SCORECARD


On a warm (and for a good part hot) late September afternoon the Fitmen almost finished their season in style. Certainly an emphatic victory with a good deal of style – but not quite the end yet as the sides agreed to a re-run next Sunday as the season’s swansong.

Award Covetting
There is after all much to play for., The coveted bowling award sees 3 tied on 22 wickets closely followed by a 20 a 19 and an 18. The batting award hots up for 2nd place behind Tom with the contenders Sharif, Ade, Tuckkerrr and Horatio plus a late charge from Umberto and no-one would be surprised to find the Tahir suddenly becomes available or Si turns in a 50. See Victor for odds. .

Runner and riders with one game to go!

Batting
Tom Caesar 700
Mark Butcher 353
Jim Frost 307
Sharif 304
Mark Tucker 303
Richard Bice 295
Tahir 294
Adrian Martin 290
Richard Harris 289
Simon Howarth 252

Bowling
Ian Nutt 22
Adrian Martin 22
Sharif 22
Guy Brentnall 20
Ash Hussain 19
Tony Caesar 18

The Bowling/Fielding
The toss, on a mildly moist wicket brought up by the use of a heavy roller the day before, was lost (everyone knows that lead is head anywhere near Spag Junction) but the result the same and The Fitmen had a bowl.

Fresh from his 2nd shower of the day (2 more to fit in before bedtime) and half a football match, Ralphie (7-0-38-1 @ 5.43) came in off a conservative run up but still nipped it around with some pace and deserved his wicket in his 2nd over of the day. Left arm slow gripper (8-1-21-0 @ 2.63) from the other end (described by some as dull and others as dull) meant an early stranglehold on run scoring and by 10 overs there were just 35 on the board. By drinks Highcroft were still languishing though a promising partnership had moved them on to 80. It would need some acceleration to set a competitive target on a pitch that always provides runs. Cometh the hour, cometh the Nutterrrr (5- 0-28-4 @ 5.6)

3 adrift from the pinnacle of the wicket taking league, 5 overs later he was one clear. Shelling peas came to mind as consecutive batsmen holed out to the boundary fielders who didn’t even have to move. Ade and Ralphie (2) proved safe hands for the maestro of flight.
Sharif (8-0-28- 1 @3.5) grunted in from the pavilion end and got back to level in wickets taken (22) having seen 3 sitters go begging. Rich (5-0-30-0 @ 6) produced some great variation from quite quick to driftingly medium and picked up one for his trouble. Ade (7-0-33-1 @4.71) gurned one off his 7 to draw level at the top – again with 22.

We’ll paper over the 4 drop catches (Man from Atlantis, Achilles, some bloke with big gloves on and someone else – can’t remember now) since the fielding was generally good with rocket throws (including Raj’s exocet direct hit run out) and not much going past. Interestingly the Exocet is also known (by the French) as the Flying Fish.

Moving towards acceleration time, Highcroft’s half centurion took one liberty too many with the Nutt-Meister and tried to reverse sweep of middle and leg…….you don’t hand gifts like that to the wily one and expect to get out of jail.
A late flurry of leg hoiks ensured a semi-respectable 188 and over tea the feeling was that this was well within reach.

The Tea
Given Frank had been on a ‘sesh’ until just hours before the game, the tea was a tribute to dedication! Individual tea bags and a large urn is the way forward for a proper brew accompanied by good sarnies, lashings of sliced onions and an untouched bowl of mixed salad. Sharif took on ballast with 8 cubic inches of delightful fruit slab but the fruit squash was too strong for those with delicate constitutions.

The Batting
Just how 'within the FitComfortZone' it turned out to be wasn’t anticipated as the Fitmen No3 sat waiting for an hour and a half for a go. The opening pair of Tom and Rich were threatening the record first wicket stand of 187.

Some ‘helpful’ fielding gave a hint to Umberto (96 @ 109) that he could take pretty much whatever liberties he wished and after a conservative first 10 overs from the pair, he ripped into the bowling racing to 50 when the score was only 80. Not to be outdone, Tom (83 no @ 90) then decided to join in the carnage and help the Fitmen to victory with 10 overs to spare.

One could wax lyrical about the run fest and there were some magnificent shots but in truth it was a case of
1/ try for 10 overs to bat properly,
2/ realise this wasn’t possible on the track available if you wanted to overhaul 188,
3/ Slap it out of the ground before you got a ‘spitter’
4/ Don’t worry if it’s in the air

The only ‘error’ was Rich’s attempted slap off a full pitched ball on middle and leg..and missing it. In came No 3 after a wait of 186 runs and Si’s magnificent strike rate of 100 (off 1 ball) gave the strike back to Tom who drove it for what was a comprehensive win.

The End……...nearly
A magnificent season’s debut for Will – didn’t bowl, didn’t bat, didn’t like the Cider……..cost him £7.

Sam Smith’s Sovereign Bitter* won the award for the most blatant attempt to turn back the years to the era of Grotneys, Brew XI was well….Brew XI whilst Thatcher’s Slush was at its magnificent best. All at £2:50.

*Described on ratebeer.com as “Amber with fizzed head. Sweet, malty thin beer with a wet cardboard flavour. Served over cold which delays aroma and flavours coming through - probably a good thing.”