Far From The MCC

~ Est. in 1998 ~

 

“A Country Diary:

Cricket At Last”

 

 

Sunday 8th July 2007

Result:  Won by 37 Runs

Venue:  Pembroke

35 overs

FFTMCC

195 - 5

I. Howarth  72,  D. Edwards  50,  M. Westmoreland  26

Bodleian

158 - 6

M. Westmoreland  4 - 22

 

 

 

Amazingly, this was the first game of the season to be played at Pembroke, it’s been that kind of summer. Since a dry April full of promise, there’s been a lot of rain. At least we’re not being flooded out, though, as is happening all around the country. Children being rescued from schools in boats, folk cleaning sewage out their back gardens, cars left abandoned on slip roads. Best just to stay indoors and watch the telly, unless of course it comes in through the front door, in which case, get the heck out of there! Take your photo albums and your hard disk and scram! Oh, and hopefully you bought insurance instead of an Xbox 360 for the kids. As Mr Podbucket from next door says, something’s amiss all right. Is it global warming or just a bunch of f*ck off giant clouds that have outstayed their welcome? Personally I blame God, or I would if I believed in a supernatural entity that could be bothered to oversee the destiny of us flesh and bones types.

 

 

The Wood Boys discover Pembroke’s healthy supply of… wood.

 

Still, we are getting a bit of leather on willow now and again. The Mad gave the Bodleian a right caning up at Stratfield Brake a few weeks ago, a ten wicket win which didn’t make anyone happy. So this time round, the skipper selected a right bunch of twits to turn out for the Mad. No bowlers to speak of, and just a sorry lot of pissheads and sloggers with the bat. On the other hand, the Bodleian looked a bit up for it, and even had a Mad ringer in their ranks. Admittedly he was a podgy old guy well past his prime who’d jumped out of his sick bed because he wanted a bit of blinking sunshine on his face. But this old fella took great delight in bowling out the Mad skipper, who’d been hitting sixes for fun and who made 72 in quick time to push the Mad on to 195. You should have seen the look on Skip’s face! Like he’d swallowed a fennel root!

 

 

Kev’s teas. Making MacDonald’s seem like a gourmet restaurant.

 

One or two of the Bodleian guys looked like they could bowl a bit and made it difficult too. Sadly Richard had made only 3 before he was out plum lbw, although that was one more than his last outing. Dan with the funny hat got 50 before swinging away at a straight one, and Mike (1) was run out as usual, must have thought he was playing cricket against the Chinese. Thornton (23*) is looking more and more like Jack Kerouac’s younger brother, but he can still do the business. He hit five home runs and a triple and was there at the end.

 

 

Mini Moo discovers the Poet’s Elixir.

 

To be fair 195 was always going to be enough. Recently the Bod have had just one properly decent bat they can build an innings around, and if Ditta fails, then they go over like ninepins. But today he was there at the end on 79*, and so the Bodleian made it to 158 for 6. If he’d just scored a bit quicker in the middle, it might have been more of a contest, but there was an awful lot of blocking going on when maybe slapping it round was the order of the day. At one stage, it did go a bit quiet when the Mad were fielding, though that could have been boredom. And it might have been a different story if Mad Martin hadn’t bagged 4 wickets in quick time to take out the middle order. Who says Northerners can’t bowl, eh?

 

 

The Wood Boys demonstrate to Ditta how to protect your average.

 

At the end, though, everyone had had a good day out – the sun had been shining for a change, Pembroke was greener than many other green things, and cricket is cricket after all. There was a lot of laughing when Dan broke Mike’s toe, but that soon changed when everyone found out that Geoff’s bike had been nicked for the seventeenth time in six months. How on earth is he going to get home, everyone was wondering?

 

See you next week! Or the week after, or the week after that.

 

 

‘Country Bumpkin’

 

 

 

 

 

*

 

 

Statto's Scorecard

Match Fines

 

 

MOTM:  I. Howarth’s 72 and economic bowling

Champagne Moment:  M. Westmoreland’s super run out

Buffet Award:  G. Carter’s wooden doughnuts

 

 

 

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