SCORECARD

Long to rain over us? Not this weekend, your Maj

The Toss. One of cricket's tiniest rituals, but one of the biggest influencers on the result.
In some conditions, losing the toss will scupper any hopes of an enjoyable afternoon immersed in the world's greatest leisure pursuit. There are some days when you simply Must Win The Toss.
Fitmen's first home Sunday fixture of a so-far dreadfully wet April/May was one of those days. Especially against the young, fit and talented team of students from the University of Birmingham.
As luck would have it, the Great Birmingham Run half marathon was taking place on the same day and the consequent road closures saw Studentsville, Selly Oak, cut off from the rest of the city. (Well, Moseley, anyway. They'd have been OK playing in Bournville or Harborne.)
Only seven UoB players were at The Graveyard for the start time of 1pm. Their skipper asked for an extension to 1.15pm, which was agreed, but 15 minutes later they were still four players short.
This gave debutant Fitmen captain Stevie Nicks the glorious opportunity ─ sorry, gave debutant Fitmen captain Stevie Nicks little choice but to negotiate the toss and put the opposition in to bat.

That the game went ahead at all was astonishing. It rained, with varying degrees of intensity, every day during the week, and chief BBC weather speculator Shefali had forewarned of thundery showers on Sunday.
But a dry morning and a call from Groundskeeper Ollie confirmed that it was Game On.
A few Fitmen withdrawals from the initial XI during the week - Bice (potential Covid); Timms ("Sorry can't make it" message at 11pm Friday); Raj ("got a few things on") - meant reinforcements were required.
So it was great to see Raja Jahangir back amongst the Fitmen. He was promptly asked to open the bowling.
He sent down his pacy leggies to a 7-2 offside field for eight straight overs from the Golf Course End. Even when one delivery was sent to the boundary behind square, he refused the offer of an extra leg-side fielder, choosing instead to back himself not to bowl in that spot again. A devastating spell of 8-0-15-4.
Not that it was a one-man show. At the St Agnes Residents Association End, veteran twirler Bal Singh kept the students trapped in the crease with experienced guile, mixing up the pace and length. The scorebook reads 4 overs, 0 for 12; economically sound but deserving of at least one wicket.
After Bal's bowling declaration, the door opened for the mesmerising loopy left-handers of Ian Nutt.
When will batters learn? The student slogger who was beginning to cut loose, watched the first Nutt delivery come down, his eyes lit up and, with a mighty swoosh, completely missed it and the ball bounced into the gloves of our wicket-keeping debutant Hari Sandhu.
Second ball, same again - only this time the ball clattered into the stumps.
After six overs, Ian had 2 wickets for 30 runs and it could have been more were it not for a couple of dropped catches. One, a full-length mid-air dive which would have been one of the all-time great C&Bs if he'd managed to cling on to it. The other saw the ball sail into the hands of our other debutant Rana Singh, then squirt out of his hands, roll up his arm, around his neck, slide off his elbow, bounce off his knee and fall to the ground.
You are one of us now, Rana. Welcome to the Old Moseley Arms Fitmen CC!
The fielding performance cannot pass without mentioning the increasingly consistent Billal and his bowling figures of 8-0-22-2 which kept the squeeze on the opposition. Plus, he made two tricky catches at mid-on look very comfortable. It's shaping up to be a very good season for our Billy.
Kev Cuthbert had one or two slippage issues but he was economical, and bowled some outstanding deliveries that deserved wickets. In true Fitmen style though, never mind the good balls, he got his wicket with a filthy full toss that was top-edged back into his hands.
Hari excelled behind the stumps on his Fitmen debut, treating us all to a rarely-seen leg-side snaffle for one of Billal's wickets.

So, all out for 109 with 10 overs to spare. Highly satisfactory, but with a heavy caveat that it was clearly not an easy pitch to bat on - and the University had turned up with a team of bowlers.

However, Harry Eames and reluctant volunteer opener Chris Jones applied themselves superbly, keeping out the good balls (of which there were many) and waiting for the right one to put away. They also gave Mr Wides the chance to notch up a decent score, while Harry deliberately feathered a couple of deliveries to the wicketkeeper knowing full well that they wouldn't be held.
An opening stand of 57 off 15 overs was exactly the foundation we needed in our response.
Chris hit four boundaries, no mean feat on a spongy outfield, and showed great patience for his 28. Some very well hit front and back foot drives would have reached the rope on dry ground.
No.3 Stuart Mould joined Harry in the middle. He took a while to get going (although he did notch up six wides before getting off the mark) but he eventually got into his stride, cracking three boundaries to see us safely home. He also enjoyed a couple of memorable reprieves. An inside edge on to his pad saw the ball roll into the stumps, only for the bails to remain unbudged. This was followed by a hook into square leg’s hands being no-balled as a chest-high full toss.
Through all of this, Harry was showing his usual classy array of strokeplay. His square cuts and leg glances are a joy to watch. When he hits form his timing is precise and he seems immovable.
And he hit the winning runs with a huge six over the pavilion, falling four runs short of a half-century, but with that ever-reassuring asterisk next to his score.

A winning margin of 9 wickets suggests an easy win, but Fitmen had to work for it and every player made significant contributions.
Thanks must also go to the ever-convivial University team, who stayed on to enjoy drinks on the sunny outfield during a most pleasant post-match wind-down.
And the sun shone. All day.