An Absolute Shellacking

 Saturday saw me make my league debut for the season, for our third team against powerful opposition in the form of Eastwood. 

I was feeling very optimistic having netted really well on Thursday, bowling at pace at senior first team bats and enjoying my batting despite being given an almighty whack on my arm. As usual, it was completely misplaced. 

Because Eastwood have won their matches this year by bowling out their opposition for nothing and then knocking the runs off in about 20 minutes, we arranged that they should bat first to give our young players more of a game. They have recently rejoined the league after their second team folded, and so were playing way below the standard of which they are capable.

As our captain said, "It's a 40 over game, and I think we will be out there for all 40". He wasn't wrong.

We actually made a good start, with one of our opening bowlers in his first senior season castling one of their openers. However, after that, Eastwood continued to score at least one boundary an over and the score rose quickly. 

It became rather faster when I came on to bowl. What they thought of my new found pace, which decided not to show up, was demonstrated very quickly when my third ball was hammered for 6, a ball that had very little wrong with it. But I was still able to beat the bat with movement off the seam, although one short ball an over would inevitably smacked to the boundary. 

As usual, things went to hell in over number 5, where I dropped the first three balls short and went for 12. I suspect that at my age, this was my body telling me something was about to give, although I then bowled three scorchers, two of which were edged along the ground through the vacant slip corden while the other swung and bounced and beat the bat. However, this was the time my left achilles got strained.

I signalled to the captain to take me off with the traditional throat slitting gesture. Not that he wasn't going to take me off anyway. 

So ankle and confidence knackered, I resolved to field as well as I could, but as ever when I have a bad day bowling, it went to pot as well as their opener helped himself to 150. Apart from when I somehow managed to cleanly field a hard hit ball out to the boundary, my body just didn't do what I wanted it to in relation to the ball. 

Luckily our younger players aren't rubbish, nor was our captain who skillfully exploited a dead spot on the wicket to take 6 for 56, his best bowling for over 5 years. Our young opening bowler also came back to bowl really well at the end, which was a real positive. 

However they still made 286 for 9, a total which we were never going to get in a trillion years, let alone a million. Their bowling was just way too sharp and too accurate. Our opener did a very good job and our young players batted time well, but there was so little opportunity to score boundaries as there were virtually no bad balls. 

Languishing at number 11, I did get to bat, against their fastest bowler and thanks to net practice I actually had no problem defending against him and even scored my first run of the season. However my partner was bowled before I could score us 250 in 6 overs to win us the game. 

Ah well. A positive day for some, but not for me. However, next weekend I will take part in our first 4th XI match, gammy leg and all, and hopefully be able to do a bit better. 

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 06.06.21

Look at these Saddlebags!

 I'm amazed this hard working buff tailed bumblebee was even able to get off the ground carrying this much shopping!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 05.06.21

The Snake and the Dragonfly

 I've got a lot of steps in this weekend, Friday saw my bimbling out to Winthorpe Lake of which more later - there wasn't a lot to see to be honest - and today took me out to Hawton and Farndon, two nearby villages which are both very attractive.

The house at valrerian corner is a highlight for me at Hawton, although there were no hummingbird hawk moths as I've sometimes seen here, and the pastures around Farndon are painted yellow with buttercups at the moment.

But today saw a couple of really exciting firsts for me.

The first came on the road halfway between Hawton and Farndon. Whenever I cross a stream of water, I always take a look down on the off chance of seeing a fish, or perhaps a little egret on the hunt, but when I looked down into a small beck, I saw stunned to see a sinuous black shape swimming along.

For a split second I thought it might be an eel, then spotted a head with a collar of gold around the neck. It was of course a grass snake, swimming along happy as larry before slithering out when it came across a branch in the water.

I was too shocked to even reach for my phone to take a picture.

It's the first snake I've ever seen in the wild.

I know we get grass snakes in the area, I've seen photos, but never thought I'd be lucky enough to see one myself. What a find!

Slightly less dramatically but no less interesting, I encountered a 4 spotted chaser dragonfly on a tree near Fanrdon Ponds. This was my first dragonfly of the year, and the first of this species I've managed to photograph, although it took about 20 attempts to get one in focus!

All in all, 20,000 very worthwhile steps today!

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 31.05.21

My Best Ever Bee Photo

 The capture of the heavily laden flying bee below is probably the best photo of a bee I've ever taken, and it was completely by accident!

