Let's hear it for the Other Big Guy

Dave takes Alastair to task for missing a stumping.












When we took over the book from Fen Ditton to score the 2nd innings of this encounter we found out that they had used descriptive terms to identify our bowlers.

They had:

• Beard
• Wristbands
• Young
• Swears a lot
• Other big guy

So: who’s who (p.s. one of these isn’t true)?

We got to field first again. As we gathered around the stumps we noted that they were a good two inches wider at the top than the bottom, something like the Duncan Fearnley logo. It would make them harder to hit but at least it would be impossible to get the ball between them. “Beard” and “Wristbands” opened the bowling. One Fen Ditton opener took a liking to “Wristbands’” offerings which were swinging back into his pads and summarily dispatched to the leg side boundary. This resulted in “Wristbands” quickly being given the hook by his own team after conceding 33 runs in 3 overs. If this was a horse race “Wristbands” would now either (a) be put down or (b) be put out to stud. He has told me that all being equal he would prefer the latter. This being cricket he was sent to patrol the long leg / third man boundary and retrieve the ball from the thorn bushes at regular intervals.

To take his place we turned to Adam (“Young”) who bowled an excellent spell of wrist spin extracting much turn from the wicket and mixing up the length and speed nicely. Is he another Shane Warne in the making? Maybe, but just hopefully you will stay away from the hair treatment advertising, Adam!

Fen Ditton reached 71-0 after 10 overs with a few alarms interspersed with crunching shots to the small boundary. There was then a helter skelter of quick wickets as first Adam removed the less aggressive opener and then George removed the other aided by a Dave Simmons catch. Only two more runs had been added when George produced a beautiful ball. Their #4 made a text book leave and was comprehensively bowled: 71-0 to 73-3 in a couple of overs. George removed two more and Neil chipped in with a wicket (it provided a diversion from swearing at the batsman, the umpire, the fielders and himself) and we had 5 down.

It was then that the “Other Big Guy” stepped in. In the last few games, Dave Scotcher’s bowling has been accurate, frugal, parsimonious, miserly, niggardly and stingy. Today he added penetrative. Over 8.3 overs he rearranged the Readers on 4 occasions and added a 5th wicket courtesy of an excellent running & diving catch from Adam. Fen Ditton were all out for 170 which was a lot less than they had threatened after the initial onslaught. This was Dave’s first 5-for for Coton and very well deserved it was.

Then we batted.

Gabriel and Dave Simmons opened but the former didn’t last the first over. A straight one kept low and scuttled along the pitch and unluckily trapped him in front. Unlucky in having an honest umpire that is: best not to remind Neil of some of the decisions that he didn’t get at this point.

Fen Ditton had figured out that there was a lot of movement to be had on this wicket and the hardest way for us to score would be off slow bowling. So we were presented with spin from the outset at one end and that would be the story of the rest of the match.

Dave and Alastair were accumulating quite nicely until Dave was undone by an excellent catch after he had made fine contact with an on drive. Richard joined Alastair to move things along until a fine piece of comedy running found them both at the same end (Alastair having run 2 to Richard’s 1). Perhaps Alastair was distracted by the contents of his pocket, not having had time to partake following Gabriel's quick dismissal.

Alastair decided to (figuratively) fall on his sword at this point and stepped out of the crease to accept the run out. At this point we then proceeded to dig ourselves a big hole. Richard played an elegant forward defensive but forgot to hit the ball, his back foot was outside the crease and he was dismissed by a fine stumping. Adam slapped one back to the bowler but George was by now dispatching the ball to all corners (can you have corners in an oval?). 33 off 29 balls and the recovery was on until he cracked a loose ball to point: a yard either side would have been another 4. 99-5 soon became 103-9 as Andy, Neil and Pete all departed in quick succession.

