Nearly There
By Ian Clark
WEEK 7
JUNE 21st 2008
3rd TEAM v BASHLEY 3rds (H)
1st TEAM v ALTON 2nds (A)
It's the longest day. It will be light until 10 tonight but it's a glum afternoon.
Olly is rolling the wicket and the outfield is sprinkled with cones. Bashley thirds have arrived more than an hour before the start of the game and track-suited and booted are going through their fielding drills. Bashley thirds are top and highly likely to nip our recent good run in the bud. They are also young; in fact they are an Academy side. Academy sides are increasingly common comprising mostly players under 20 who are destined for a higher level. I'm not a fan. The point of playing for a club is integration and fluidity between teams and young players learn far more from experienced players than from their mates. There's also something posturing about putting out an Academy side, as if to show the excellence of your coaching and colts and I suspect at the root of it is putting off dropping the old gits for a couple of seasons. Our team faces that problem and there is a tension between the reliance on older players and the need to promote the best colts from the fourths.
More bad news. Pete's babies have had to go back into hospital. Pete won't be able to play in the top of the table game away at Alton.
The Bashley game is close and we bat decently to finish 12 runs short. 8 bonus points is a good return against the top team and we make the short walk to The Hollow to watch the seconds.
The seconds were promoted to County 3 last year. They haven't won for a month and are dropping down the table. They're playing local side Vospers today, once described to me as "pikeys in whites".
The weather's improved and the Hollow is a picture in the mid-evening summer sun. The fourths are already back having won by 10 wickets and there's a decent crowd lounging on the embankment looking down on the play.
The seconds only scored 135 and Vospers are 132-6 with 3 overs to bowl. Les shuffles in and bowls their number 8 and the crowd sniffs the faint tang of victory in the air like a BBQ three doors down. The Vospers opening bat, Boriani, has played well and is 73 not out. He has batted with restraint. Perhaps he gets tired, perhaps he gets pissed off by another careless shot at the other end (the next best score is 25), perhaps he falls for the glamour of winning with a big. Whatever, he heaves at Les and Sam Floyd takes a good catch. The cheer from the embankment makes some of the allotment holders across the road curious enough to stop digging and wander over. McKeever then bowls a maiden and so last over, Les bowling, 2 wickets left, 3 runs to win. Vospers' batsmen seem paralysed as teams do when things start to fall apart.
The first ball is a single, the second ball is a fiasco and ends with Millward collecting a wild throw and a run out. 1 wicket left, 2 runs to win, 4 balls left. Les pitter-patters in, leans forward and the off-stump is knocked back. The seconds, thirds and fourths celebrate together. Meanwhile Les is flying towards the trees in the distance, arms extended like a spitfire.
The firsts have lost though. They batted first on a wet wicket because they only had 10 men - Pete's emergency meant Sammy Freemantle had to drive to Alton from the seconds' game and was late. Tom is trying to be positive but his 3 overs went for 28 runs. A big, ugly Kiwi pinch hitter went after him. He's been found out. Fred and Jewelly had bowled superbly after Alton were 105-0 chasing 150. But that makes it worse.
