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Fixtures and Results | Match Reports

Date Against H/A Link Result Captain/Score
Tue 11 / 8 / 2015 Wavis Cricket Club Away Won by 58 runs. Old Mo 178-5. Oppo 120-6.

SCORECARD

Old Mo 178-4; Wavis 120-6
Fitmen win by 58 runs.


A glorious evening at a top venue new to most of the Fitmen - Solihull Municipal: a well-appointed ground off Brick Kiln Lane in the leafy conservative marginal.

Transportation issues were all put to bed and nobody went on the motorway anywhere. A full XI were in fact early enough to catch the happy hour which finished at 6pm.............in some cases early enough to make two visits before the modest price increase (£2:50/£3:00) kicked in.

The track, described as ‘a road’ by skipper Ralph was indeed a batting paradise and the news of ‘maximum 3 overs per bowler’ found no complaints from the twirlers..........who figured the ‘retire at 50’ rule would probably be a welcome respite for them also.

A ‘tails never fails’ success gave the visitors first crack on the cavernous pitch with the prospect of enhancing claims for batting awards.
Ralphie tucked in and eventually retired at 50 with a 200 strike rate including elegance and bosh, Mo’s run a ball 18 came to an end with a mis-timed cut (blamed on the orange ‘super ball’ bounce) and Keeperrrrr selflessly decided to make way for Sharif and Rich without troubling the scorer.

Bice, at 5, equalled and possibly exceeded Ralphie’s levels of brutality as he smacked up an imperious 46 at 209 including a maximum.......... which is not easy on a 44 acre outfield. Given the cue/clue, Sharif also belted a 6 after struggling early on in his run a ball 36. Strike rate of the evening belonged to Nutt R as his pristine weapon helped him to 300 (well...3 off one ball).

An impressive 178-4 (almost 9 an over) would surely test most sides and keep Le Martin’s BP under control – and so it proved.

Quick, quick, slow was the order of the day as Greg and The Chairman kicked off the defence. Even conceding a couple of boundaries an over would see us home, but instead there was a litter of dots and a smattering of wickets which rocked the hosts.

The 18 bowling changes from the previous week wasn’t repeated but a total of 8 bowlers were deployed. Tit for tat drops by Bal and Sharif off each other’s bowling kept the annual awards race alive. Jones, fresh from his stints in The Rae Bank bear pit, chipped in with a handy 1-16 though declined to accept any glory by catching anything. Sam deceived them towards the end and slotted 3 overs at the death after being ‘warned off’ by the umpire for bowling too many.

Apart from an over of drivel at the end, Greg bagged a couple earlier on including a skier to Nutt R......who had a stigmata to show for his efforts. After the keeper travails last weekend, a ball in the gob for Tuckerrrr didn’t look too clever. But all’s well that ends well and the blue catering plaster saw a patched together E Hilter behind the stumps for the remaining half dozen overs.

Not to be denied at the end, Ralphie took a C&B out of the hands of the previously highlighted Jones C and all was cleared up.

Much to the delight of those that stayed afterwards, a full cricket tea was provided by our gracious hosts...................certainly a venue and opponents we’d like to visit again (and not just ‘cos we won).

Well done to Ralphie for almost killing a wasp by drowning it in Carling..........top tip: drink the Carling before attacking small insects with glass objects and don't use your hands to sweep up the resulting shards.