Other Big Guy was now joined by Wristbands (aka Original Big Guy) and for a few overs an unlikely win looked possible as the two old war horses gained in confidence. Another batting point was gained and Fen Ditton looked decidedly nervous as 35 were put on for the 10th wicket (the highest of the innings – so we are reversing the order next week). It would only take one mistake though and that came when Rob top edged a chest high full toss (why wasn’t it a no ball?) to fine leg to end the innings.

We ended up 32 runs short. Dave Scotcher takes the plaudits for his 5-for and 19 not out. Dave Simmons is getting a little nervous on his pre-season bet now. George had another good game with 3 wickets and 33 runs. Adam bowled well and Alastair had a good effort with the bat.

Next week it’s the return match at Fulbourn. With George missing in action, its time for Rob to see if he can emulate last season’s record of 4 wins out 5 whilst deputizing as captain. Don’t hold your breath.

A Proper Game of Cricket - Romsey at Trinity Old Field, 29/May/2010

As I cycled away from Trinity Old Field and into the sunset I reflected on the day. We had played a game of cricket on a beautiful spring day, on a great pitch in lovely surroundings. The opposition had been friendly the banter humorous and the game competitive without any nastiness. We lost, but that somehow seemed almost immaterial given everything else.

And a proper game of cricket it was: both teams batted for the full allotment of 40 overs and that is something that happens very rarely in our league (at least for games involving Coton).

Despite conjecture in the dressing room that we would be better off batting first so we didn't have to field in the hottest part of the day we won the toss and put Romsey in. Neil was still enjoying his US trip whilst Billy and Adam were off paintballing. Had they reconnoitred the pitch and decided that bowling was going to be a tough job? They were to be proved right. The two Dave S’s returned to the team with Rob McC and Jack dropping out.

Rob & George opened the bowling again. George bowled beautifully without taking a wicket and it was hard to understand just how he didn’t manage to do that. Rob bowled some good balls mixed in with some bad ones. At that pace and on as true a wicket as Trinity they were dealt with accordingly. We got to the first bowling changes without a wicket being down & Romsey making steady progress.

Dave Scotcher and Dave Simmons were the replacements. Scotch bowled a very tight spell and removed the first of the Romsey openers with 63 on the board thus breaking his 0 runs and 0 wickets for the season drought (he also got some runs later). “Other Dave” (for Dr Who fans, not "Other Dave" from “Silence in the Library” so I guess this is "Other Other Dave") was punished as much as Rob had been and was replaced by Richard. Richard leaked runs as the others had but removed the remaining opener and the #3. George and Rob returned to (in one case) put the pressure on and stem the runs and (in the other) donate over 50 runs in 4 overs to a now rampant Romsey. Two run outs earned us another bonus point.

The boundaries were short and you could have played snooker on the outfield but the sad fact is that George & Scotch conceded runs at about 2.8 per over whereas Rob, Richard and Dave Simmons went for over 8. Romsey amassed 222-6 in their 40 overs. As they left the field there were some mutterings about this not being enough (the previous week they had grabbed 273-1 on the same ground).

After tea, Gabriel and Will lead the charge in reply. Well, maybe not a charge, maybe more of a casual stroll along a canal bank stopping to chat to fishermen, lock keepers, bargees and other ramblers. Will departed for 9 and Alastair joined Gabriel. They proceeded to accumulate runs steadily against a variety of slow, very slow and very very slow bowling, Romsey having figured that taking any pace off the ball made scoring more difficult. They put on 84 for the 2nd wicket before Alastair was lured out of his ground and stumped. He stopped at the crease long enough to exchange pleasantries with his opposite number and compliment him on the stumping (they also had a long chat about face masks, but I am told that this is nothing to be concerned about).

Dave Simmons was also stumped before an exhausted Gabriel was run out 4 short of what would have been a well deserved 50. By this stage he was delirious & dehydrated from the heat and proceeded to wander around the ground looking for sand dunes and oases.

