SCORECARD

Cheerio Coombs Wood!

On a delightful early Autumn afternoon the Fitmen made the hazardous trip down Mucklows Hill around a mammoth One Way system to the soon to be leveled Coombs Wood amphitheatre of dreams/nightmares (depending on if you are a bowler or batter). Turgio went Turbo narrowly missing a parked MG (which could have wiped out the cream of the Fitmen batting line up, and Sharif), attempting to over-take a caravan. With 6 real ales to sample though, nerves were soon settled and the game was underway.

After losing the toss and being asked to field, the first 30 minutes did not bode well. The opener/’keeper was in brutal form smashing both Shah and Sharif to the stone walled boundary. Front foot pushes turned into 4s with a slick outfield and without some brave body-on-the-line style fielding the score could have been even higher than the 75-1 at the 10 over mark, with Sharif having the other opener out caught by Tom Caesar with a fantastic one-handed diving catch.

An excellent piece of Captaincy from Butcher changed the face of the game - bringing the spin twins, Chaz n Nutt on. Quite poetically one of Chas and Dave’s classic songs “Rabbit” has the lyrics:

“no, you wont stop talkin,
why dont you give it a rest?,
you got more rabbit than Sainsburys,
its time you got it off your chest”

The only time the mercurial Coombs Wood ‘keeper’ was quiet all afternoon was when Chas hit the top of his leg stump with a wonderfully flighted ball. Nutter grabbed 2 key wickets in his 8 overs and bowled really well, with Chas equally effective at the other end grabbing another middle order batsman. With their spells finished it was time for Martin to toil uphill whilst elder statesman Sharif steamed in downhill off 2 paces. Sharif grabbed another wicket before Butcher tucked into the tail picking up a couple of well-earned wickets. To finish the Coombs Wood innings Tom Caesar pulled off spectacular catch No.2 of the afternoon (again diving full length, again One handed, again quite brilliant). 187 All Out.

Over an excellent tea (curry, chips, lashings of cheese topped baps and precariously positioned cakes to avoid curry sauce seepage) talk was of how to deal with the Coombs Wood spinners, on a turning pitch. However, opening bats Butcher and Turgio Howarth were welcomed by the sight of a youth running in off 18 paces and bowling at the 75 MPH mark. Oh joy. To be fair he bowled really well but with constant no-balls and the gobby ‘keeper unable to stop the ball very well – his 0-26 off 8 overs, although restricting the run rate somewhat, did not do the damage the hosts expected. Howarth played him well before getting himself out caught at the other end, whilst Butcher relished the chance to take on an obvious 1st XI bowler. Tom Caesar, after brilliance in the field came to the crease and played a right-handed Gower style innings of 37, if anything looking more comfortable against the young quickie.

When the Coombs Wood double bowling change brought their spinners on, this would be the key part of the game. Butcher tucked into some full tosses and smashed a 6 before top-edging, out caught, bringing Tahir to the crease for 5 balls before he chopped on. What was needed now was an innings of maturity and guile and who better to do so than Mark Tuckerrr, steadying the ship with a run a ball 15 supported by Tom and then Frost, dragging the score to 140 for 5. 48 needed off 8 - what a perfect opportunity for the rotund, mildly grumpy all-rounder to enter the affray for a spot of gentle sledging and biffing the ball to the boundary. 19 off 11 balls from Martin set up the long tail of Chaz and Sharif to bring the win home. Chaz’s 14 and Sharif’s 10 did the job, although a mild heart flutter when Sharif was out but with Shah in at 10 there was never a doubt!

Now just a quick foot-note to round off this report:

Corinthian Spirit: “An especially high standard of sportsmanship”

Point to the quickie and Gobby: shake hands even when you lose ( it would be nice to clap opposition batsmen in as it is only a friendly) and as Harrison Weir's 1884 translation states “A famished Fox saw some clusters of ripe black grapes hanging from a trellised vine. She resorted to all her tricks to get at them, but wearied herself in vain, for she could not reach them. At last she turned away, beguiling herself of her disappointment, and saying: "The Grapes are sour, and not ripe as I thought."

Cheerio!