SCORECARD

A game of three halves
Ward End Unity 104 all out ; Fitmen 105-3
Old Mo win by 7 wickets

A late replacement for Trysul who pulled out of the fixture on Wednesday, our thanks to Ward End Unity for stepping in and being both competitive opposition and very sporting.

The forecast overnight rain didn’t really materialise, nor did the heavy showers in the morning so the game kicked off on time and in pleasant conditions. Overcast, about 20 degrees and something in the pitch for everyone. An idyllic afternoon in prospect at The Britannic.

Ward End won the toss (heads by the way......) and inserted the Fitmen. The wicket, dry as a bone, offered bounce and pace to their quickies and Raj and Simon went about the business of openers seeing the shine off the Morrant Bin End special. Excellent value incidentally and you get the odd ‘peach’ – like we did for this game.

20 overs passed and the drinks interval saw the Fitmen at a very respectable 67-1. The only casualty was Si who fell to one of many decent deliveries from the Mews houses end - but not before laying the foundation for the bish bash bosh of the middle order. With Tucker getting his eye in it was all set for a decent target ……….maybe around 200.

Then down it came.............stair rods. Fantasy weather man Aid predicted sunshine at 6pm.........whatever.

Early tea but still it poured. Tea was world class – and there was 2 hours of it! That’s a proper tea interval and perhaps one that will be adopted at selected future fixtures.

Mother Sedhova’s bucket of Pakora set new standards and was only overshadowed by Sunny’s demonstration of speed eating as he set a new record for stripping tandoori chicken wings orally. The bones were fortunate to survive the furious onslaught but the gently tossed salad may not be making a future appearance due to both sides fielding carnivores.

Home-made jammy tarts all disappeared rapidly. No-one actually owned up to baking these little delights but they must surely be worth an extra fantasy point or two if anyone wishes to come forward and lay claim.

Meanwhile back in the monsoon, the adjoining ends were under water and needed time to drain even after weeks of dry weather. The option was to reduce the overs.................or to abandon and start again at 6pm as a T/20. Sportingly Ward End agreed to a T/20 and our amateur weather sleuth was proved correct.

The clouds lifted, the sun came out and ........... a beautiful evening for a T/20.

So the second ‘half’ of three kicked off with Ward End electing to bat this time. Brute strength at the top of the order was the decision, but was met with a skilful spell by Jonny H jnr. A tidy spell coming up the hill from Sunny with his personal coach patrolling the boundary dishing out the welcome advice of shortening the run up.

After a modest start the Ward End middle order clearly could bat, and from 40 odd at the half way stage threatened to take the FitBowling apart.

A stunned looking chairman having partaken of his 5 fruits during the tea interval saw his opening ball rattle the square leg fence prompting requests from the neighbouring garden to request a bit of quiet. The batsman duly obliged and stuck the second for a straight six…………ooh err.

It got a bit better but only because………..commeth the hour etc and Sid rumbled downhill and took a 4-fer. Zambucca-avoidance saw him complete his spell without endangering his wallet by getting that elusive 5 wicket haul – but an impressive and potentially match winning episode.

Everyone else then joined in and even the chastened Chairman got a rabbit. 105 the target on a drying wicket. The prospects were OK but it still needed to be done.

The aggressive bowling had its edge blunted by the damper wicket, but perhaps more so by the brutality of the opening FitPair of Caesar J and Martin. The tempo was set and never really dipped. Aid was run out trying to get to square leg claiming intimidation and Tom had a pleasant cameo. But star of the show was Jack on his unbeaten 56 full of power and no little style. Raj kept him company for the last couple of overs and scored the winning runs as Jack dug in to ensure bonus not out points.

A good win after a sensible agreement between the two skippers to change format during the tea interval.