Nemco, 2/7/06
Posted Tuesday, July 4, 2006
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"High enough to contemplate the consequences of dropping it" - DBE quoting John Arlott whilst waiting for the ball to drop to Earth!
Nemco - 91 all out, Sunseekers 51 - 2. Match Abandoned, rain.
After winning the toss, Steve Whitehurst elected to bat, hoping that the Sunseekers Batsmen would wilt in the heat of a long afternoon in the field. Stewart Walters had a superb opening spell, on the spot and fiery, he returned figures of 1 - 1 off 5 overs (it would have been more if Mick had not dropped a sharp dolly (!!??). A superb diving catch was taken by Alex Ford a few balls later, to make up for this.
At the other end, Jim Downes bamboozled the batsmen but for no reward other than excellent figures of 10 runs from 6 overs, including 4 maidens. Ross Coxon took over from Jim and settled into a rhythm quickly, subsequently dismissing Tivey for 1 and crucially Whitehurst for 9. The latter was off a viciously rising ball which was skied to the safe hands of Dave Evans. Mark Lancashire was starting to try to push the score along but the Evans and Freddy held him in check very well. The wickets gradually fell and the final one (or maybe the penultimate) was taken one handed by the athletic Downes the Elder with a sort of stumbling/running/flying action.
After a short tea break, the Sunseekers opening pair of Wenn and Sibson strode (well, OK waddled) out to the middle. Unfortunately Robin followed the second ball and gave the slightest of edges to the keeper. Will Evans joined Wenny and they came to an agreement not to bother running, and to score in boundaries instead. Will actually walked twice, the first time was a false alarm, the catch was a bump ball, sadly the second was a genuine catch behind. Woodward donned the helmet and gritted his teeth, but had not received the 'boundaries only' message and had several singles turned down. At one point, whilst demanding a second run, he was distressingly told to 'do as you are told' by the skipper (the heat had got to his brain and he was hallucinating that he was batting for his school side). The clouds gradually built up and the light deteriorated. At the first opportunity of a couple of spots of rain, Nemco scuttled off claiming a draw.
KW
* Additional information, from an informant in the field, is the amusing news that a NEMCO batsman hit a ball uppishly towards mid-off, exclaimed "sh*t," then added "No, it's okay, it's Mick," as the ball duly passed harmlessly at stump height over the head of the Little Fat Captain!
CC
