Scorecard
Showing posts with label Midsomer Norton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Midsomer Norton. Show all posts
Saturday, 27 July 2013
Saturday, 25 May 2013
Farmborough frittata
It was clear fresh and bright at Farmborough when the Cowboys convened to play against Midsomer Norton, although the same adjectives could not perhaps be attributed to all players in the home team.
Skipper Iggy won the toss for the fourth time in succession and gave the new ball to Budge and Garnier who both pegged the openers down with a tidy line and length, initially restricting the opposition to a paltry two runs an over. Around the time that Budge started misfiring occasional beamers, one of the batsmen (conveniently) developed an at-the-time unspecified problem and retired from the field, bringing a younger stylish bat to the crease.
As the score snailed along, a large mirror appeared from the clubhouse and was placed on a chair by the boundary. Was this an attempt to dazzle the fielding side with reflected sunlight? A signal to reinforcements in the hills? An opposition narcissist? The real reason revealed itself to be the solution to a problem the retiring batsman had had with a contact lens.
The Landlord and Lalith replaced Budge and Garnier but although they too kept the runs to a trickle and forced a couple of chances that went to ground, no wicket was forthcoming. 'Boring,' shouted Garnier, a man who in averting an accident recently, found himself horizontal in front of a moving car and for whom the arrival of an extraterrestrial test team would now barely merit a raised eyebrow.
At the drinks interval the opposition were around fifty without loss, but soon after the resumption MattD removed the obstinate opener and the previously retired one returned. The odd loose ball was put away and the score advanced slowly, until just before the hundred came up Matt hit the stumps again. A few overs later he bowled the new batsman to claim his third victim and Midsomer Norton were 116-3.
Ev and Dunc tried their arm but were met with a determined effort to raise the run rate in the remaining overs as the batsmen found the boundary with increased frequency. Garnier was prescribed the ball again to counter his attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, forcing the opening bat, who by now had reached his half-century, into a mistimed drive that swirled into the covers for the Landlord to pouch.
Late in the innings, making his debut for the Cowboys, Sean was given the ball and promptly bowled the batsman with his first delivery, thereby ensuring that there was at least one, if only one, potential Cider Moment for which to vote later on. Garnier then bowled the opposition skipper's son, who'd aggressively forced the score up to 165-6 and by the end of the 40th over the total had reached 173.
It's not often that one has to resort to Wikipedia to explain the tea, but ...
"The Italian word frittata derives from fritta, the feminine past participle of "to fry" (friggere) and was originally a general term for cooking eggs in a skillet, anywhere on the spectrum from fried egg, through conventional omelette, to an Italian version of the Spanish tortilla de patatas, made with fried potato."
What Wikipedia fails to mention is that the making of a frittata absolves the creator from having to take any wickets or score more than one run. Armed with this knowledge (along with many plaudits for a fine tea) Ev strode out to the wicket to open with Grove, returning very soon to do the washing-up: 2-1.
Inspired captaincy saw Budge coming in at number three, where he immediately appeared at home, striking the ball cleanly and running well between the wickets, putting on a near half-century partnership before being bowled for 24. Grove's strokeplay ended not long afterwards when he was caught for 15, leaving Sean and Dunc to rebuild. The former mirrored his success with the ball, displaying some exquisite sweeps and square drives that spliced the field, the latter sweeping even finer and matching his partner's accumulation of boundaries.
When Sean was bowled by the opposition skipper's slow guile for 31, the Cowboys were half way to their target on 87-4. Lalith joined Dunc and stood tall to block a few before bending his knees to scoop the ball aerially out of reach of fielders, launching a couple of sixes over mid-on. A few chances went to ground in the deep but the pair stayed together until Lalith holed out for 24 with the score on 132-5. With Dunc determinedly dug in, Matt came in and hit a dozen runs, including a six, before being bowled and replaced by Iggy with twenty runs required from the last four or five overs.