At 112-4 the base had been laid for a late innings thrash: could we make it? For a few overs it looked on. George smashed an enormous 6 and raced to 30 off 15 balls. Sam kept him company in a quickfire partnership before being run out for 10 trying a suicidal 2nd run. He fell victim to the old ploy of the fake wounded fielder. Up to that point he had trundled the ball in underarm but now with a whiff of run out in the air (and a shout of "he hasn't got an arm" in his ear) he managed to ping the ball in overarm: fast and straight. He didn’t even have the decency to feign a bad shoulder afterwards.

George went next ball, and with him our best hope of making the score. Andy and Pete both made double figures and Rob managed to find the only fielder within 50 yards with a top edge before Andy and Dave Scotcher saw out the 40 overs. We came up 36 short with 9 wickets down but there was general agreement that last season it may well have been 100 short with 20 overs remaining.

Putting the finishing touches to the report almost 2 weeks later we now know that all the matches were called off during our blank week leaving us in the relegation zone have won 1 and lost 3. This week we play Fen Ditton over whom we did the double last year. Let’s see what happens this time.

Victory on the Piece: George leads the way

The first two games of the season had seen two defeats. Going into our 3rd game, several team members were unavailable: holidays, cup finals, hangovers and visiting relatives were taking their toll. Three players were making their league debuts for Coton and we just managed to piece together an XI: well done George! It was with some trepidation that I caught the train and walked over to Parker’s Piece for the game against NCI IVths last Saturday.

I also reflected on the fact that I had never completed a cricket match on this historic ground: all previous attempts had been rained off. At least the weather was looking better this week.

There was a last minute panic as Alastair was nowhere to be seen and calls to his house and mobile yielded no results. Had he really said he was playing? Hadn’t he said he was going to The States? Had he got the score book? Andy was resigning himself to going behind the stumps and was starting to pad up. It’s hard to say whether Andy or the bowels were more relieved to spot Alastair and his dog team racing past Reality Checkpoint.

Meanwhile, Gabriel continued to search for the score book…

NCI batted first. George repeated the previous week’s fast/slow opening bowler tactic (with so many missing bowlers this was perhaps more of a necessity than an actual choice). It soon paid dividends: in his first over George induced an edge that was confidently taken by Alastair behind the stumps. Rob then had two confident LBW appeals turned down before taking a simple caught and bowled and George rearranged the remaining opener’s stumps.

Rob tried a tactic that had worked for him successfully in a mid-week match a couple of years ago. Getting very close to the stumps he delivered a straight yorker whilst kicking over the stumps at the bowler’s end. The opposition captain was trapped LBW but whether this was because of the diversionary tactic or just an unplayable ball we will never know. This put NCI at 10-4 and thoughts turned to an early finish.

George continued to work through the batting order whilst Rob was economical without taking another wicket. The number 5 was castled and another caught & bowled reduced the opposition to 23-6.

We were now reaching decision time. We were on top but the two opening bowlers were reaching the end of their spells (and one of them was doing his grumpy old man impersonation, limping around the outfield looking for sympathy).

Rob “Warnie” McCorqudale stepped up for his 1st spell for Coton and promptly took the 7th wicket (32-7). He went on to take the 8th, aided by a smart stumping by Alastair from a leg side wide. Richard bowled a spell from the other end that alternated some wide balls, some very wide balls and several unplayable deliveries that might have caused others to tear their hair out. By the time the 8th wicket went down the score had doubled and NCI were making a fight of the game. Their #9 comfortably outscored the rest of his colleagues: he got more than 50% of the runs that came off the bat.

Rob McC was tiring, Richard was being frustrated by repeated near misses, and debutant Jack (Rob, Dave, Jonny, whatever) delivered a couple of unsuccessful overs. It was time for King George again. In his 2nd over back (and 10th overall) he bowled their #9 one run short of what would have been a deserved 50. One run and three balls later he repeated the treatment sending leg stump flying to end the innings. NCI had gone for 114: George 6-23, Rob K 2-20, Rob McC 2-26.

