Coton v Waterbeach, 21 June 2008, Midsummer Madness on Coton Rec.......

It’s a tradition for which origins are lost in the mist of time. They say that in the olden days men erected two sets of three wooden poles in the ground to cast the shadows of the midsummer sun and then donned strange white garb to perform arcane rituals around the poles. They appealed to the god known as Umpire with strange cries of "Howzat" and greeted each other with shouts of "run" and "wait" whilst wearing strange accoutrements that many historians believe to be vestiges of former armour. Meanwhile loyal servants prepared banquets in the fabled pavilions so that the hungry revellers could feast and gain strength.

Well, maybe. Anyone looking for shadows at Coton Recreation this Midsummer would have been hard pressed to spot any as the current acolytes of cricket took the field against Waterbeach. Grey clouds covered the sky and the ritual proceeded under the continual threat of rain, although there were no more than a few drops during the game. There were several enforced changes in the team from last week’s victory at Cambourne: most notably in the bowling attack where three key purveyors were missing. As a result the bowling was opened by Ross Chandler and Rob Kaye: hardly the fastest attack in the world but fast was not to be the order of the day. The morning drizzle had made the pitch treacherous which Rob soon discovered as he fell over delivering his first ball (the surprised batsman was unable to score off it). Ross and Rob delivered tight opening spells, Rob bowling both openers before handing the ball to Dave Scotcher who proceeded to take the third Waterbeach wicket with his second delivery. Ross bowled unchanged through to drinks at which point Waterbeach were 55-4.

Bowling became steadily more difficult as the ball absorbed more and more moisture. Dave bowled through his ten overs without anymore wickets. Richard took over from Ross and bowled tidily taking the 5th wicket but an ominous 6th wicket stand developed and this was to ultimately put the game beyond Coton’s reach. The umpires declined a number of LBW and stumping appeals: since when has "I wasn’t paying attention" been a legitimate reason for turning down one of the more blatant stumpings? The fielding degenerated somewhat and it took the introduction of Ed Darling to break the partnership. Ed proceeded to take 2 wickets in his short spell, Richard taking the only catch of the innings. Rob returned to close out the innings. In his early spell the ball had been swinging extensively but the sodden ball offered no such incentive now and no further wickets were taken. Waterbeach finished on 162-7, the exact same total that Cambourne had gained the previous week. Could Coton do it again?

After a fine tea provided by Janet Scotcher, Ross and Richard opened the reply. Ross continued his form from where he had left off the previous week striking the ball around the ground. The opening partnership had reached 35 before Richard was bowled: his contribution to that stand was being just 3. Dave Hale came and went quickly and then Alastair joined Ross for a steadying stand. While Ross was there victory looked distinctly possible but he was unfortunate to drag a wide ball onto his stumps and departed for 42. The scoring rate slowed and the target crept up to 5 and then 6 runs per over needed. Acceleration was the order of the day in the last dozen overs but attempting to do this precipitated a mini-collapse with Mike Bullard and Al Carroll departing to successive deliveries. Alastair was still providing stability at one end: could the tail wag for once and hit the 80 or so runs now needed?

For once the Care Bear family got some runs. Firstly Rob hit a couple of cracking boundaries before departing to an expansive shot of Waterbeach’s best bowler. Alistair eventually went for a hard-fought 19 followed by Rads and Dave both making useful contributions. The innings was brought to a close by Paul Norton being run out off the final ball: "not-out Norts" finally being
out. In the end we came up 25 runs short in an even match that was just shaded by Waterbeach.

The Coton team and many of the Waterbeach team retired down to the pub for the final phase of the Midsummer celebrations. In recognition of the changing sensibilities in these modern times we decided to skip the part involving the sacrifice of naked virgins*.
Next week its off to Over all being well. See you there.

(*Because we couldn’t find any).

Highs:
- Ross Chandler making 42 runs on a tough day to score runs
- Ed Darling taking 2 for 15 in 3 overs - removing the top 2 scorers for Waterbeach.
- Alastair Breward made a sustained batting effort and helped the the tail to Wag.......check out the scorecard!!!
Lows:
- Unable to "restrict" Waterbeach to a reasonable total.......perhaps a day to implement the sweeper earlier.......
- A "misly" day that needed some Coton sunshine to pour on the runs......next week, next week.
- A dropped catch from Coton's Silver Fox - aka Mike Bullard.....bump ball or not!

Next week its off to Over all being well. See you there.