SCORECARD

AMS 110-5 off 20 overs
Fitmen 111-0 off 15 overs

The delightful Worcestershire marginal of Feckenham was the setting for the election day thrash against old adveraries AMS.

Full of voting spirit the Fitmen opened their midweek ventures more mindful of their fantasy cricket sides than the impending hung parliament. A drizzly morning had given way to a dry evening but the picturesque setting was ominously surrounded by lightning from the maelstrom that is Outer Redditch. Fortunately the thunder clouds missed us entirely and the game was played out with no interruptions from the weather.

The usual format for this fixture (10 bowlers, 2 overs each) always meant that fortunes could change quickly, but the FitBowlers stuck to their tasks to a man (judging by the scorebook)and were ably supported by keen early season fielding (caveat: this was the view of the fielders themselves. The result was that AMS were restricted to 110 for the loss of 5 wickets.

Tragically your reporter didn’t see most of the fielding effort due to being waylaid in the Rose & Crown testing the very pleasant Brakspear Oxford Gold. However the few overs that were left on return gave a few clues and most of the backslapping could probably be justified.

Wickets were captured by Messrs Ashton, Howes and Sharrif with all of the others turning in respectable bids for further spells later in the season. This wish will be granted to some and not to others unless they’re captain for the day!

The batting performance was witnessed in its entirety by your roving hack and resulted in no wickets being captured by the opposition. The local rules of ‘retire at 25’ and ‘no lbw’ meant that Messrs Bice, Shariff and Caesar J all swept to the maximum permitted (the latter in just 15 balls). This made the job of the middle order straightforward - despite a few efforts to keep the game alive. The main highlight was the revelation that another team member now possess a bigger bat than Chas’s.

Messrs Howarth and Frost had a decent net to see the side home despite some comedy moments involving a niblick and a few 1 iron air shots. This was a comprehensive victory with about 4 overs to spare and a lesson for all those politicians – return to The Old Mo and prepare for stardom.