Match Report
Tuesday 6 August –v- Greenwich Leisure at Sutcliffe Park
With the stage well and truly set and the ball in our court and all other sporting metaphors covered, we set out to do ourselves justice against arguably the best of the remaining sides. The skip, somewhat out of character called correctly and elected to bat; despite a dodgy track, knowing our strength lay in defending a total.
Mark and Glen gave us a firm base, putting on fifty for the first wicket, before Mark was caught and bowled at the end of the eighth over. Ably supported by Daz, Glen began to take the attack to task and the pair added a further 41 runs in quick time before Daz fell to the pace of danger bowler Bryce. Glen maintained the impetus up to the penultimate over until he was well caught chasing a wide ball. Neil and Steve L stayed together to the close and a final total of 130-3. Defence of our total depended largely on our ability to field efficiently and contain the imminent threat of Delroy Donegal. Mysteriously Delroy did not emerge until we had removed the openers, which gave Darth and Fats the opportunity to restrict the run rate. The arrival of DD at the wicket put, the onus on our bowlers to deprive him of as much of the strike as we could. Fine spells from Daz and B'stard (despite being. heaved for a couple of sixes) pushed the asking rate ever higher and produced the fall of three wickets which further pressured the incoming batsmen. Spud and Glen, despite having the odd ball punished, bowled tightly enough to continue spiralling the required rate, until Greenwich needed 50 from the last 4 overs. The fall of three more wickets, one a superb catch from Lardy Wilsdon, pushed Leisure to the brink of being bowled out and left Glen the straightforward task of conceding fewer than 23 in the final over. As the result was put beyond doubt an increasing level of clucking could be heard in the outfield and amid cries of 'lock em up' filled the air. Victory was taken in our usual nonchalant manner with time taken to commiserate with the oppo.
After a lot of pecking in the showers we adjourned to the bar to await our oppo for a sociable drink. They didnt show up! Let’s hope there are no sour grapes. To add to the jollity of the evening we learnt of the demise of the Lairy Posties and that are opponents in the final would be Brook Hospital.
Pen Pics
Darkie -Batted responsibly and was a constant threat in-the field.
Limp -Star of the day -made a ridiculous attempt at a catch on the boundary;87 the second highest individual score in the RW.
Danglers -Bowled all over the shop by Bryce but returned the compliment.
Very Fat -Added ballast to the innings and looked solid behind the stumps. Took two catches but the umpire wasn’t looking.
Sumo - Added further bulk to the side -useful to have if the oppo turn nasty.
Spudkins -Marshalled his troops and remained fairly cool throughout despite getting carted by DD
Silly Hair -Did not get the chance to show his obvious lack of ability.
Slug -Dropped a catch and looked predictably sluggish
L.S.D. -Coped with the pressure of being asked to bowl -Rumoured to be wimping out of yet another final.
Old -Reliable once more with the ball -maintained line and length despite getting some clobber
Slightly Fat -Two wickets and a catch that was nearly athletic until we realised that it was Chris