While we waited for a fine tea to be ferried from The Cricketers Gabriel (“I’m the only player from the village”) entered the scores into his Excel spreadsheet (in lieu of a scorebook).

We set about the chase. The target of 115 was about the same as we had made in the two previous league games combined so looked quite challenging. Gabriel opened with Will Frost, the 3rd of our debutants. Will soon went, bowled by Hefferland for a duck which brought Alastair to the crease. Alastair was soon into his stride and contributed 23 of a 25 partnership by the time Gabriel unerringly picked out a fielder to make it 26-2. Perhaps it’s was eagerness to get back to his automated scoring system. Richard became the third person to be caught and bowled and at 30-3 things were looking sticky. It soon became clear that NCI’s change bowlers were not going to cause the problems that their openers had. Perhaps a lack of maidens was the problem.

Alastair was compiling runs steadily and a sudden burst of scorning from Jack-Rob-Dave-Jonny (“I’m a tennis player really”) started to swing things around. Two sixes into Park Terrace contributed to his 21 from just 11 balls and we were half way to our target. Two quick wickets turned this into “half way to our target with half the team gone”.

It was time for the skipper. He had lifted the curse on his new bat by demolishing the pavilion roof at Fitzwilliam 10 days previously. Today he took an instant liking to NCI’s bowlers. Two attempts to kill the same toddler about 50 yards beyond the deep mid wicket boundary had the liability lawyers readying their briefs. The ball was now speeding to the boundary with some regularity. The remaining runs were rattled off and we reached our target with 17 overs to spare: Alastair 41 not out, George 35 not out off just 17 balls.

This was a comprehensive win in front of the massed tourists and students on Parker’s Piece. Some excellent bowling & keen fielding was followed by a mix of elegant stroke play and vicious hitting. I am sure the great man – after whom the pavilion is named – would have approved.

Gabriel was left wandering the streets of Cambridge checking rubbish bins and assailing random bystanders to inquire whether they had seen a score book. Meanwhile the rest of the team retired to The Cricketers to (a) pretend that they lived up to the name; (b) enjoy some jugs of beer; (c) wind up the absentees about the chances of them getting back into the team.

Doom in the Gloom - Coton get wet, lose to Fulbourn

Damn it was wet.

After much confusion (and dithering) we welcomed Fulbourn Institute II to a damp and gloomy Recreation Ground. Despite the wet conditions the pitch was looking very good from all the hard work put in over the winter and spring. For the regulars (and occasional) pitch crew: well done and thank you. For those who didn’t take part, you know where to find the rota!

Fulbourn took the field in persistent drizzle. Anticipating how wet the ball would become, and how difficult it would be to hold in the 2nd innings, we had agreed before the match to use a new ball for each innings.

Dave Simmons and Gabriel Fox opened the batting again. Alastair was down for number three but as he hadn’t arrived by the time we started, Richard stood ready. It soon became apparent that the wet outfield was going to prevent a high scoring match(*). After a brief settling in against accurate bowling the first wicket went down when Gabriel attempted to run a bye down to fine leg. 19 times out of 20 this would have been a safe run but this time a fine throw and direct hit left Gabriel stranded. Dave was joined by Richard as Alastair was still parking the dogs and locating his pads.

Dave played some fine shots but was frustrated by the slow outfield bringing the ball to a stop short of the boundary. On a dry day he could well have doubled his score. Richard never looked settled and was soon back in the dry of the pavilion for 2. I should point out that despite the wet conditions there was no hint that our batsmen were getting out on purpose to be back in the dry (and slightly warmer) indoors. Alastair was now ready and looking good before he was given out to a marginal LBW decision.

In midweek George had christened his new bat with some towering sixes against The Remnants at Fitzwilliam, including a demolition of the pavilion roof (see the pictures on
http://astro.ic.ac.uk/~mortlock/remnants/). In this match he continued his poor run of form in the league, being undone by one that jagged back sharply and failing to disturb the scorers (as the cliché goes).

