Far From The MCC
~ Est. in 1998 ~
“Man Makes Fire
During Club Day Celebrations”
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Sunday 7th
August 2005 |
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Result: B - Team Won by 5 Wkts |
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Venue: |
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2 x 18 overs |
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A - Team |
96 - 7 &
90 - 8 |
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M. Bullock 25*
& M. Bullock 31* |
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B - Team |
94 - 6 &
95 - 5 |
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M. Westmoreland 26
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Club Day. Club: a stout
heavy stick, usually thicker at one end, suitable for use as a weapon; a
cudgel. Cudgel: a short
heavy stick; a club Day: the
period of light between dawn and nightfall; the interval from sunrise to
sunset. Club Days - they’ve
never been too successful for the J*de, or the Far From the Madding Crowd CC,
so by Grace we were determined to make this Club Day a No-Mad day for the
Club. To ensure we got the numbers that we needed to field a couple of
spirited teams, we invited our archrivals of the gadgetry and fruity kind to
come along and join in our merriment – the OU Offices. * * *
“Jesus! How come I get all the women on my
team?” As per
usual play began at the Folly Bridge public house – home to chicken loving,
drooling pikes and chavs, that had no doubt started drinking on Friday night
(if they had jobs that is)…. then we left, and the Folly returned to
normality. Upon arriving at the
Holy Grail of Pembroke, one took a moment to savour the bellowing green
woodpeckers and the snoring of Kev in the pavilion, before traipsing in with
two crates of Stella, a crate of Strongbow, a crate of Boddingtons, three
bottles of wine, and half a gallon of Archers to disturb the peace. OU
Offices did not let us down of course, and indeed turned up with a following
sprawl of spectators the likes of which has rarely been seen on Pembroke
turf. Organised chaos then prevailed as we discussed the various options of
pool systems that we could implement to give everyone a decent game. Alas,
The Analyst was still supping Stella at the Folly so we could not draw upon
his extensive background knowledge in the pooling system, but we
finally settled on a two innings per team match consisting of 18 overs each -
batting orders reversed, and some weird rule about being able to bowl as few
players as you wanted as long as it wasn’t considered cheating. Two pools
were then drawn (The A-Team, and The B-Team) mixing No-Mad and OU players, social
members, spectators, and general bystanders. The game then commenced.
M. Bullock would gorge himself on the No-Mad
bowling. The first innings
saw some spirited batting from both No-Mad and OU, the runs coming in at a
steady trickle, but the wickets falling in an equally steady trickle. Banter
around the pitch was bubbly, banter on the sidelines was dribbly, and Kev
foamed at the mouth and paced the Pavilion balcony with the anticipation of
making fire. “Do ya think I should staht it?” - not yet Kev. “Do you think I
should stahhht it?” - not yet Kev. “Do you think ah should starrrht ittttt?”
Goodness knows what would have happened if he came to my barbeque, I probably
wouldn’t have a house left. The first
innings realised a healthy looking total of 96 runs. A highlight of which
consisted of a graceful 16 ball innings from Boon, who top scored with 33
runs – nice strike rate (206.25) with no less than six fours. Strange though
it may seem, both standard captains of No-Mad and OU were out for ducks – it
must be the relaxation of the captaincy having a strange effect on
hand-to-eye coordination. “Oh, you’ll be wanting me to do a barbeque nah
then?” - oh okay, go and start the fire, Kev. “Ohhh, great, yes, right”,
drool drool drool.
What a coincidence to see club antipodean A.
Mann by a barbeque. The first innings of
the B-Team now commenced, and after a rickety start it looked like the teams
were slightly unbalanced. Nonetheless, V. Stone saw her first run for the
No-Mad pass the fielders, and a sterling effort from Rachel (26 balls faced
for 5 runs) meant they could defend an end. Competition became equal once
more after Slight
dismay then ensued amongst the non-meateaters when it was realised that we
didn’t actually have anything vegetarian for the half-time interval. Despite
the meat not really resembling meat, the veggies just got on with nicking all
the salad and sauces and seemed happy enough. Burgers and beers consumed,
play began again - although not quite as earnestly as it had began in the
first innings. But soon the passion of cricket weaved it’s magic, and once
again friends off the field got into the habit of slating each other back on
the field.
Rich blue skies in abundance for Club Day. So back to the
cricket. No-Mad
keeper, M. Bullock, was the only Pool A player to really shine in the second
innings, scoring a busty 31 runs not out - and carrying his bat through from
number 4. Strangely enough, skippers were troubled again, with just 10 runs
scored between them, none of which could be attributed to yours truly (sigh).
M. Westmoreland returned the best figures of the innings, claiming two
wickets for eight runs in three overs. The A-Team finally scrabbled to a
second innings total of 90, bringing their lead to 92. A quick
turn around saw Pool A have a breakthrough start - taking the first three
wickets for single figures. But then strode to the crease a confident looking
Lewis, who took on the Pool A bowling attack with glee. 32 runs from 19 balls
ensued, backed up with a doughty 23 not out from the Organ Grinder. Pool B
were cruising to victory in the tenth over. A minor set back came at the drop
of I. Howarth’s wicket for 17, quickly followed by his missus, V. Stone (0),
which gave the A-Team some hope, but in strode the steely Rachel to steady the
ship and the B-Team crossed the line with 6 overs to spare. * * *
The sun goes down on the annual No-Mad Club
Day. So Pool B ended the
day victorious, but as a post match drink analyses would concur, cricket was
the winner - cricket, and every one of us. To share a sport amongst others
can be a gratifying experience, but to share it amongst friends in such a
congenial social atmosphere is priceless. ‘Hoskers’ |
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No
Fines on this day |
MOTM: The game of
cricket!
Champagne Moment: no votes
cast
Buffet Award: Very
definitely Kev’s barbeque!