With the echoes of Iggy's Bath battering five sixes last week still bouncing around the valley, there was little doubt that the Cowboys would make it over the line, although it was Dunc who knocked off the majority of the remainder, ending unbeaten on a Man of the Match winning 46 and batting his team to a four wicket victory.
Scorecard
Skipper Iggy won the toss for the fourth time in succession and gave the new ball to Budge and Garnier who both pegged the openers down with a tidy line and length, initially restricting the opposition to a paltry two runs an over. Around the time that Budge started misfiring occasional beamers, one of the batsmen (conveniently) developed an at-the-time unspecified problem and retired from the field, bringing a younger stylish bat to the crease.
As the score snailed along, a large mirror appeared from the clubhouse and was placed on a chair by the boundary. Was this an attempt to dazzle the fielding side with reflected sunlight? A signal to reinforcements in the hills? An opposition narcissist? The real reason revealed itself to be the solution to a problem the retiring batsman had had with a contact lens.
The Landlord and Lalith replaced Budge and Garnier but although they too kept the runs to a trickle and forced a couple of chances that went to ground, no wicket was forthcoming. 'Boring,' shouted Garnier, a man who in averting an accident recently, found himself horizontal in front of a moving car and for whom the arrival of an extraterrestrial test team would now barely merit a raised eyebrow.
At the drinks interval the opposition were around fifty without loss, but soon after the resumption MattD removed the obstinate opener and the previously retired one returned. The odd loose ball was put away and the score advanced slowly, until just before the hundred came up Matt hit the stumps again. A few overs later he bowled the new batsman to claim his third victim and Midsomer Norton were 116-3.
Ev and Dunc tried their arm but were met with a determined effort to raise the run rate in the remaining overs as the batsmen found the boundary with increased frequency. Garnier was prescribed the ball again to counter his attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, forcing the opening bat, who by now had reached his half-century, into a mistimed drive that swirled into the covers for the Landlord to pouch.
Late in the innings, making his debut for the Cowboys, Sean was given the ball and promptly bowled the batsman with his first delivery, thereby ensuring that there was at least one, if only one, potential Cider Moment for which to vote later on. Garnier then bowled the opposition skipper's son, who'd aggressively forced the score up to 165-6 and by the end of the 40th over the total had reached 173.
It's not often that one has to resort to Wikipedia to explain the tea, but ...
"The Italian word frittata derives from fritta, the feminine past participle of "to fry" (friggere) and was originally a general term for cooking eggs in a skillet, anywhere on the spectrum from fried egg, through conventional omelette, to an Italian version of the Spanish tortilla de patatas, made with fried potato."
What Wikipedia fails to mention is that the making of a frittata absolves the creator from having to take any wickets or score more than one run. Armed with this knowledge (along with many plaudits for a fine tea) Ev strode out to the wicket to open with Grove, returning very soon to do the washing-up: 2-1.
Inspired captaincy saw Budge coming in at number three, where he immediately appeared at home, striking the ball cleanly and running well between the wickets, putting on a near half-century partnership before being bowled for 24. Grove's strokeplay ended not long afterwards when he was caught for 15, leaving Sean and Dunc to rebuild. The former mirrored his success with the ball, displaying some exquisite sweeps and square drives that spliced the field, the latter sweeping even finer and matching his partner's accumulation of boundaries.
When Sean was bowled by the opposition skipper's slow guile for 31, the Cowboys were half way to their target on 87-4. Lalith joined Dunc and stood tall to block a few before bending his knees to scoop the ball aerially out of reach of fielders, launching a couple of sixes over mid-on. A few chances went to ground in the deep but the pair stayed together until Lalith holed out for 24 with the score on 132-5. With Dunc determinedly dug in, Matt came in and hit a dozen runs, including a six, before being bowled and replaced by Iggy with twenty runs required from the last four or five overs.
With the echoes of Iggy's Bath battering five sixes last week still bouncing around the valley, there was little doubt that the Cowboys would make it over the line, although it was Dunc who knocked off the majority of the remainder, ending unbeaten on a Man of the Match winning 46 and batting his team to a four wicket victory.
