SCORECARD

Election Fever Hit Fitmen as they won a close game to Selly Oak Hospital.

In the morning of the game, Fitmen fell like Tory MPs on the 4th of July, with the captain having 4 dropouts on the morning of the game. It was a pre-match day for Fitmen realpolitik/admin. Not joyful with the cabinet so bare of reliable fitmen:

Time for a cabinet reshuffle; who could the skipper turn to in his hour of need? He flicks through the fitmen rolodex:
Fitmen-Farage - in Scotland somewhere
Fitmen (Had a) Paddy Ashdown - in Cumbrian exile
Fitmen Mercer - at work
Fitmen Betty Boothroyd - still waking his dog around the boundary in semi-retirement

Finally, we got there, and an 11 all turned up on time. We won the toss and chose to bat. The good news was that the Selly Oak Nemesis could not attend due to a school open evening.

The opening partnership of Brother Nutter and A. Martin would surely be the strong and stable base to build growth on.

Nope - it was very much Duckgate. Both were out for 0 runs, facing only one ball between them. Ade got a Royal duck and bowled through the gate, and Brother Nut got a diamond duck, running himself out without facing a single ball.

Kev went for boom or bust and also fell early. Things Could Only Get Better.

Then came the rearguard actions. Fitmen talisman SMoore and the in-form Mouldy (30 odd in rounders the night before) led the fightback. Mouldy made a swashbuckling 20 off 17 before being caught at fly slip.

Sammy and Jonesy rebuilt through the middle overs. Sammy showed his (Blair-Transplant) class at the dispatch (to the boundary) box, finally falling for a quality 46 (38), whilst Jonesy was a bit more the austerity candidate with a run a ball 33.

An 11-run cameo from the spicy wing of the party, Sunny, pushed the score to 130.

A defendable majority, but not a landslide.

The pace bowlers initiated the Fitmen's defence. Sunny, Hari and Rana were our cabinent of many talents, they controlled the Selly Oak batsmen's scoring shots with quality bowling. Hari bowled 4 overs straight through, while Sunny and Rana bowled 3 overs each at the beginning and also bowled one over during the late stages of the game. All three of them took a wicket and maintained an economy rate of under 6. This played a crucial role in our victory.

But the game's headline and lead story was a return to the wickets column (a comeback not seen since Winston Churchill) for Ade Martin. The wait for his first-midweek wicket was 8.5 times as long as the duration of Liz Truss's tenure as Prime Minister. Then, as the game was drawing to a close, there was some excellent fielding from the Churchillian bulldog, with a pinpoint throw from the boundary resulting in the run-out of the dangerous bat from the Oak's team.

A rare win this season by 15 runs.

Credit to Selly Oak Hospital. They were a great team, played in the right spirit, and we're looking forward to the rematch at their place in July.