Swifts or Swallows
Whitchurch II 139 for 5 after 28 overs- Match abandoned.
There was controversy at Whitchurch on Saturday which started as Mick was bowling another tight spell, when he pointed out to Mudgy, fielding at mid-off, the swifts flying low over the pitch. Mudgy said “they’re swallows” following which the batsmen at the non-strikers end, Neil Tamblin, assured Mudgy that the birds were indeed swifts, having been identified as such by an ornithological enthusiast in their team.
Mudgy, who clearly has political skills, then changed his tune and said there were also swallows which were the birds he was referring to and described swifts as having forked tails and white under bellies. Mick responded by saying that swifts were all black. Mudgy was then clearly racked with self-doubt and, during tea, was spotted surreptitiously looking up ‘swifts’ on the internet. Mick bore no hard feelings and even caught Tamblin at ‘back ward slip’ off Mudgy’s bowling.
An early tea was taken due to a heavy rain shower which left mud and puddles on the already wet pitch. The ornithological controversy raged on unabated as we waited for the pitch to dry. Mudgy later attempted to deflect from his ornithological blunder by maintaining that Mick had begun discussing ornithology during his run up.
It appeared that the Whitchurch players sportingly entered into the spirit of the avian controversy as it was reported that they were involved in a Twitter storm.