Scorecard
Saturday, 11 May 2013
Methodist madness
It's a little known fact that in the North Somerset dialect there are seventeen words for wind, yet none of them can accurately convey the climatic conditions which greeted the Cowboys on their arrival at Norton Hill School for their first outing against Midsomer Norton Methodists, who appeared to have prepared a wicket of moss on the side of a geological fault line.
Before the fun began, in what can only have been an act of sabotage to prevent a challenge to his batting average, Ev ran over Preash's kit in the car park, which happily, like it's owner, showed determined resistance and refused to buckle.
Having successfully tossed a coin and not seen it blown to the next county, the skipper invited The Meths to bat and handed the new cherry to Rich and Rob. Both bowled a tidy line and length, given all the geography going on, with the rain now rudely spitting, making the ball difficult to grip. No mean feat then for Lalith to hold on to a catch off RT1, who round about now had twanged part of his leg mechanism and was unable to complete his excellent spell of 1 for 7. On came Matt to replace him, bowling a menacing and threatening line which the batsmen found equally hard to put away, soon hitting the stumps to take the second wicket.
After eight overs of tight and testing deliveries for no reward, Rich was replaced at the portakabin® end by the Landlord. "Why Mr Landlord, do I not get more wickets?" asked Rich in the pub afterwards, having seen his successor sling down a rank first delivery which the hitherto difficult-to-remove batsman smacked in the vicinity of Ben, who took a superlative low catch. The answer to the question is of course to bowl more shite.
Matt's judicious use of the ridged pitch soon brought him a second wicket, to have the opposition at 41 for 4 and without the score advancing further he hit the stumps yet again, finishing with fine figures of 3 for 9. Before the total had reached fifty the Landlord got in on the act and found the stumps too, but then came some resistance as their skipper dug in, smiting some hefty blows and forging a near fifty run partnership, eventually broken by Ev.
There were missed opportunities aplenty as catches went to ground and fielding went awry, the details of which, and some responsibility for, are best left with the fines' fuhrer. Lalith kept his heed at the bowler's end to secure a run out, thanks in part to their skipper, who he then bowled for 46, before wrapping up the innings in the penultimate over by bowling the number 11: All out for 106.
A generous tea and respite from the gale was taken in a portakabin® classroom and comprised fayre that wouldn't have looked out of place in a televised cake bake-off.
From one perfect sponge to another, Grover and Ev strode out, the former returning one ball later, bowled for an ignominious golden duck. With only three runs on the board Ben was similarly bowled and despite powerfully and purposefully walloping his first ball, Angelo was bowled from the other end before the total had reached double figures. Iggy too took a direct approach, intent on putting away the bad ball, but when a lofted shot held up in the wind and was caught by his opposite number, the Cowboys were a windblasted and desperate 15 for 4.
Matt came out to bat and found the boundary once but added only another dozen runs with Ev before falling victim to the wicket which he'd earlier exploited so well with the ball. Lalith started cautiously, building a vital partnership to rescue some semblance of respectability and as the ball was given more air and he hit out, he was fortunate to be dropped at long-off. Far from dulling his resolve, an identical shot was played a short while later, which this time was competently caught.
Preash entered the scene with the score on 47 for 6 and set about rebuilding the mess with Ev, who by now was exhibiting some stylish strokeplay on the tricky sticky wicket. The newcomer blocked well and intelligently farmed the strike to his partner, despite the previous motorised assault on his baggage. The partnership crept along and the score advanced, aided at times by a little wayward bowling and nervous fielding in response to the growing Cowboy authority as the required total began to appear attainable.
Shortly after the pair had made a consummate fifty partnership the hundred came up, but just before Ev was able to complete a half century of his own, he was caught for a solid 46 which was later to earn him the Man of the Match vote. The remaining half a dozen runs were a formality, which the Landlord contributed nothing to, bowled as he was by a low straight one for a duck and it was left to Garner to finish things off with the immovable Preash, who for the second week remained not out on eleven.
