Saturday 14th June 2008

We played Canada. Possibly not the strongest opposition we will ever face. I won the toss, and on what looked like a good batting wicket, with short boundaries, I decided we’d bat. I also felt fitter than I have for some time (I’ve been dieting hard for a couple of weeks now, and am starting to lose some weight) and so decided I would open the batting myself.

My first 50 runs came up quite quickly.

Our first wicket fell with the score on 117, when Carol was given out LBW.

CB didn’t seem comfortable, and was out when the score had reached 143.

The next over saw me achieve my first century this season.

Christopher was caught out going for a six on the short boundary: 167-3.

My 150 was the next landmark.

Steg was caught when the score had reached 253-4.

My 200 came up at the same time as our score passed 300. With Richard’s assistance I reached 250 the over before he achieved 50.

We batted nicely in tandem, my 300:

Being followed closely by his century:

Two balls later Richard pushed our score to over 500, and I gave him permission to keep the strike, and go for a slog. A series of sixes saw his score leap to 156 before he was finally caught. 573-5.

Ivy seemed to be dreaming as she played – perhaps she thought she was on holiday. Certainly a lack of concentration on her part saw me run out with only a few overs of our innings left – I was a little disappointed, as I was hoping for a not out to help my batting average – still, I suppose my score of 330 may boost my figures anyway. 578-6

Ivy’s daydream continued, and saw her run out too. 604-7

MinCat was bowled: 608-8.

Phil scored quickly, and our 40 overs ended with our score on 625-8.

I must admit I went for a lie-down during the tea interval, so I am unable to comment about the quality of the catering. I understand, though, that the scones (with a choice of raspberry or strawberry jam and clotted cream) were very nice.

With a target which I thought we could defend, I promised everyone a chance to bowl – with the proviso that I would bowl my overs first, so that I could then go out into the deep and have a snooze.

Needing to score fast, I think the Canadian batsmen saw my gentle spin bowling as an opportunity to slog – and so perhaps played a little rashly, as the first wicket fell to me. And the second. And the third. And the fourth. And the fifth. And the sixth. And the seventh (a hat-trick). And the eighth. And the ninth. Oh, and the final wicket too.

We won by a mere 613 runs.

In the bar afterwards there was much heated debate about who should be given the man of the match award. Modesty forbids me from commenting, but I will note that this is my highest score with the bat (to date) and I suspect these will be my best bowling figures ever (well, I can’t quite see how I could improve on them, other than getting the wickets in slightly less overs).