped, and beat the outside edge so many times I felt like I was bowling at a bat made out of neutrinos, neutrinos that mysteriously turned into solid matter when I bowled one on the stumps.

However, having softened up the opposition, I was allowed by my captain to have a rest so he could take some wickets, and after a 40 overs that seemed to go by very quickly, we restricted Ellerslie to 105 for 5.

I then got to wave my arms around when we batted, as I went out to umpire and signalled 4s and things while we made a good start against a young lad determined to knock heads off. Not so happily, I gave my first ever out single when our most dependable opener nicked a top edge, and then the wickets started falling, and unlucky injuries started happening.

We still needed about 20 when I got out there at number 9, after my captain telling me I was good enough to do this I felt very nervous, despite trying to feel otherwise. After a shaky start I cracked a rather good 4, but that it didn't help as I committed my perpetual problem of lunging at the ball too early and too hard and knocking up a dolly catch, while laser eyes of disapproval burned my back.

We lost, after having actually played better than Ellerslie in most facets of the game. I've been feeling rather narked about my own performance since, but oh well, another game tomorrow.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 18.05.19

2018 Cricket Season in Review

Sorry nature lovers, this is a piece aimed at my cricketing colleagues, who all love reading about themselves when my cricket blogs come out on Saturday and Sunday evenings, hoping I've said something nice about them.

This year I've played 9 times for the 3rd Team, 7 times for the 2nds, once for the 1sts, and then 10 times for the Sunday 1sts. I took 27 wickets at 19.26, including 16 at 13.00 for the 3rd Team which got me an award which I've very proud of.

The less said about my bowling for the 2nd Team the better...

Nicest Ground

Both the Manor Ground at Thurgarton, and Norwood Park are beautiful and incredibly photogenic. We had stunning weather as well when I played at those grounds. Newstead Abby has stunning surroundings, but the cricket ground itself is bobbins and surrounded by holly so fetching a ball hit for 4 or 6 resulted in laceration on a major scale

Worst Ground

The City Hospital ground where we played Basford Mill was a sunburnt horror with a terror wicket and "smoking" opponents. The tea could have walked out of there on its own, with a special mention to the whole melons we were provided with no means of cutting.

Best Away Tea

Toss up between Keyworth 3rds and Calverton 2nds. One does not expect to find pulled pork at a cricket tea.

Best Innings

I was privileged to play with 3 century makers, but the best innings was Sean G. scoring 82 against Basford Mill against fast bowling on a wicket where the ball could have taken your head off at any moment. He smacked it everywhere, and when they brought on the fast bowlers to bowl at 13 year old Jacob P., he smashed them as well.

Best Catch

George took a deflected blinder off my bowling at Keyworth 2nds. Leapt like a salmon. A salmon with hands.

Best Bowling

Modesty Si, modesty... but probably Jack E's second spell against Bingham 2. We let him down losing that game.

Biggest choke

Me batting against Bingham 2 in a tight game. I lost my head completely, I just didn't know what to do. I felt utterly rubbish

Best Meat Raffle

Against Walesby at their ground, after the Country and Western Singer...

Here's to the 2019 season!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 31.12.2018

Time for a Shotgun Marriage

We had no official game today; instead the third teamers and some juniors not yet playing adult cricket on Saturdays took ourselves off to Sir John Starkey's ground at Southwell to play "an exhibition match."

Actually it was an intra club friendly played in a lovely setting, and a chance to enjoy a pressure free game of cricket, although as ever I still got nervous when I bowled and batted.

The two teams, picked by one of our cricketing families, were evenly matched but not even; we should have had the stronger  bowling attack, they the stronger batting.

Batting first, we had an ok start but we never really took real control of the innings. Batting down the order, but not at the usual submarine depths on a Saturday, I had a chance to explore the ground.

Built on the wealth of fruit growing - this is where the Bramley Apple was brought into being  and indeed the first tree still stands in the town - the facility now acts as a wedding venue and fed up with my life I went into the little wedding gazebo and married myself, or something.

Didn't bring our batting any acceleration but I  liked the flowers.

I did get out to bat today, and managed to score 16 not out and see us to 144 for 7 off 32 overs. It seemed like it might be enough at an excellent tea time.

It wasn't. The guy who scored 149 not out smacked my first ball for 4, and his girlfriend decided she was going to be better than him. My line was good, but length was a bit variable and despite getting some bounce, didn't do very well. Neither did the rest of us really, apart from an excellent spell by a ten year old who will be a superb bowler in years to come.

But it a lovely day. Shame my body ached so much at the end of it.

Si

A Hot Day of Record Breaking

I was in action for the 3rd team today, playing at beautiful Norwood Park against the rather mouthfully Beeston and Toton Sycamore 3s today, always known as "BaTS" for short.

To practice, I went outside at twilight last night to look for bats, but I didn't see any. This made me worried. I needn't have been.

It has been gorgeous all day, and I think everyone knew it was a day to bat. Everyone except the BaTS skipper, who remembering our batting flakiness on seasons past, decided to put us in. Even our skipper, who hardly ever wants to bat first, would have wielded the willow today.

BaTS had plenty of time to repent, as our opener went in with a confident air to take strike to the first ball of the match, delivered by BaTS well known veteran nagging medium pacer.

37 overs later he retired not out on 192, the highest ever score in the history of the club. He hit 21 fours and 9 sixes, some of which would have cleared the ropes on county grounds, they were so huge. I batted with him for a short time, although not as short as our skipper who was out first ball, and watching deliveries being sent into orbit over your head was quite something.

I had my own record as well, scoring 23 down the order (second top score, lol) and being last man out as we made 279, the highest ever score for the third team.

With the match safe, the skipper entrusted the bowling to our juniors, who again rolled through the opposition as we bowled them out for 73. I got in at the end to knock over the tailenders to take 2 for 8, although my radar was off and my standard inswinger was veering down leg and I ended up having to bowl outswingers they couldn't get a bat on. I did find a couple of quickish straight ones to knock over the stumps though.

All the while a wedding was going on at the manor house next to the ground, so we had music and dancing and photos going on while we played. I kept giving peace signs in the background.

I also hope the bride had just started walking down the aisle when a cry of "WIDE" came from the match.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 19.05.18

Muck Raking - The Cricket Season Fails to Begin

Today should have been my first match of the new season, a 20:20 intra club knockabout at our new temporary home of Norwood Park Southwell, owned by Sir John Starkey, a dynasty famous for their fruit production, and preservation of the original Bramley Apple tree.

However, the conditions of the ground  - rather boglike in places after the rain - meant that nice as it would have been to play in what you will see is a quaint and attractive setting, we decided to set to with renovating the pavilion and clearing the large ground of grass cuttings.

I decided immediately that involving myself in the carpentry activities would have resulted in  me either nailing my hands to the decking or sawing my fingers off, I decided that raking and removal of grass would be my task. There was certainly rather a lot of it, and initially my rake was so poor I just ended up  digging up earthworms, rather than moving any of your actual grass around. It was also so short it gave me backache.

I thought of pulling size and age on one of our junior helpers with a better rake, but in the end I was able to get a better tool and together we made a good job of clearing the ground. Around 15 of us worked the outfield while 3 sorted out the pavilion. The chairman himself busied himself with "executive supervision".

We were rewarded with an excellent tea spread halfway through.

I was rather alarmed to see a large pond within what looked like a very hittable distance from the wicket. I figured that my bowling would end up in there at some point, and I'm not sure that the energetic Sir John's information that only the South African and Nottinghamshire cricketing legend Clive Rice had done this reassured me.

I'm a record breaker in all the worst ways.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 29.04.18