SCORECARD

Fitmen mauled by Lions
The percentage chance when flipping a coin is surely 50/50?
So how can we have lost the toss in 90% of the last 10 games?

Yes, Jonesy's silly heads call in deepest darkest Gloucestershire apart, fickle fate has flummoxed the Fitmen this season.
When it was 35 degrees, of course the oppo' put us into field and wilt in the heat. On a lovely September afternoon when it has rained in the morning, on a green top with the forecast for drying lovely sun later....you guessed it, toss lost (heads) and we were asked to bat 1st.
The new ball swung, seamed and with variable bounce, what a treat for Ade and Harry to face a decent opening attack.
Both hit their respective 1st balls for a boundary (Martin finally reaching his 5000th Fit run), but Harry was bowled by a lovely cutter and Ade played a bad shot, annoyed at have a 50 strike rate.

The very talented Hashim joined in-form Waseem at the crease and thanks to this pair, at least a half competitive score was achieved.
Hashim with an elegant 54 off 67, timed 10 delightful boundaries. Waseem was in full blooded, take no prisoners mood with a bombastic 60 off just 44 balls. 9 4's and 2 maximums, a brilliant effort only to be spoiled by running himself out from the non-strikers end when a century was certainly on the cards. A 115 partnership was a superb effort from these two, especially in such tricky conditions.
147 for 3 after 23 overs and 240 looked on the cards.

Alas, just 12 overs later and the Fitmen were all out for 193.
Sharood 4 for 26 and the Lions skipper 3 for 17 ripped out the middle order and tail with some excellent bowling.
Perhaps a touch more conservatism was the order of the day, but no one made it to double figures with 4 being caught and 3 bowled. The Lions didn't drop a thing and fielded really well.Special mention to Dee for launching his 1st Fit6 into the car park. Not a special mention for being bowled next ball!

Chip butties were served and devoured with a range of condiments.
The Caroliner reaper sauce did it's best to upset the Lions, with their skipper saying he couldn't feel his ears at one point, but fair play to them, taking it in their stride.

An early wicket from Waseem clean bowling an opener and it was looking good. However, anything short was clubbed to or over the boundary and anything too full smashed through mid-on and mid off.
Good balls did cause the batsmen trouble, but there were too few of those consistently bowled to get the crucial wickets required. The opener was dropped in the deep but their skipper hit a match winning 77 off not many with his partner 46 to put the Lions in control at 143 for 3 after 18 overs. Very similar to the Fitmen's position, but only needing 50 off 22 was never going to be a problem.

Matt got the opener out LBW having bowled well. Lockyer bamboozled as always getting the skippers wicket, assisted by a fine catch by Was in the deep and then bowled the No.5 bat. Could it be the fightback of all time? Despite Ade bowling an anger ball to get the 5th opposition wicket, not enough runs were on the board to defend.

A fine days cricket had by all. Lions a good bunch of lads. Still got loads of that Reaper sauce left for next week!