SCORECARD

At least we won the toss…

Having lost the last 11 games on the bounce to the Coftonians, with the last victory coming in 2012, Fitskip for the day needed his best xi. When last year’s leading run scorer dropped out at the 11th hour, what was needed was a talented all-rounder to step in. Luckily, Habib of Torquay was available.
It was a dank, dreary bunch who assembled at the Ashfield gates at midday. Despite promises of fabled “Keys to the sweetshop”, a nice thirty minute wait to get in, cheered all and sundry. Back on the sticky dog track next to the astro turf and with conditions screaming to bowl first, Fitmen won the toss and decided to have a bat. Perhaps years of being smashed to all corners by the talented Coftonian top 4 had something to do with the decision. Perhaps the fact Leicester were playing Arsenal in the early kick off was a determinant, we will never know.

All we knew was that out of date bottles of Peroni were on “offer” in the bar and that Gav Hall and Jawad were out in the middle as openers. The first over was an 11 ball affair with 5 wides and a single. Arsenal had a man sent off. All was looking good. Batting was difficult, the outfield grass was long and the first boundary wasn’t struck until the 5th over. Gav was first to fall in the 6th over out caught. Tom C then came in and batted very sensibly. 33-1 after 9 overs, a slow but decent start.
Then it all went very wrong. Jawad out caught in the 10th over, Harris next in, edged a good ball to the ‘keeper out for 2. Marcus in next, lasted 4 balls before being out LBW for a duck. Debutant Harry, had looked very respectable in the nets throughout the winter, but hadn’t yet had the luxury of having a fellow Fitman umpire trigger you for LBW after four balls, looked like a definite inside edge to me. Suddenly, 33-1 was 46-5.

Thank the lord, Habib was in next….As replacement for Mo, a cheeky little rear-guard action was needed. Maybe a steady 20 or so, get through to drinks and then push on for his 50? Not so. Man U were playing Chelsea later, “let’s get this over with”. Push to extra cover (straight to him mind) and off we trot for the slowest of quick singles. He didn’t even make it half way, the little tyke. So now it’s 46-6 after 15. Magic.

Tom C, 27, Martin, 23 and Sharif, 26 all tried to make a game of it and a mini-thrash from Fraz and Mould at the tail gave us an abject 129 all out in the 35th over, probably 80-100 short of anywhere competitive. The Coftonians bowled accurately and fielded really well with only 1 dropped catch.

Tea was up to the normal high standard. Waitrose pork pie and quiche, quality egg mayo and the cake selection was exceptional. Lemon drizzle my personal favourite. Two small suggestions, perhaps a touch of pickle was needed with the cheese sandwiches and where the samosas delivered quality, perhaps the quantity could be worked on? 10 samosa’s for £8 between 22 hungry cricketers, a blatant Gavlar-esque attempt to never be asked to do tea again IMOO….

Coftonians reached the required runs in just 25 overs, justifying the decision to bat first, otherwise we would have probably been chasing 250++. Yes, the pitched and outfield had dried throughout the day but looking at their scorebook, a steady procession of 100’s from the top 4 against all opposition is a weekly occurance.

Harris bowled very well and was unlucky not to get any LBW decisions (8-0-23-0) and Fraz (7-0-36-1) for the second time in a week was excellent. Stu Mould grabbed a wicket at the end, but it was our super sub, Habib who grabbed all the attention in the field. Mrs Tucker said “He’s dressed as a hybrid of a German yodler (bottom half) and Benny from crossroads (top half)”. Once the thermal gloves were donned and his other thumb dislocated palming one through to the boundary, his day’s work was done. Almost…young Habib still had time to hurl down 8 balls, giving it the full Quasimodo action to be smashed for 22 runs and the game was over.

Come back Mo, all is forgiven!!!!