Wield vs Presidents XII, Sunday 26th June
Weather – Hotter than hell's pyjamas
Match summary – A Wonderful day with a positive result
I arrived at 1 as the pre-match lunch was in full swing, the aforementioned 1.30 start was nowhere to be scene as we amazingly fielded first for the 30th year in a row!!!!! As we saunted down the hill the temperature had reached 30 degrees and we seemed less than enthused for the battle.
David and Dougie opened the bowling and the heat increased (temperature wise and not in the 'Fire in Babylon' way)
Dougie, wearing 3 jumpers and bowling pace (OMFG!!!!!) proceeded to rack up the byes as David's new ball pace also confounded Max but not the batsmen!!!
Sporting what can only be described as a cricket ball size lump on his shin (a relic of a game 3 weeks previous) David had taken to wearing a shin pad to protect it, this cunning plan was going swimmingly until he tried to stop a ball with his instep. A quick inspection at tea revealed a blackened foot but little sympathy (use your hands!!!!!)
As is usual the Presidents batting line up was very bottom heavy, so 2 or 3 early wickets gave us unrealistic thoughts of a quick finish and a cold beer.
As the better batsmen started to appear the score increased as did the heat and the dropped catches (as usual), one stunning piece of fielding from Guy resulted in a fantastic run out and a groin strain for our only fit player!!!! Jack was summoned as a replacement fielder and his first words were 'do I get to bat'!!!!
Yorkie got a couple of wickets and Philip was dismissed rather more often than was necessary. In a strange move Yorkie brought me on for my 2nd and probably last spell of the season, finishing it on 1/16......my 1 over only being rescued by Dougie hanging on to a skier at cow corner!!!!
Finally the President XI put us out of our misery and declared on 170/8 which was not a moment too soon as heatstroke and another over from yours truly was about to rear it's ugly head!!!!
Yet more stunning food at tea and it was time for our reply!!!
Johnny and I marched down the hill with thoughts of glory and that cold beer. The bowling was fast up the hill and pants down the hill, I parked myself down the hill and thankfully received more food of the pie variety whilst watching Johnny struggle at the other end.
In a slight lapse of concentration I got to the wrong end just in time to watch Johnny get bowled by the piemaster! If anyone has seen Johnny bat you will know that extra cover was not worried as he played the shot!!!!!
The long awaited return of "The Simeon"!!! lasted a few overs before the heat got the better of him and he lobbed one straight in the air. MH-T came and went before I was joined by Dougie. Douglas was in a bright and breezy mood (nothing to do with drinking all day!!) and tried to flog every ball to Bradley, the inevitable occurred soon enough as one mow to many brought the umpires dreaded digit. The only saving grace was MH-T was not on the field at the time!!!!
I scorched past my 50 (out of 74) mainly thanks to the piemaster and actually received a warm round of applause (must have been the beer) only to get above myself and try to smash one to cow corner!!! I was so early on the shot that the leg bail ended up in my front pad!!!
Yorkie smacked one straight to extra cover and we were in trouble!
Jack got his wish and arrived at the crease just as I was telling the opposition to bowl normally at him, after Jack square cut the first ball for 3 it was game on. Jack danced down the wicket to their left arm spinner and lofted him over the top. The next much quicker ball was met with the sledge of 'you didn't hit that over the top did you', a much slower ball was met with more dancing feet, a defensive shot and cries of 'well played'.
This strange mix of sledging/praising continued for several overs culminating with the opposition trying to give Jack a single so they could bowl at Max, now that's funny!!!!!!
Jack finally got a leading edge and was replaced by 'The Legend', with Max and Philip needing to survive 13 balls everyone packed up and prepared to head to The Yew Tree.
Max survived the penultimate over and it was all down to Geddes Snr!!! With the windscreen wiper in full operation each ball was somehow repelled until the final ball of the match which was speared down the legside, with howls of wide from the bowler and a shake of the head from the umpire (me) we had clung onto a unlikely but deserved draw!!!
In the words of Haircut 100, A fantastic day with great opposition and absolutely stunning food provided by Nicola.....A great day!!!
Tony
