Greetings pop-pickers.

Hats
Firstly, hats off to the DoC for his efforts this week...with only seven full-timers declaring availability for the fixture followed by the withdrawal of scheduled oppo Shooters Hill, he certainly earned his corn by ensuring we had any cricket at all. Associates Williams, Morton and forgotten man Garnett were all summoned for duty along with S. Beck shadow squad man Rob Pogose. Boris and Twikki endured a trek to Limpsfield starting at 10:00am, highlights of which can be seen on UKTV Documentary channel next month, narration by Michael Palin. Limpsfield, in particular its home changing-room, had been invaded by crane-flies, so many of them in fact it looked like Jim had put up some fancy new wallpaper. Most were left alone apart from a few unfortunate souls who met an untimely end courtesy of the DoC's size nine.

Shirt
To the cricket then...new opponents Farnborough CC lost the toss and were asked to field in a timed match... with Freeman, Kelly, Valentine, Makin and err... Woodward (!?!) all absent some new openers were required... Captain Hill elected to lead from the front along with natural choice Pogose. 'Boro opened up with the impressive Hampson and the miserly Wolstencroft who despite being wicket-less all afternoon returned the stats of just 25 runs off 17 overs, highlighting how difficult it would be to triumph with bat over ball. On 17 Bradley was caught by Price off Hampson for 15 having started to look settled. This brought Warner to the crease and he and Pogose slowly got the scoreboard moving along with Adrian in particular accelerating nicely, hitting three maximums along the way, helped somewhat by the removal of Hampson from the attack. When Rob holed out to Price for a well made 39 he was replaced by the under-cooked Garnett, who had already been docked 50 fantasy points for wearing the wrong shirt!! Welcome back Scotty! Sadly his stay was a short one and he was replaced by our 'finisher', McCrea. On 122 Macca was caught for 5 however, missing out on his weekly red-inker and bringing his average down to about 95! Williams was next man in and he and Adrian got the score up to 144 when Ader was taken in the deep by a brilliant running catch from Ismail, Adrian scoring a superb 67. Savory was next in with a couple of overs or so left and he sliced his way to 13* and Williams 10* and Beechwood getting up to a par score of 166-5, the unique batting talents of Robinson, Morton, Cooksley and Boss sadly not required. Special mention to Price(4 for 26) who contributed to every wicket that fell.
  
Rolls
Tea...and with regular caterers seemingly on strike this week we were fortunate to have Chocolate-Swiss-Rolls-R-Us step in to cater for us and true to their name there was plenty of choc roll available...one suspects there'll be plenty when we return next time as well...
  
Skates
'Boro got their innings underway with White and the deadly Price; Beechwood with new opening attack of Pogose (opens batting and bowling...could be our new club professional) and Williams and it was Rodders who broke through first with Cooksley pouching White in the gully. This brought Garrett to the crease and he and Price started to get their skates on. Garnett replaced Pogose and bowled with hostility from the off...shame he hasn't been around a bit more...but runs still came fairly easily, this in spite of Scott reducing opener Price's bat to firewood, snapping said blade clean in two. 'Boro had raced up to 94 and were looking odds on to sail home when Price, without his trusty blade miscued Garnett to Cooksley again at gully. Just one more run was added when the recently introduced Savory had Garrett taken by Garnett at shortish mid-on. Beechwood able to breathe again with all three results now possible. Boss replaced Garnett and once he found his length was producing off-breaks that fizzed over the top of the stumps, one in particular exciting Stu so much that it stirred him to do an impromptu sword-dance on a length. Stu then found the outside-edge of Jamson which beat Savory at short third-man; upon seeing the sloth-like Savory giving chase the batsmen probably harboured thoughts of running five but Savory found another gear and as they turned for a second he retrieved and threw...yes, threw...Macca gathered and demolished the stumps and 'Boro were 109-4. On 124 Crowther fell to Savory's arm-ball and the re-introduced Garnett accounted for Ismail; Warner in taking the catch above his head landed like a tranquilised giraffe and was motionless for a few seconds before clambering to his feet again. As for Ader's run-out attempt...well I was too far from the action to pass comment but others more than made up for that...still, great hands Ade!
  
Balls
'Boro on 137-6 then with Thomas still looking for the required runs but he gave Savory one charge too many and presented Macca with a stumping opportunity which was duly taken. Hampson was still going for it though and with two overs remaining 19 runs would take them to victory but Garnett bowled the penultimate over for just four runs which meant Savory had to just hold his nerve for the last over to secure the draw...surely nothing dramatic could happen...could it? Hampson was still looking for the win though and going for the charge first ball became another stumping victim for McCrea...152-8 then but new bat Wolstencroft took just a single off the next two balls exposing Meads who became another stumping victim. 153-9 and two balls left which were kept out by number 11 Darville thus ending an enthralling game which ebbed and flowed throughout. Well played everybody, especially Farnborough who never gave up the chase and played in great spirit throughout. In all the excitement it wasn't immediately apparent that Macca's handy-work had thrust yours truly into jug territory...well done Macca... I mean REALLY WELL DONE MACCA!!
   
Flies
Many thanks to Matt French for officiating, Cookster for 'assisting' Brad in the field, and those who stepped in to boost our numbers.  Back to the crane-flies then who had now also taken up refuge in the showers with somebody cruelly observing that even the flies were more attentive to hygiene than Colin! Post-match booze-up consisting of Stuart and Dave refreshingly un-PC in their attempts to put the world to right, Farnborough guys staying late and enjoying a pint or two, Jim offering to kit Colin out for a tenner ...don't ask!!...and in light of the lack of fare at tea messrs Boss, Morton, Savory and Williams having a gut-bash at the cheese-board. Onto Wadhurst then.
                          
Alright gang!  Not 'arf!

Beechwood:
Boss, Cooksley, Garnett, Hill (c), McCrea (wk), Morton, Pogose, Robinson, Savory, Warner, Williams (D)

Final word from the DoC:
To have an exciting game of cricket you need two to tango, and Farnborough certainly played their part. A good day out and some great performances, especially from Warner and Savory.