Debutant Sam Grace then joined Dave, the latter looking totally untroubled as he moved his score forward. Sam played some fine shots and looking a useful recruit before becoming the first of 4 victims for Mr Whitehead. The second of these was Dave who decided that he could still be waiting for a decent partner at the end of the season, and departed for 35 with the score now 68-6. Adam made some useful runs and the innings ended as it did the week before with Billy not out, Dave out for 0 and Rob slapping one straight at mid wicket who managed to catch it whilst taking evasive action.

80 all out: we all thought that this wasn’t quite enough and that another 20 may have made the game very interesting.

We adjourned for some fine teas courtesy of Janet Scotcher whilst the rain got harder. Towards the end of tea it eased off, and by the time we fielded it had stopped completely. By the end of the innings there were even some rays of sunlight.

George and Rob opened the bowling for a contrast in styles: one elegant, quick and athletic, the other rotund, slow and arthritic. This didn’t prevent George falling over on his first delivery. Billy was positioned at mid off with a towel to keep the ball as dry as possible and the tactic worked very well. Rob made the breakthrough in the 4th over as the opening bat aimed for the footpath and was undone by one that swung away. In his next over Rob removed the number three, trapped in front and the following over George despatched the remaining opener who was also pinned leg before.

17-3 and game on: could we keep up the pressure. Slowly but surely Fulbourn turned it around. Scotch was his usual accurate self, only 8 scoring shots came of his 36 deliveries (unfortunately one was a six). Adam bowled some excellent spin, Richard varied some very, very wide ones with some unplayable balls but we couldn’t make the breakthrough. Billy was the one bowler to really suffer through the wet conditions and his single over was quite expensive.

The 4th wicket pair had taken the score to within 14 of victory when Adam bowled another fine turner and Scotch swooped at slip to scoop up the catch. A few balls later Richard enticed Rees to hit one straight at George and it was 5 down for 72.

It was to prove too little, too late and Fulbourn were able to limp home with 10 overs to spare.

So, we had two defeats to start the season. The batting looked more solid but we didn’t make quite enough and weren’t able to push home the advantage when we had them reeling at the start of their innings. The pitch played very well and the hard work we had put in over the winter held up well. So next it’s on to Parker’s Piece and the scrutiny of tourists and the Cambridge public. How would we fare?

(*) As if our matches were ever high scoring.

King George Ascends - Waterbeach 01/May/2010

On a pleasant spring day that managed to confound the forecasters, King George assumed the leadership of the Coton CC. What he thought of the performance of his new subjecs is not on record. His predecessor – King Richard – had abdicated during the winter but was still present to lend his experience, not to mention the luxurious beard that had developed during the close season. Rumour has it there are white-spotted bluethroats nesting there.

However, “6C” (try saying that quickly), aka Coton Cricket Club Coach Chris Cooke was not to be seen. Having been forced into retirement through injury he has taken on the challenge of coaching the team to new levels of performance over the winter months. How would they respond? Could Dave Scotcher learn to play a straight bat? Could Rob Kaye bowl an inswinger? Could Gabriel Fox catch a cricket ball? Could Neil Sparnon appeal any louder? Chris will need to wait a little longer to find out in person.

Apart from Chris the team that took the field at Waterbeach had a familiar look to it with the usual stale warts stalwarts joined by the youth movement of Billy & Adam (having got notes from their respective parents).

The day got off to its usual start with panicked messages from the M11 (henceforward to be known as the Andrew East Memorial Parkway). “Has anyone got the book from Ross” was followed by “traffic bad, will be there at 2”. So, we already knew we would be one short at 1:30 and more bad news was to come: Alastair was car-less and no one had spotted his plea for a lift! He got on his bike and arrived during the 4th over having been towed to Waterbeach by one heroic little doggie (thanks, Shadow).

