At The Double

The Stiffs completed the double over old friends Caythorpe at a damp Field of Dreams.

The pre-match selection merry-go-round was revolving quicker than the Waltzer at the Keyworth Fair. Kitch and Scooby were dropped, as the Firsts needed a ten man bowling attack, Liam had toothache, and Duncan Disorderley was mountain climbing in Derbyshire. Dimps swapped his white coat for a white shirt and we welcomed back Mr Dearden.

Kingy won the toss and didn't fancy a bat himself, so we were put in on a typical July pitch, damp and slow.

Ernie set off like the innings was reduced to 40 balls rather than 40 overs, hitting three quick boundaries, while Drurs started like it was extended to 40 days. Ern was quickly caught and bowled for 12. Beakey started positively, but then had a Ricky Ponting moment, given out caught behind by Dimps, missing the ball by a good yard. Kingy sportingly called Butch back. Beakey couldn't take advantage of his 2nd innings and was soon caught for 13.

Kingy reckoned Drurs was "too good to hit the ball through mid wicket" and posted four extra covers. Drurs though had learnt a thing or two batting with Barney over the years, and slogged the next ball to cow corner leaving Kingy red-faced and his team mates chuckling.

Skipper Cowlard upped the rate with a quick 19, including the shot of the day, a beautiful clip off his legs down to the scout hut. The curse of the missed jug struck the team for the 4th time this season when Drurs played on, one short of his 50.

Phil D had been knocking in his new Dilshan bat for the last month, and was determined to get value for money, putting together a valuable 29. One Brings Two smashed a quick 17 through the covers, and Greeny and Leggy hit a boundary each as we reached 168-6 off our 40 overs, a decent effort.

Vice President Simon Harris was on tea duty and had produced the usual gourmet feast, chocolate brownies the undoubted highlight. Simon does two free teas for the club each year as his VP's donation - a fantastic gesture.

In reply we had the best start possible. Kingy had munched three slices of brownie, more potent than two cans of Red Bull, and was intent on being in the Sal within the hour. But, he could only top edge Cowlard to Greeny at cover for a 4th ball duck. It was the 5th over before the 1st run was scored and Leggy began with three straight maidens.

We didn't see another wicket until the 20th over as Caythorpe painstakingly ground out 70 runs. We should have made a breakthrough but Boss Hogg dropped an absolute sitter off Greeny. Needing to move about an inch to get into place, Leggy circled the ball in flight like Todd Carty on Dancing on Ice, finally groping at the ball as if wearing a pair of cymbals. JB took the more direct route, bowling Rich Manning with his doosra.

Leggy returned after the drinks break to turn the match fully in our favour with three wickets in eight balls. First Drurs was safe hands at mid off to catch the opener for a fine 50. Then a plum LBW. And, finally Freddie Truman couldn't believe his luck, smashing a full toss to deep mid wicket, where Chris See-Soar didn't have to move an inch to take his first ever catch, and was mobbed by his jubilant team mates. 70-1 had turned to 80-5.

The 6th wicket put on 54 with a mixture of good shots and wayward bowling. Mr Dearden had started his spell tightly, then bowled two overs of shin music, with a knee high full toss disappearing over cow corner for six.

Cowlard still had four of the last five overs to bowl down the hill and pushed the required runs up to 43 off 30 balls. Greeny came back to bowl the odd over and took two well deserved wickets, Paul Lay taking a fine catch to bag the day's fielding point.

Phil calmly held his nerve in the last over, with every man on the boundary, to see us home by 7 runs. Tuckers was relieved to see us win, having risked a last minute cancellation to his wedding plans by staying to the bitter end!!

Bowling figures were excellent, AC 1-19and Leggy 3-25 off their 10 overs, Greeny 2-31 off 6.

A fine all round team effort, with everyone contributing with the bat, ball or in the field. 19 points pushes us back up to 2nd place.

After the match Cowlard found the results sheet more testing than his tax return. But we were cheered with news of the First Team winning and Leggy celebrated with a chip cob.