Our first visit to Limpsfield for the season then, and no selection dramas to go with this one which made a nice change. Not being a person who allows the weather to dictate things too much, I seldom look at forecasts, but by all accounts it wasn't a great one predicted for todays game. It was bright sunshine when I arose anyway but by mid-morning it was hammering it down, but had cleared again by the time I was ready to set off. Of course, living 25 or so miles from the ground means that you won't necessarily have had the same weather there but the omens weren't good.
Once at the ground you've got your everyday chores to perform: Put out the chairs, put up clock and scoreboard, put out the boundary flags, fill the rabbit-holes with a bucket of "Finest Surrey Loam" etc. You know, everyday sort of stuff... What a caper!! Anyway, the pitch itself hadn't held out too well after the earlier deluge, and there was much speculation as to whether we would actually start the game at all as there was plenty of water sitting on top of it. There was a fierce drying wind however and after much opinion sharing it was decided that a 30-over match was the order of the day with play to start at 3:00 pm. Today’s opponents were Carshalton CC and they won the toss and elected to bat with both teams agreeing to the use of one "newish" ball per innings. Luckily for Colin he spotted he had his strides on inside-out BEFORE we took the field!!
It's game on then, and after seven balls I'm already a quid out of pocket, and yes I agree, they should have been taken but there you go. At least they weren't greeted with stony silence this week because today's wind would have blown the tumbleweed for miles! For yours truly its always a pleasure to report on a Goldfinch on the field and Carshalton's one was looking set for a decent knock. Scott removed his partner early on however and with Bradley keeping things tight from the other end Beechwood had made a decent bowling if not fielding start. New bat Bird had joined Goldfinch (sounding like a twitch report) and steadily rebuilt the innings but a double-wicket maiden from Ian Mac reduced CCC to 57-3. New bat Trewin joined Goldfinch and they rebuilt again but with CCC on 79 some quick thinking from Stuart, who'd made his mind up which end to throw at immediately, resulted in the run out of Goldfinch for 30. The DoC was into the attack by now and bowling well and the re-introduction of Brad from the other end resulted in Boris taking a stunning one-hander above his head. Show-off!!
The fielding fluctuated between sublime and ridiculous all afternoon with KHM deciding the quickest way to get the ball back to the DoC to effect a simple run out was to tunnel it to him, and this was followed by Adrian, smartly picking up at point, leading a sprint against the batsman towards the stumps but throwing from two feet away and the resulting miss crediting CCC with an overthrow. No prizes for guessing who cost the DoC a deserved wicket with another drop (I've nearly paid for next season's balls already) and even Stu spilled one at point, and all this was sandwiched by Boris's effort and Colin plucking one out nowhere, again a spectacular one-handed effort to remove the impressive Hutt. Show-off! Fortunately Brad's beamer was too good for Jones, and me and Scott bowled out to leave CCC closing their innings on 134-9, with "The Dog" smiting some lusty blows at the end to get them up to their total. There'd been the odd bit of drizzle out there and the wind had already looked to blow the sight-screen over on one occasion and had blown down a large branch from one of the trees just over the boundary. Glad I wasn't underneath it with my mitts!
While we tucked into Adrian's impressive spread the rain was falling again but had eased off enough for us to re-start on time. The wind had picked up by now though, and as Tony prepared to face his first ball the sight-screen blew down onto the flower-bed and benches, where luckily everyone had moved from to avoid getting wet. It meant the end of the screens use however, and a much bemused looking skipper watched us wheel it out of harm’s way!! CCC never really got to grips with their soapy ball and served up some friendly bowling early on and although they clawed it back a little Beechwood had scored 57 from 11 overs when the drizzle became a downpour and the sensible decision was made to come off, and with the time already approaching 6:30 it was decided after a very brief inspection to abandon the game there and then. A shame for Beechwood, for without tempting too much fate it did look like they would be able to overhaul their total fairly comfortably, although you can never tell with us!! Full marks to both teams for making an entertaining afternoon of it while it lasted and a special word of praise to Ron who braved the Arctic conditions of CCC's innings. Wasn't it nice to be able to shower at the end of a game as well?! All we need now is Elmer Fudd to apply for the groundsman post and we're laughing...
Beechwood:
Boss, Cooksley, Freeman (c), Garnett, Hill, Makin (wk), McCrea, Morton, Robinson, Savory, Warner
Final words from the DoC:
Hang your heads in shame BBC weather forecasters. |
