SCORECARD

WMD 225-8 (40 overs), Old Mo 161 all out
Fitmen lost by 64 runs

After a 3 match winning run, the bandwagon came to a juddering halt at The Britannic Ground in the close warmth of mid August. Another toss win, and probably the right decision to bowl first against a side that we know are capable of chasing down most scores.

The key was to keep it tight, and we didn’t really do that. The legitimate balls bowled were OK – it was the extras making a half century that did for us! Just as Pakistan vacated the ‘Life Support’ bed, the Fitmen decided to jump in….though we didn’t actually drop anything unlike our more illustrious colleagues down the road.

At the half way stage WMD’s 88-3 offered either an opportunity to put the squeeze and take some wickets, or to watch the win sail from our grasp. To be fair we did both. Economy rates of 5 and 6 meant that the total was bound to get over the 200 mark. Despite this rate dropping occasionally (particularly in the ten overs after the drinks interval) the ground fielding gave the incentive back to WMD in the final 10 overs when they piled on the agony with the luxury of wickets in hand.

A couple of strange decisions went against us (Law 23 is pretty unambiguous) and cost about 30 runs, ground fielding errors cost us another 20 or so, and the extra count was at least 20 too high. Add them together and the target would have been a reachable 160 or so.

A couple of highlights included the look of horror followed by relief when ‘Moira’ initially thought the Chairman was going to call for the skier, but then spotted Sunny manoeuvring under it. Ye of little faith having already bagged one skier……..for a change. Speaking of Sunny he was convinced he’d got extra fantasy points for the run out……………but didn’t!

Still, the all important tea report: The chicken wings (no sauce!) were good to strong maybe storm force later, there was a glut of ham sandwiches (reaction to the previous home game??), and the cup cakes were a delight (albeit a low cost one). Mrs Syd’s pakora stood up to the test but the own brand crisps were moderate or rough.

The Fit response to a larger than wanted total was interesting.............the WMD opening bowler was tall and quick causing trouble early on. The ‘dig in’ mentality was right, and it was going to be tough. Then bizarrely WMD tossed the ball to a spinner who promptly fed us 23 in one over – back on track!

Everyone got a few (6 got to double figures)– but no-one really got stuck in. Jack had been watching KP too much and after two let offs succumbed to mistimed pull, Raj ran himself out after doing the hard work, and Butch never really got going. Aid (25) and Cheese (15) looked comfortable and put together a recovery with a 50 partnership before both were bowled.

Jowitt’s average started on the slippery slope after a disputed but plum (no nepotism here)lbw and a quick check with the tea leaves indicate that it should be firmly in single figures by the end of August.

The tail wagged and made a case for promotion up the order. Sunny (25) oscillated from text book forward defence (not sure which text book) to outrage and flat 6s (should have been two!) as can be told by his sub 50 strike rate! The 9th wicket put on 25 to retain some respectability, but without the top order chipping in, it was too much.