SCORECARD

Wily old Fitmen team effort overcomes youthful exuberance
With just a 14% chance of precipitation forecasted in Moseley by our very own meteorological doyen Shefali, it was always going to be inevitable that, in this current Mad World, there would be a challenger to the infamous Michael Fish. Arriving early, you would have been welcomed with bright sunshine and clear skies - perfect cricketing weather: however, just as 2020, everything was soon turned upside down: having lost the toss and being asked to bat, the clouds gathered, and the heavens opened. Cue an afternoon of inclement weather and rain delays.
However, it wasn’t all that bad…
It was a makeshift batting order and Mo was enthusiastically partnered by Sharif. The opening partnership began comfortably with the 2 slow bowlers not posing any serious threat. Enter the Dragon: or, in this case, the young lad who nearly single-handedly won the game for the Oppo with both bat and ball. With the added bonus of being a leftie, he began with a quick, swinging delivery to Sharif, which came back in and clipped his off stump. The nerves were further frailed when Mo smashed a long-hop from the same bowler to cover shortly after.
The promising start then got worse as Chas and Ade both fell cheaply. However, the score still continued to tick along with some help from Mr Extras (let’s just say there were a few), which would prove decisive. More importantly it was due to an excellent knock from Mr Stevie (58 off 55) scoring his maiden Fit-Fifty and valuable combinations from the rest of the order Fraz (14); Stuart (28 off 34); skip (16* off 17) and Nutter (2*) ensuring the Fitmen batted out their overs and posted a respectable 205.
With most of the Fitmen having ate their teas during the many rain delays, it was a pretty quick turnaround when it came to our turn to bowl. Fortunately, the weather also turned for the better with the clouds dispersing and late afternoon sunshine greeted the players.
The Oppo clearly relied on their youth to get the bulk of their runs and the 2 openers indeed proved to be quite effective. Did I mention 1 of the openers was the afore-mentioned fiery left-hander? However, Waseem bowled his complete spell from one end; bowled superbly and was finally rewarded with a wicket (8 overs, 2 maidens, 1 for 11). The Oppo were not allowed to get away and the run-rate continued to remain manageable.
With a plethora of bowling resources available skip rotated the bowling not allowing the batters to get too comfortable. It should also here be noted that Stu stepped up to the plate and had donned the keeping gloves for us (another pre-match headache of not having a recognised keeper). Indeed, we conceded very few extras, and this ultimately proved crucial. The one thing standing in the way of a Fit victory was the left-hander who scored a well-deserved 100. The game changing moment was when he was eventually bowled by Ade, who’d bowled his whole spell at the death (7 overs, 2 for 34). He was joined at the death by Mo who also made an instant impact claiming 2 wickets.
With the field spread, the Fitmen put the squeeze on leaving 10 required off the last over. This proved too difficult for the oppo lower order and the Fitmen were eventually able to come out on top and win by 5 runs.
Why do we play cricket? It’s for moments like these, I reckon.