It's a bowler's pitch.................

Thursday night cricket is back, and our first game was against The Footballer's Cricket Club. News had filtered through that qualification requirements for FCC had been tightened this year, to exclude all one legged people, born on a Tuesday morning, in a leap year; but eventually Piglet had his eclectic team ready for the off at 6pm. More than can be said for Moreton, who took to the field minus Sam Smith, who could be heard shouting "Sorry" from about a mile away as he was driven here at a leisurely pace.
Jonny opened the bowling and immediately took out Chris Lewis' stumps with a straight one; the perfect start ! Bus Pass Lewis Snr, showed more resolve & steadied the ship for FCC. Kaz & Westy bowled well & deserved their wickets. Dave T tried to get off the mark with an Al Qaeda style run to Jonny at mid off, who looked up in disbelief, started laughing at the infidel, but still managed to shovel the ball near enough to the stumps for Sam to run him out. Sammy bowled well too, and apologised even better. Simon had a good over, delivering balls with a volcanic ash coating out of the sun to bamboozle the footballers. It was left to their 2 pros, Piglet & Colin to save their day, scoring 54 out of their total of 77, from 16 overs. Only 1 dropped catch I think Oli- but it was a tough one. Rib crunching dives from Tim, are being regretted as I type.

Still 78 to win off 16 overs should have been a walk in the rec, as they say..........

Ed & Tim opened the batting, boasting nearly 4 metres & approaching 100 years between them- a frightening sight for the oppo ! Ed, despite not having played for a while, showed that his Eton education was worth every penny, with some classic drives, and witty repartee. Tim also looked in good form, and we were coasting along at 29-0 when the Captain demanded more from the touchlines. Ed responded by getting out, Charlie came in, peeling off the wrapper from a new piece of timber; sparkling, virgin, totally unblemished, reflecting brightly in the late evening sun. He returned 35 seconds later to the pavilion with bat condition unchanged; the first duck of the season, and a chance for Jonny to get out his "Duck hat " or as I think Claire Balding would call it, a fascinator. Photos were taken of the victim, but, in the meantime Spuz had succumbed to Thompy's 3rd ball, to give him a hatrick, and the quickest "pass" of the fascinator you could imagine. Would Jonny's camera have enough film for the evening ? Wickets continued to fall regularly, and despite Tim & Kaz hitting 6's to encourage the home team, we never really recovered. Capt Yaxley, out off an unlucky deflection, summed up our evening. Spuz gratefully passed the duck to Sam, who retained it thanks to Simon scrambling a single, before discovering 44 yards was too much for him.
Wot, no mention of Bomber I hear you ask ? Surely a game cannot have passed without Bomber registering a mention ? Well, actually Bomber kept wicket well, finished not out on 8, and paid his tab, so he would have been awarded "man of the match" if it weren't for Rule 4 subsection 6 which states that Bomber should never be given praise, trophies, awards, or sweets for anything achieved on the cricket field. Oh, but he is eligible for the Duck Hat.

Look forward to next week- Sam don't forget the DH- we're fielding first..............