Underwhelming finish to season for thirds

Thirds 78 all out, Lewdown II 79 for 3

Third eleven who faced Lewdown on Saturday

When the team were stuck in a large queue of traffic following a serious accident near Moretonhampstead it looked like the thirds may not even make it to Lewdown on Saturday.  (Later after being put in to bat against some quality bowling we wished we hadn’t made it)  Syd consulted Dave Bimore and a decision was made to go via Lustleigh  ‘in convoy’.  By the time I turned round there was no sign of Syd or Darren’s car I made it to Lustleigh to find Darren parked up facing the opposite direction praying.  ( I made that up- he wasn’t praying -he didn’t appear to be doing much at all). There was no mobile phone signal and Syd had hared off somewhere else.  Daz was relieved to see our car load and followed us.  Dave Griffiths, my trusty navigator,  whipped out his GPS on his phone but it soon became clear we were going around in circles on some of the tiniest roads imaginable.  |With Ollie Perkins providing psychological support we ditched the phone and I made an executive decision to follow my map.  We were soon stuck behind a little old lady doing about 2 mph.  Afteran age we reached Moretonhampstead and then had a relatively uneventful journey arriving at the ground at 1.45- only 15 minutes late but bursting for a toilet (Is this too much information?).

Lewdown had a quick young lad bowling who was reputed to play for Devon. Cliff was soon out, Darren followed suite.  If ever a situation called for those princes of panache, those masters of the forward defensive (who cares if its less fun to watch than drying paint), Syd and Quentin it was this.  Alas Q was pulling pints not cricket balls and it wasn’t Syd’s day.  The ball was said to be moving one way through the air and another way off the pitch.  Syd succumbed.  Josh Thomas was looking good, getting behind the line nicely but his patience let him down after he’d scored 8.  Runs were at a real premium, only extras were keeping the board ticking over.  Between the good deliveries was a plentiful supply of wides.  (37 extras in the innings saved us from total embarrassment.) Sam Gornall came and went as did Liam Cotton.  Jarvs was in at number 6-surely he’d rescue us?

Jarvs(8) hung around for a while with Dave Griffiths(5), then he went- 33 for 6.  Dave joined the sorry procession bringing me to the crease with Dave B.  I planned what  I normally plan- block good balls, hit bad ones and no silly run outs.  For once it worked!  Dave was soon out but Ollie Perkins defended doggedly with me for the last  wicket.  I managed to cheer the lads up a bit with three or four big hits and was enjoying myself and eyeing the hundred when I blasted a widish delivery over cover- only the fielder leaped and took a brilliant one-handed catch.  He then landed with the ball touching the ground which I wondered about but it seemed I was out for 15.  When I forlornly trudged  back to the pavilion a few of our boys said it shouldn’t have been given out but it was little consolation.  We’d lasted 25 overs.  Never mind the tea of baked potatoes, beans ,cheese and sausage was enjoyed.  (worth the trip on its own , Daz said)

Lewdown had 66 overs to knock off the runs on a pitch becoming more benign as it dried out. Our young lads made them fight all the way with some  tight fielding and excellent bowling, particularly from Liam Cotton, who was ‘on fire’.   Liam picked up 2 wickets and I managed one but we didn’t have enough runs on the board.  Lewdown’s batsmen crawled along for some time before eventually picking up the run rate towards the end.  We consoled ourselves with the thought that had we won the toss and batted second it might have been a very different story.

Comments are closed.