Curse of the Evening Post strikes again

The writing was on the wall at twenty-past one on Saturday afternoon; the dreaded photographer from the Nottingham Evening Post had turned up to take team photos and some action shots. As with previous features it was same old Keyworth as only 10 men were at the ground for the team shot, as club captain IG was on his way back at speed from the Lakes. The home side were soon in all sorts of bother losing a wicket before the hack could get his long lens out and before the names of the batsmen were written in his notebook.

The overnight rain and overcast conditions on a green wicket provided perfect swing and seam conditions. Unfortunately stand in skip Tinno lost the toss and unsurprisingly it was Keyworth who were inserted. Faced with anogther depleted side, with Marc Bailey, Rob Baker and the Hiller sisters all absent, Tinno was faced with the dilemma of who to open with. He settled for the pinch hitting Doug Bayford and Steve Rendu, who was asked to carry his bat at the other end. As the two took to the field, Tinno shouted an encouraging "48" to the Rocket Man to remind him that he was there for the long haul. Unfortunately the Long Haired Buffoon took this to mean 48 seconds as he was caught first ball trying to pull a short ball off his hip and getting a top edge.

Tinno was next in and stayed around with Dougie (14) for 10 overs before he fell to a LBW decision when he was well down the track. Ben Elliott (4) only lasted 3 balls but fortunately Iggy had arrived to bat at 6. Potty batted well with IG and looked good in the testing conditions for his 18 before being caught behind. Emma Dale only lasted 4 balls before being bowled through the gate, leaving KCC in dire straits at 64-6 in 20 overs.

Dave Strong was keen to take back the all-rounder role in Bobby's absence and he and Iggy put on 30 as the ball continued to dart around. Their partnership included as many air shots as you'd see in a round with Wozza.

There were so many 'swing and a miss' it was like watching the World Series. Babe Ruth Graham was first to go for 24, caught on the square leg boundary.

He was quickly followed by Beakey, for the second golden of the innings, who was good enough to get an edge first ball. Strongy eventually succumbed on 23 after smashing a couple of his trademark 6's. Late call up Andy Cowlard wasn't hanging about and smacked 19 off 17 balls to get the score above the hundred mark, but as Andy Green was just about to unleash, AC decided to run himself out in the 36th over as the innings limped to 126 all out.

Tea was different class. Vice President Simon 'Chopper' Harris again showed off his culinary skills and his support for the club as a 5-star banquet was laid on - the likes of which the opposition from Rolls Royce had never seen before. The roast chicken pieces, chicken wraps, buffallo mozzarella-tomato-egg and spinach salad, cous-cous, and potato-salad were top drawer, but the piéce de resistance was the still-warm chocolate brownie...Mmmmmmmmmm Chocolate! This was not just a cricket tea, this was a Simon Harris cricket tea.

Attack (and prayer) was the only way forward after the break and Rocket (5-41) duly obliged in the 5th, 6th , 7th and 9th overs as the visitors were reeling on 39-4. Two of the wickets were exact carbon copies as Greeny, who was patrolling the deep third man boundary, pulled off two amazing running diving catches as the Rolls Royce top order all tried unsuccessfully to hit out from the off. With such a low total to reach, it only took two batsmen to bat sensibly and the winning runs were hit in the 35th over off Spin King Dougie who had a couple of overs at the end. The housewives' and scorer's favourite managed to get his first wicket for the club after seeing his 'quality' first ball get a wicket -Shane Warne vs Mike Gatting it was not!