Crowmarsh – Defeat

Its that time of year again….when the Derek Shorter memorial trophy goes up for grabs….and we get slaughtered!
The pitch hadn’t improved from last year and as one witty member of the team noted it resembled a rice pudding. So when honorary captain Tweeky won the toss and decided to FIELD we were all bemused but donned our whites and decided his distinguished cricketing brain must know best…
As usual Stewie “angel” Bullpitt and James “Moobs” Opened the bowling and started well, with the first five overs going for only 11. However it took till the ninth over for the first wicket to fall. It came off Angel’s bowling and after the batsman had been splaying the ball around in the air for a few overs and was lucky not to be caught previously, but Ian “Toups” Rollinson was unlucky at Square Leg. However, this time the ball was spooned back over Stewie’s head and I managed to scramble round from mid on and take the catch (which earned me Champagne moment…even though i dropped one later)
The next period was fairly slow, with the Crowmarsh batsmen doing well to keep the scoreboard ticking over and fending off the good balls, so it had to wait for a change of bowling and a drinks break to bring the next wicket. LongDog came on and took over from Moobs who wasnt having much luck he clean bowled their number 3 with the first ball after the drinks break (which had been extended as said batsman had been locked in the changing room whilst getting his fags!) This was a good wicked for the team as he was out for 11, and has been known to score centuries against us, and apparently has an average of about 130!!
After LongDog’s wicket the other Wooloff was keen to get in on the action, and took the next wicket with a neat caught and bowled, who had been scoring well to get 25. Meanwhile their opener was scoring well on the way to a tidy 58, before the Captain came on to bowl for another wonder spell. his first over went for 5 runs, but the second was a triple wicket maiden!!!!! (don’t worry he bought a jug for hat-trick avoidance), he ended up with figures of 4-1-20-4, which got him man of the match for our side! Also the catchers for Tweeky’s wickets were Longdog, Stewie, Toups and POD.
The end of the innings was also of note, with the penultimate over (from Carlos) going for 19! which let the opposition get to a slightly generous 167-6, but we still had some confidence…before we saw the pitch again….
Bowling Figures
Angel 7-3-13-1
Moobs 5-0-22-0
LongDog 7-1-20-1
Peachy 7-1-41-0
Carlos 5-0-44-1
Tweeky 4-1-20-4
The openers for the day were Chief and Toups (now relegated from “Viagra” status after some good bragging about a weekend with the missus) But there wasn’t a great deal to say about our batting display. With the two openers going for 7 between them (all to Toups) before Raffles came in, but only managed 17 as was the deteriorating quality of the pitch. Carl was given LBW to a slightly dodgy decision, but the umpire was crap…we wont ask him back again…..haha. Even the notorious LongDog could only manage 12, before nudging the scoreboard with his knee on the way back to the dressing room. The most notable batsman of the day was Moobs who top-scored for us with 21 off 19 balls. But after that me and Stewie were out for 7 between us and Peachy was the “not out” for the day! meaning we were all out for 93.
All in all we were disappointed and all will agree with me and blame the pitch, as it did get a lot worse as the game went on.
So Crowmarsh retain the trophy, and got man of the match for their opener with 58! They only received 2 and a half teapots out of five (mostly for the sausage rolls and the fair selection of cake) but got a 4 out of 5 for the newly introduced shower rating, which were clean and warm!
Pigs ear was close, but Tweeky fended off close competition from the Chief ( who had no luck what-so-ever with catching or the bat) for the idea of letting the other side bat on a pitch that was about to implode. However, he redeemed himself to get MOTM for his bowling. I got the Champers for my catch, which was deemed better then Toups’s (the only other serious competition)
Better luck next week lads, we’re at home so cant blame the pitch!