SCORECARD

Bournville Mis-shapes 100-8 (20 overs); Fitmen 104-3 (19.3 overs)
Fitmen win by 7 wickets

The visit of Bournville brings rain in 5 out of 6 meetings and once again the clouds gathered – but the wet stuff only appeared in the 15th over of the second innings allowing this competitive fixture to get to its natural conclusion.

A negotiated toss saw the Mis-shapes bat first on a consistent strip. The FitOpening bowlers were on the money but facing up to a pair of batsmen they knew pretty well. Caesar jnr-cubed and Stephens jnr (both hereditary Fitmen) got off to a confident start after playing themselves in and set a platform that really should have posted a 120 ish target.

Jonny H jnr and Guy manfully zipped the ball around and got their rewards with a wicket on 20. Curtis Jnr then contributed 27 to a partnership that threatened to build towards a formidable score.

In his last match before flying out to save the Greek economy, the FitSkip rotated the bowling and kept the Mis-shapes guessing. The combative Cumbrian chirped away behind the timbers and the dangerous pair were eventually snared bowled and run out respectively. The run out via a comedy twitch from the keeper who thought he had time to run Curtis jnr out twice.

A pair of Ivories M tickled the ball around nicely but the screw was being turned. A third Ivory (more endangered than the first two) manfully tried to get off the mark with a shoulder bye before succumbing to a snorter.

Ade, one of Jonny H jnr's fellow groin scare survivors and now peaking as he starts his 5th decade, joined in the scramble for victory. Malik showed aggression on the back of a 70 the previous weekend for Bournville 2s but could only manage a cameo and the Mis-shapes were looking to be in meltdown.
Jowett Jnr’s 9 month ‘rest’ seemed to have done the trick and a tight and fruitful spell was only broken by the appearance of a shadowy figure by the scoreboard -rumoured to be the match fixer of Delhi. It seemed to produce a Pavlovian reaction with Ben promptly tripling his economy rate.....sponsored by William Hill?

Caesar Jnr was greeted with the customary hissing afforded to turncoats and added aggression to the last 2 overs. His one man mission to get the side to 100 whilst setting a record for running out unsuspecting partners partly succeeded as Ivory double jnr and Curtis the Elder fell victim to the plan. The last two overs yielded enough to get to three figures.....just.......but would it be enough to thwart Captain Corelli and his mandarins?

PS Sunny wanted a mention for his figures of 4-1-13-2.

In they strode...once more to the breach as the skip contemplated a week on a Greek island plotting the downfall of the Sportsman in the upcoming sequel “FitSport 3 – the revenge”.

Pace greeted the FitOpeners, and tight it was too. A left and right combination steamed in looking for an early breakthrough. The task of seeing off the shine on the new ball was duly completed by Messrs Howarth and Bice before the former got one up him. This was relatively soon followed by the latter but not after a couple of powerful pulls kept the home side up with the required rate. Ivories M&M then threatened with a combination of left arm round and leggies that had the batsmen groping on occasion, but the Fitmen were still scoring and building towards the total.

Caesar snr produced buttock clenching tightness as the next 4 overs from the top end only yielded 3 runs and the skipper’s wicket - to one that gripped, turned, swung, kept low and got big on him (Note to Ed: please replace with 'he just missed a straight one' after his flight takes off on Saturday).

The visiting ‘keeper, yet another former Fitman still with most of his faculties intact and duly described as being a blur of green, rolled back the years with a display that belied his senior status. It’ll hurt in the morning mind.

The ship was steadied by Mark and Raj and whilst the score was ticking over more slowly there was enough in the tank to get over the line.............in a cliché ridden end to the report (and game) a final over requiring 3 to win was too little for the visitors to defend.

A good close game, some nice sledging that probably needs refinement before the visit to Doms next month, but a welcome return to victory for the FitFolk.

Excitement mounts as Newbold beckons on Sunday. The chattering classes are eagerly anticipating the guest appearances of ‘tourist of the year’ Strickers and FSA guru Nobby K – both of whom we believe to still be in control of their bodily functions. Remarkable.