King George won the toss and inserted Waterbeach while the rest of the team reminisced with familiar faces from previous encounters. We took the field with 9 men, Andy still being on the M11 and poor Shadow having stopped to take on water in Fen Ditton. Neil donned the gloves which meant that King George and Billy opened the bowling. Unlike Dave and Rob, Neil is still quick enough that he can’t deliver the ball AND make it behind the stumps for the edge. It all started promisingly. Billy got the first wicket of the season and Adam took a catch to remove the other opener. [Note to Adam: it looks better if you dive before the catch instead of safely pouching it and then doing the salmon leap.]

Alastair arrived and after a brief fight took the gloves off Neil. Overall this was definitely a good move. Dave replaced Billy and Neil took over from King George and Waterbeach were soon 4 down for not too many courtesy of a thin edge off Neil to the Alastair and a clean bowled from King George. Mr East arrived and we realised how quiet it had been without his enthusiastic encouragement in the field. Totally unrelated to Andy’s arrival it was at this point that the game swung to Waterbeach. In spite of some fairly tight bowling from Messrs Wright, Scotcher and Kaye the 5th wicket pair of Waterbeach were able to accumulate steadily alternating periods of defence with punishment of the few bad balls. It was during this period where a limping Dave Scotcher pulled off a remarkable stop in the field. Remarkable in that the ball got to him slowly that he was able to dive in instalments to stop it (he may still be diving for all we know).

King George took decisive action, bringing back Neil, Billy and finally own royal personage to the attack. Despite Gabriel’s one man juggling show it worked. The 5th wicket stand of 75 was broken and the final 6 Waterbeach wickets removed for 47 runs. A fine catch at square leg by HRH off Billy, some rapid bowling and stump rattling by Neil and final coup de grace by The King wrapped things up. There were 4 wickets for Neil, 3 economical ones for George and 3 by Billy. Waterbeach were 165 all out, so full bowling points for us. Had one or two of the catches stuck, it could well have been less than 100.

Perhaps I should stop there. I have covered all the good bits. When I say that Mr Extras top scored for us you can tell it was a traditional Coton batting performance. 3 down for 7 after 3 overs: it didn’t get any better. The top order was undone by flight and speed variations from opening bowler Shimron Thomas and pacier stuff from Hawkes. Collectively the top 5 contributed 7 runs.

The tail wagged a bit. Adam top scored with 9, and Rads made optimal use of the outside edge to get us what might turn out to be a vital bonus point. In the end it was an unlucky, fluky, deflection off a drive from Billy that ended the innings with Scotch run out backing up. And that was that: 57 all out. 5 bonus points were gained which put us above Romsey Town & Balsham (who both got 4) and Fen Ditton (who didn’t play).

So, for the benefit of Mr Cooke: the lower order for once outscored the top of the order so perhaps some of us have taken on board the techniques he has extolling over the winter and early spring.

Safe, by the skin of our teeth

In the end, we did just enough to stay in J3B. That is assuming that the league doesn't go through one of its periodic reorganisations. We lost, but so did March at Cherry Hinton so they occupied the 2nd relegation spot alongside Girton. Cherry Hinton went up as did Granta IV (will we miss them?).

For everyone who says it hasn't been a good summer, let me ask, when was the last time you remember a season where not one game was lost to the weather, not just by us, but in the entire league? A shower before the start of the home game with Fen Ditton and a downpour at teatime in March appart were the sum total of the bad weather.

So played 16 won 5 is the final reckoning and we avoided the drop by 2 bonus points. We picked up 59 in the 11 games we lost (37 bowling, 2 batting) which was 2 more than March.

As for the match itself we welcomed back George Speller after missing a few games whilst Neil Sparnon has headed off to Africa. Dave Scotcher was back after his sojurn to Ireland replaceing Alfie Newman and Dave Hale returned which meant Dave Simmons missing out.

