Five at the farm

                                                                           Iggy writes:

It was another one of those "will it , won't it" rain days. The man from Midsomer Norton (groundsman) he say Yes, but only if it didn't rain again.

There was a last minute rush around to try and get hold of a tarp of some sort; to cover the wicket when the predicted showers came in, we couldn't get anything big enough, so that was the end of that.

Upon arrival at The Farm it was pretty obvious that there was going to be a shower or two. We spotted what looked like a tarp, locked away in the mower shed, there was a small gap at the top of the partition wall, and our Ollie was chosen, mostly because of his slender build and his agility, to take on the mission. He went up the wall like Spiderman and slid through that gap like a Giro though a letter box. Turns out it wasn't a tarp but a big Gazebo, nice one that will do the job.

Right, so The Plan; win the toss, bowl em out quickly, get the runs even more quickly and get to the pub to watch Brazil vs Chile.

RT1 and Kalu opened the attack on a drying but sticky strip, their opening batsmen were smart and got off to a flyer hitting anything short or wide straight to the boundary and ran very well between the stumps. Kalu got the big fella, caught by Tim at cover.

The 1st change brought the wickets Jules got the opener who was starting to look dangerous, caught behind by Ollie , who had charged the square leg umpire screaming obscenities en route, from behind his Hannibal Lector mask, in the previous over.
Wickets then fell regularly, the pressure of the tight bowling getting to them. Tim and Jules taking 8 wickets between them, all out for 92 in the 30th over. Great bowling great fielding and quick change arounds between over’s, they didn't get a look in.

Their skipper, who was in full rain dance mode, begrudgingly allowed us to go out and bat for 10 overs as the tea wasn't ready yet and it was sure to rain soon.
Evan had strict instructions to bat like a twat, and that he did, not wasting any time gaining a 100% strike rate for his 3, that brought Tooley to the crease, who also wasted no time, with Ahad playing sensibly at the other end, Dave hit a quick 42 in 18 balls to put the game in the bag before getting caught out by a low straight one.

The 10th over came and we had to come off for tea, still needing 20 odd runs. Then our gazebo came into use as the heavens opened, it did its job and kept the wicket dry enough to go back out on, when the rain stopped.

Ahad and Angelo went out to finish the job, with the pressure off, saw us home with ease in the 15 th over.

Not quite as planned but still caught the second half of the footy.

Tim T got MoM for the second week in a row for a fine bowling performance, His 5for costing him a jug back at the plough.

Ollie (Hannibal) Groom, won cider moment for his Umpire charge.

Ahad gets a special mention, for his 3rd not out in a row , Keep it going mate.

Scorecard

Serendip skittled

 

 

Ev writes : 

The Winford ground looked lovely in the June sunshine. It was easy to forget this was an away game, Winford being our old patch, and indeed at least one cowboy marched into the opposition (home) changing room on arrival by mistake.

As Iggy strolled out for the coin toss with the Serendip skipper, the Red Arrows aerial display team appeared over the horizon and looped the loop and billowed smoke directly above us. This caused Iggy to call incorrectly and Serendip opted to bat first.

The pitch had been baked hard in the recent hot spell and looked flat enough. However it was soon apparent that there were a few demons present, particularly at the bottom end on a good length. Tim, bowling down the slope exploited this well, bowling full and getting bounce, and with Ollie stood up, had the batsmen pinned back right from the off.

Coming up the hill, once he found his range, Rob too found bounce from a length. After passing the bat a few times a big edge flew straight into Ollies gloves but the batsman chose not to walk. A few balls later same bat mistimed one high to Iggy at mid off, who took the catch (the first of 3 taken by Iggy), albeit with a look of utter terror on his face.

Tim bowled 2 or perhaps 3 with Yorker length balls which dipped late due to Tim doing something mysterious with his fingers on delivery. Whatever it was it worked.

Kalu took over from Rob and got bounce and some turn. Serendip had lost wickets regularly and the only batsman who had stuck around long enough to get himself in was a left hander who was now enjoying himself, the ball being softer and doing less, and was hitting boundaries around the ground.

There followed a stubborn 9th wicket partnership. The left hander farming the strike and their number 10 scoring the occasional streaky boundary. Samad eventually had the left hand caught pulling a short one to deep square leg, Rob taking the catch low down and winning the cider moment in the process. Shortly after Samad cleaned up the last man as well and Cowboys had bowled out Serendip for 117 somewhere around the 25 over mark.

Tea was generic, lifted a bit by Kiplings Bakewell tarts, mmm, my favourite.

Evan and Ahad opened in reply. Now the pitch was much easier, and other than some mild controversy around a suspect bowling action the innings proceeded unremarkably, and perhaps a little boringly apart from the odd stroke from Ahad.
 

The openers had put on 60 when to the relief of those watching, Evan had a slog across the line and was bowled for 27, just as the Red Arrows reappeared over the trees.

Ahad picked up the pace a little now, playing some deft wristy strokes, and some hard slapped straight drives. After playing a few shots Dave T had a go at a wide one and played on. Simon played too early at a short one and was bowled.

Ahad and Ange saw us home, Ange unselfishly refusing runs so that Ahad might reach his half century before the target was achieved. But when Ahad hit the winning runs with a 4 behind square he had made 46 not out. Cowboys winning by 7 wickets not much after 6pm.

Steveo provided some cold beers and we voted Tim man of the match for his excellent opening spell.
 

Scorecard