So, BMCC v Norwich Puffins – who, fortunately, have some decent covers, as heavy rain in the morning threatened to call the whole match off; we were disturbed by showers during the afternoon. I gather only one other match was completed, as you will see from the league table which is posted below.
I won the toss, and decided we’d bat. Sadly we lost an early wicket, when Richard attempted to drive the ball, but hit it instead straight to square leg: 4-1.
Tom’s was the next wicket to fall, after he and Vicus had pushed the score on to a healthy: 55-2.
Vicus and I scored a few quick runs, before he was bowled: 75-3.
Medusa again edged the ball consistently (I really think we’ll have to club together to get her a new bat) and was eventually caught by the slips: 97-4.
The next few overs saw some quick running by Jona and I, before a careless stroke led to your captain being bowled: 130-5.
Jona moved on to the side’s second highest score, before clipping the ball to gulley: 150-6.
Frangelita was looking very confident at the wicket – perhaps overconfident, as she was bowled: 176-7.
Carol had been playing her usual extravagant (albeit short) innings; she was also bowled: 178-8.
MinCat and Phil pushed our score towards the psychologically crucial 200 mark, before Min was given out LBW: 196-9.
I hurriedly instructed Lisa to block, and allow Phil to take the score as high as he could – she at least followed orders, being not out – Phil was bowled as our score reached: 199-10.
Tea was OK, although there did seem to be a suspiciously large amount of fish. My team talk stressed that tight bowling and fielding would be needed, if we were to get them all out for less than 200.
The first wicket fell when Frangelita took an athletic catch in the slips off my bowling: 23-1.
A couple of overs later, I bowled their number 3: 33-2.
After another few overs we switched to our second pair, Carol getting a wicket with her third ball, edged to Lisa in the slips: 41-3.
Runs were piling up, and I was about to switch the bowling when Vicus was lofted to the boundary, where a surprised Jona held a catch: 107-5.
She was so excited that I decided to let her have a bowl – with me at the other end.
We didn’t achieve anything, so I then tried Tom and Phil – Tom getting a wicket, clean bowled: 107-5.
With runs piling up, I brought back our second pair, Vicus getting an LBW: 139-6.
We had only four more wickets to take, and sixty runs to play with. Our position looked sound, and jolly wisecracks rang around the wicket. Twenty minutes later, having tried various bowling combinations, things suddenly looked bleak – they had reached 183, and we still hadn’t taken another wicket. Giving myself a quick talking-to, I refocused my aim, and took the first hat-trick of my career: Richard taking a catch: 185-7.
LBW: 185-8.
Bowled: 185-9.
The last pair, however, continued to knock off the runs, and things had reached a perilous stage when one of them struck a loose ball from Vicus hard to gulley’s right; an instinctive hand shot out and I held the catch which enabled us to win the match by one run: 198-10.
The league table is, as I mentioned above, printed below. As you will see, we are in fourth place (out of ten teams) – not bad for a fresh side. I really hope, however, that we can do better in the next nine weeks. Promotion is a realistic proposition if we all pull together.
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