Richard won the toss and we batted first on a lovely afternoon. The boundary was quite small as evidenced by the number of sixes hit during the game. George and Billy Haynes opened and kept the openers pegged down, George removing the first of them. There was a lot of chatter in the field as four bowlers had the chance of being the top wicket taker for the season. These wickets moved George on to 16 apiece, one ahead of Billy, 1 behind the Scotch and 3 behind Rob Kaye. The first bowling changes brough Adam Wright and Dave Scotcher into the attack and the runs started to come more readily. Some catches went down (around 5 in total) and heads started to drop.

Rob replaced Adam while Dave kept plugging away at the other. He finally removed the second opener but the runs continued to come quite readily. The skipper changed things around to make a breakthrough and it worked: Billy removed Comberton's young number 3 with one that kept low and pinned him in front.

It was then that George broked through with 2 in 2 balls. The first was the game's champagne moment. It was hit firmly in the direction of mid-on where it looked to all the world to be over the head of the backpeddling Scotch. He didn't have time to assess the moral dilemma: take the catch and let George equal his wicket total or drop it? No one would notice amongst the other drops. In the end his team ethic won the day and leaping like salmon on the waterfalls he plucked the ball out of the air, staggered back, rolled over and held the ball.

Andy East's juggling at short mid on was more comedic but not as effective.

George kept it simple the next ball by castling their number 6 to move ahead of Dave in the wicket stakes. With the field crowding the bat (or were the deep guys just feeling lownly) the hattrick ball took an inside edge and squirted past leg stump.

Billy removed another Combertonian to move on to 17 wickets but came in for some harsh treatment at the end. George picked up another wicket to move level with Rob at the top of the charts then Dave removed two ferrets (the ones that go in after the rabbits) to pip Rob at the post. I was chuntering away to myself at deep mid-off, held back from bowling and unable to respond to the challenge.

It ended: Dave 20, George and Rob 19 apiece, Billy 17 and Neil 15.

So we batted. Like many other performances this season there was a good start, and then a trail off to inglorious end. Chris and Alastair Breward opened up and after sizing up the bowling Chris started to pepper the boundary. Alastair didn't look comfortable and departed for 2.

Dave Hale joined Chris and the assault continued. Chris smashed two sixes into the adjacent tennis courts almost hitting the family of the Comberton captain who took this as a hint that it was time to change the bowling.

And it worked. Mr Samways first ball was a rank "hit me" ball which Chris did, unfortunately straight at long on who took the catch. This was the first of four for a player who - in his own words - is generally hidden in the field due so as not to attract the ball.

That established the pattern. A series of bad balls that were obligingly dispatched straight to fielders. George creamed two immense sixes the second of which was still rising when it hit the trees on the square leg boundary before he was removed by a slip catch.

Gabriel Fox hit a six - an indication of the distance of the boundary - and was, for a 2nd week running not out LBW. Instead, like the rest of us he was caught althouugh there was an element of doubt in this at least in his mind.

All 10 wickets were catches: surely a first for the club.

So we declined to 106 all out, losing by 91 runs. Would two batting points - to go with four bowling - be enough we wondered as we supped some excellent beer at the Three Horseshoes? Next morning at the results on the website were to show that they were.

Between now and Christmas we have work to do on the pitch (lads -- this is a great excuse to get out for a bevvy, don't miss it) the AGM and a Christmas Dinner.

Despite our struggles it's been another enjoyable season with individual moments to celebrate and enough candidates for the champagne moment to make chosing a winner difficult. We've welconed some new friends and lost some old ones (Norts did reply to the email I sent after the game so we know he is alive and kicking in Middle Earth).

See you all soon.

Fun in the Fen

If this was football they would be talking about a 6 pointer. A run of just one win in the last 10 games had seen us slip into the relegation zone and a game against the Fen Ditton team that had climbed above us had really become a must win (sorry to use that hoary old cliche).

Well, we did win and with other results going our way the table looks a lot rosier now:

• 5th NCI - 158 pts
• 6th Coton - 153
• 7th March - 150
• 8th Fen Ditton - 149
• 9th Girton - 103

Next week we play Comberton who are comfortably 4th and can neither go up nor down. March play Cherry Hinton who need a win to make certain of promotion and NCI play Fen Ditton. So we aren't safe yet but "it's in our own hands" as the pundits say.