I was photographing it nectaring, when suddenly it took off. It ended up at the other end of the frame from where I was pointing my mobile phone so how the shot was in such good focus I have no idea!

I hope you like it.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 29.05.21

Just a Single Shot...

 Was walking in the old oak wood at Sconce and Devon Park when I came across this beautiful lady.

A female orange tip upon cow parsley.

Pictures speak louder than words today. 

Or even "picture".

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 26.05.21

Better than Last Week Anyway

 So, Sunday saw us taking on Travellers with our "Sunday Legends" side, well Legends apart from me anyway. 

I was in a bit of a hurry to get to the game as I'd been unsuccessfully hunting for my white long sleeved base layer, it was that cold. Thus I was in a bit of a tizzy and walked onto the field of play with a black undertop on, which made me look very village, and also my cycling helmet, which made me look very village idiot.

We were fielding first, so no chance of a relaxing first couple of of hours walking around the ground taking photographs. We were straight out there, with me fielding in the Jonty Rhodes position at point, which would be great if I could field a thousandth as well as him.

As it happened I was feeling pretty good, and was able to field sharply and energetically, not that anything really difficult came my why. It may not sound much, but it is important for me to field well, it seems to give me more confidence for my bowling later on. 

Indeed I had to do quite a lot of fielding initially, and to get praise for what I was doing was rather helpful. Even though my throwing in from the boundary is terrible; my throwing arm being so gone it would be quicker to call a taxi to get the ball to the wicket keeper.

Travellers, as it turned out, had some good batters if thankfully not on the standard of Woodborough last week, and it took us a long time to make a breakthrough. But when it came, it happened quickly, as our opening bat took three quick wickets with his medium pace stuff. 

At the other end one of our very young bowlers was taking wickets too, using the shock tactic of aiming beamers at the batsman's head before cleaning them up with a length ball. Our catching was good as well.

I came on to bowl in the 20th over, nervous I'd be rubbish again. But as it turned out, I was good, if luckless apart from the one bad ball I bowled that was smacked into a hawthorn tree 100 yards away. I beat the bat, had edges go through the vacant slip cordon, and shaved the stumps several times for no reward. 

Typically all the action at the other end, where my fellow Sunday specialist went through Travellers lower order like a dose of salts to take 4 for 7.

That's the way cricket goes! Although there was a comedy tun out off my last ball. I ended with 5 overs for 24, with most of those runs in singles as the field was pushed back on the boundary as I was bowling the death overs again. We had bowled them out for 133.

So, batting time. Although not for me as I was back down the order in my rightful place. As it was so wretchedly cold I ended up spending a lot of time walking around, and as we started safely but rather steadily, there didn't seem to be any need to panic. It was so chilly however that outside of the cricket there wasn't a whole lot to see.

However, panic mode seemed to set in, as the opponent's canny medium pacer suddenly took a hat trick to devastate our middle order and leave us 5 down for not many. 

However, our opening bat and our skipper now settled in, and began to take the game away from the Travellers, who weren't helped by having a couple of fielders who made me look like Usain Bolt when it came to mobility. They gradually reduced the deficit down, until our opener sportingly retired at 50 and his son went in with us needing 25 off 5 or so.

This is when the skipper took control. The young chap was never going to monster the big hits, so his job was to keep the ball out and run like hell to try and keep the skipper on strike. No doubt the sight of me padded up waiting to come in helped focus their thoughts, as I knew I'd struggled to score against the fast bowlers who were on at the time.

Luckily the skipper is in a rich vein of form, and he saw up home. With a ball to spare!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 24.05.21

Yellow Legs and a Small Heath

 I have another interesting pair of finds for you from our work campus, one of them a first timer on campus, the other a completely brand new species!

The new kid on the block was a tiny small heath butterfly. This is a dead giveaway that the sun is shining, because they never fly unless it is bright, and they never fly more than about a metre above the ground. They are very difficult to photograph however, as they spook very easily - it took ten minutes of chasing this one around a patch of grassland before it let me get anywhere near enough to take a photograph.

The brand new species for me was a yellow legged mining bee. It makes sense that they are around, because we have plenty of nomad cuckoo bees at work and this is the species they parasitise. The yellow hairs on the leg made it easy to recognise, especially as I'd seen a picture of one on twitter the day before!

All the anxiety of Indian variants. I have a month to go before my second shot.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCRackeredNature 21.05.21