Tony Caesar at The Millenium Cricket Ground
Swampy's DIY job buries the Moles...

The hosts to the Fitmen tour made the journey from Hereford to the tropical MCG and were rewarded with a hot afternoon collecting the ball from the boundary.

It's always a pleasure to welcome a side whose 'warm up routine' is similar to ours, and after making a dent in the beer budget the teams eventually struggled on with the game some 20 minutes after the scheduled start time.

A typical shaky starter belied what was to come as the main course as a Fitmen leg-end began his weekend swan-song prior to retirement to The Duchy. Ably supported by Jewitt, Swampy showed us what we'd been missing this last 20 years. At 80-4, The Moles must have fancied their chances of a modest run chase. Marsh held the innings together and was well set when he was joined by the 'club pro', but in distinct danger of being left high and dry on his final appearance.

The 'stump shatterer' metamorphosed into an all-rounder and produced a faultless century partnership. making the most of a hot and increasingly tired field. An unbeaten 93 for the long serving all-rounder and a half-century for Jewitt in a chanceless 20 overs took the Old Mo to a daunting 224.

Buoyed by Mother Sihdava's pakora at tea, the Fitmen fairly skipped onto the pitch. The sabotage was complete as the 'on loan' Prof stayed on script to occupy the crease and the game was strangled as the required rate mounted. Defiant batting late on was admired but the target was way beyond The Moles by then. Wickets fell regularly but The Fitmen total ensured that the result was beyond doubt.

Moles retained some pride by ensuring they were not bowled out, and the final act was appropriately down to Marsh as he bagged a couple of wickets to seal his day.

The West Country beckons for the long serving all-rounder who played for the club back in the league days at Kings Heath Park. Apart from a brief spell of the treachery in the mid 1990s (when he lost his marbles and turned out for the Village for a season), Swampy's pessimism will be much missed by his fellow Fitmen. Always one to look on the dark side, even he was unable to predict a defeat at tea in this one!