Back to the actual game. An inspection of the pitch lead us to the conclusion that it would be an early finish. However while there were a few balls that jumped or shot Fen Ditton batted out their full 40 overs and we used 38 in reply. I actually managed to win the toss and invited our hosts to bat. Neil Sparnon and Billy Haynes opened the bowling. Having hit the opener 3 times on the chest Neil defeated him with a full pitched ball that rearranged the furniture (feng shui'ed the readers according to Rads). Billy had three good shouts for LBW against the other opener, the last of which was given by the umpire.

Neil was storming in encouraged by the lively pitch and Billy bowled 6 tight overs, Rads having forensically examined the rule book and determined this new higher restriction.

Fen Ditton now fought back against the change bowlers, Rob Kaye and debutant Alfie Newman. It was during this phase that Dave Simmons did a nose dive over the fence on the leg side boundary. Nice try Dave, but nowhere near the comedy value of Neil's steeplechasing at Stow the other week. Alfie reeled off a very encouraging 8 over spell, picking up one wicket. Almost as encouraging was Billy's catch at slip; note to self, maybe putting someone with reflexes at slip instead of one of the old duffers might not be a bad idea!

Rob got one to slant across the leftie and jag back sharply to hit his leg stump before we switched again. Adam Wright started with two maidens but got a bit of stick later in his spell while Neil was now in full flow, pounding in and grabbing two more wickets. Billy finished off with another wicket and held his nerve well in the last overs. He combined with Alastair to get two runouts: one thrown from keeper to bowler, the other from bowler to keeper.

Fen Ditton finished on 145-9 or 145 all out if you prefer as they were one man short.

After tea we opened up with Chris Cooke and Dave Simmons. Chris was back from injury and holiday and although unable to bowl was soon into his stride batting. Dave departed for 1 but Chris was peppering the boundary with crisp drives, viscious pulls and elegant glances. Alastair smacked a couple of find boundaries before picking out mid-off with a strong drive that was taken low down and he was gone for 9: 48-2 after 16 overs.

Chris was looking untroubled and reached 50 out of 71 in the 19th over with 11 fours: one over from Andy Rabjohns yielded 4 of them. So it was something of a surprise when he was picked up by the 3rd change bowler during an over that consisted of a boundary, three wides and two wickets, the second being Paul Bradbury who had contributed a solid 0 during a stand of 23 with Chris. So 71-2 very quickly became 72-4.

The two new batsmen were Gabriel Fox and Adam Wright and together they put on 38 with some good running, and a series of fine blows by Adam. We were keeping up with the rate and when Gabriel missed a straight one (having not been given out LBW for once) we needed 36 off 10 overs.

Alfie joined Adam and the rate continued to tick over until Adam finally went for a very impressive 39 with 22 now needed off 7 overs.

This brought Neil out to join Alfie. He survived a very confident appeal for a caught behind which upset Fen Ditton somewhat. This in turn got Neal's dander up. He nearly decapitated the square leg umpire when he let go of his bat trying to pull: I ask you, is that any way to show gratitude for the not out?

[This illustrates another difference between Cricket and Baseball. A bat throwing incident often leads to both teams squaring off for some pushing and pleasentries. Even the guys on the bench stop taking steroids long enough to grab their handbags and join the fin.]

Neil then got down to the other end and smashed a couple of fours that got us in range of the target: 4 needed off 3. In the next over some quick running got us to the target with 12 balls remaining: Alfie a very commendable debut 6 not out, Neil 12.

So an excellent win in a keenly fought match between two well ballanced sides. Good fielding, tight bowling lead by Neil's 3-18 (with some superb appealing) and then a well paced run chase led by Chris and Adam with good support from the rest of the team.

See y'all at Comberton. Or we could all start practicing our rain dances as if the matches are cancelled, positions stay unchanged we are safe.