Under an improbable rainbow back at the main Midsomer Norton ground, Ben's catch was voted as the Cider Moment and the proceeds from the multifarious fines were donated to his forthcoming marathon running attempt in Edinburgh in aid of Parkinson's UK.
Scorecard
Before the fun began, in what can only have been an act of sabotage to prevent a challenge to his batting average, Ev ran over Preash's kit in the car park, which happily, like it's owner, showed determined resistance and refused to buckle.
Having successfully tossed a coin and not seen it blown to the next county, the skipper invited The Meths to bat and handed the new cherry to Rich and Rob. Both bowled a tidy line and length, given all the geography going on, with the rain now rudely spitting, making the ball difficult to grip. No mean feat then for Lalith to hold on to a catch off RT1, who round about now had twanged part of his leg mechanism and was unable to complete his excellent spell of 1 for 7. On came Matt to replace him, bowling a menacing and threatening line which the batsmen found equally hard to put away, soon hitting the stumps to take the second wicket.
After eight overs of tight and testing deliveries for no reward, Rich was replaced at the portakabin® end by the Landlord. "Why Mr Landlord, do I not get more wickets?" asked Rich in the pub afterwards, having seen his successor sling down a rank first delivery which the hitherto difficult-to-remove batsman smacked in the vicinity of Ben, who took a superlative low catch. The answer to the question is of course to bowl more shite.
Matt's judicious use of the ridged pitch soon brought him a second wicket, to have the opposition at 41 for 4 and without the score advancing further he hit the stumps yet again, finishing with fine figures of 3 for 9. Before the total had reached fifty the Landlord got in on the act and found the stumps too, but then came some resistance as their skipper dug in, smiting some hefty blows and forging a near fifty run partnership, eventually broken by Ev.
There were missed opportunities aplenty as catches went to ground and fielding went awry, the details of which, and some responsibility for, are best left with the fines' fuhrer. Lalith kept his heed at the bowler's end to secure a run out, thanks in part to their skipper, who he then bowled for 46, before wrapping up the innings in the penultimate over by bowling the number 11: All out for 106.
A generous tea and respite from the gale was taken in a portakabin® classroom and comprised fayre that wouldn't have looked out of place in a televised cake bake-off.
From one perfect sponge to another, Grover and Ev strode out, the former returning one ball later, bowled for an ignominious golden duck. With only three runs on the board Ben was similarly bowled and despite powerfully and purposefully walloping his first ball, Angelo was bowled from the other end before the total had reached double figures. Iggy too took a direct approach, intent on putting away the bad ball, but when a lofted shot held up in the wind and was caught by his opposite number, the Cowboys were a windblasted and desperate 15 for 4.
Matt came out to bat and found the boundary once but added only another dozen runs with Ev before falling victim to the wicket which he'd earlier exploited so well with the ball. Lalith started cautiously, building a vital partnership to rescue some semblance of respectability and as the ball was given more air and he hit out, he was fortunate to be dropped at long-off. Far from dulling his resolve, an identical shot was played a short while later, which this time was competently caught.
Preash entered the scene with the score on 47 for 6 and set about rebuilding the mess with Ev, who by now was exhibiting some stylish strokeplay on the tricky sticky wicket. The newcomer blocked well and intelligently farmed the strike to his partner, despite the previous motorised assault on his baggage. The partnership crept along and the score advanced, aided at times by a little wayward bowling and nervous fielding in response to the growing Cowboy authority as the required total began to appear attainable.
Shortly after the pair had made a consummate fifty partnership the hundred came up, but just before Ev was able to complete a half century of his own, he was caught for a solid 46 which was later to earn him the Man of the Match vote. The remaining half a dozen runs were a formality, which the Landlord contributed nothing to, bowled as he was by a low straight one for a duck and it was left to Garner to finish things off with the immovable Preash, who for the second week remained not out on eleven.
Under an improbable rainbow back at the main Midsomer Norton ground, Ben's catch was voted as the Cider Moment and the proceeds from the multifarious fines were donated to his forthcoming marathon running attempt in Edinburgh in aid of Parkinson's UK.
Scorecard
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