SCORECARD

Fitmen undone by slippery conditions!

Old Mo 85-5, WMD 86-3

As is traditional for a match against WMD the match started late, and as a consequence was reduced to 16 overs a side. Captain Butcher won the toss and given the option of batting in the light quite correctly opted to bat.

Raj and Chiz opened up, but found things tricky against tight bowling and a lush outfield, so much so that after 10 overs of the 16, the score only stood on 46. Raj certainly found that the outfield and opposition fielding stifled his trademark off-drive. Cameos from Butcher, Ralphie and Sharif added some momentum, but by the end a score of 85 was about 20 runs short of what was required on a good batting track against a team noted for their batting strength.

A 10 minute break for rain failed to liven up the wicket, but certainly made the run-ups and fielding conditions much more treacherous. It led to Ralphie cutting his run-up in half and Dave Healey coming in off 3 paces. Many good balls from the bowlers were unfortunately mixed in with too many 4 balls – hardly surprising with a ball manufactured by Imperial Leather with an added coating of Body Shop Body Butter.

With WMD seemingly racing towards victory, Ben Jowett and Sharif came into the attack and suddenly the runs dried up. Both deserved a better wicket haul than one each. Sharif was especially unlucky with first Ralphie, then Ben spilling the bar of soap. Tom Caesar then gave a lesson in how to cling on to a greasy ball to give Sharif a deserved wicket, the other wickets falling to Ralphie and Ben Jowett, both clean bowled.

All in all, a good effort in difficult conditions with the ball and in the field against a very strong opposition, just a few more runs might have made the difference.