Adam Turns On The Taps

On a disappointing day at the Field of Dreams, Keyworth put in an inept batting display to concede all the points to relegation rivals Hucknall.

With Skipper Tindsley on a stag weekend (the Club feels it was a bit rude of Andy Hiller NOT to invite his brother?!?!?!), Dale on holiday, Strongy celebrating his marriage of the previous day, and Andy Hiller attending a Craft Fair with his first and only girlfriend in deepest Essex, changes were once again required!

Iggy was given the captain’s arm band and obviously lost the toss. This was a bad one to lose and we were unsurprisingly put in to bat on a damp wicket that would only improve under the sunny overhead conditions.

Even with the changes, we had (on paper once again!!!) a strong batting line up, and were confident that 150 would be a useful target but we got nowhere near that in reality...

Iggy went early on for 1, playing an expansive drive before Marc Bailey and Adam Somekh dug in to try and ensure that we lasted all 48 overs. Unfortunately both fell in quick succession as 28 for 1 after 18 overs, turned into 30 for 3 after 20.

Ted and Tony then entered the fray with Scooby quickly returning back to the hutch, unable to repeat his magic of a fortnight ago. As our latest signing put in a no show, Rocket entered the crease to give the innings a little bit of impetus hitting an easy-on-the-eye 36 off 32 balls, including the shot of the day, a straight driven six.

During Rocket’s innings, Adam was standing amongst his team mates and officials watching proceedings, when he was approached by a Hucknall official in what was one of the least subtle “tap ups” of all time, well, at least since the same gentleman made a similar approach a month ago in the corresponding fixture. Unluckily for the said gentleman, Bobby Baker was in earshot and challenged his actions in what can be best prescribed as a polite but forthright manner! Baker questioned Hucknall CC’s behaviour before finishing the conversation promptly as another pathetic excuse was unloaded.

Anyway, moving on, the dismissal of Rocket and Ted (6 from 47 balls for the Grinder) led to Benji and Doug at the crease. When Ben spooned one up for a duck, he was replaced by the now slightly wound up Baker. 30 seconds later his mood worsened considerably as he was given out LBW for the first time in 5 years for a “goldie”!

Doug quickly followed for 2, leaving Dave Hiller on 0* as the 10 men of Keyworth returned a disappointing 79 all out from 39.1 overs. Credit to the two Hucknall spinners who snared 7 for 37 between them, and to their skipper and keeper for some good field placing and work between them.

Tea was a typical Jean Anderson master piece – Onion Bhaji’s, multiple wraps and fresh cream scones being the highlight.

The Hucknall lads were purring, it made a change from poached eggs and tap water, and they could see why Adam wasn’t going to be tempted away from the Hot ‘Plate’ (oops I meant ‘hot bed’) of Village cricket to “a small town near Mansfield” (sorry Shelley and Jenko!)…

The bhaji’s weren’t the only things making things spicy at teatime. Keyworth had two spare places at the dinner table, one was the absent chair saved for the new recruit, the other was Iggy’s who, after a verbal volley of sarchasm about the bowling line up from Grumpy Bear Baker, decided to dine alfresco with the Club’s Under 5 members!

Bobby dragged Iggy to one side for a kiss and a cuddle, and for them to both find their respective dolly and teddy bear which had been depositied out of their own prams and into those of the KCC creche. The result meant that Rocket had a couple of steady overs from the top end but as the ball was gripping for spinner Graham, Baker was soon introduced and both the tweakers quickly settled in to a decent rythmn. Unfortunatley the Hucknall boys batted patiently in pursuit of a below par total with little pressure on them chasing just 80.

Hucknall lost just 2 wickets (both openers bowled by Baker - 2 for 26 from 12) and despite some tight bowling from seamers Rocket, Dave and Tony in their short bursts, and the spin twins (IG and RB), the visitors had a deserved and comnprehensive victory, forcing home the advantage they held ever since the coin left Iggy’s fingers.

However, one champagne moment did occur during the day when the visitors were on about 40 for 1 and the league’s leading run scorer Robin Maxwell straight drove Iggy to long on.

The man at the centre of the “poach-gate", Adam Somekh, ran around to stop the ball just inside the boundary. As he slid anticipating the ball to reach him, he didn’t realise that Beechdale Baths was having an away day. He made a dive that the World Diving Champion Tom Daley would have been proud off, sliding about 8 yards and into the deep end - unfortunately this was 7 ½ yards past the ball which had already stopped and sunk in the lake – the dirty whites 2009 competition was also over in a flash!

Ted being Clubman of the Century was happy to take Adam’s whites home to give to Lorraine, but Adam preferred the option of posting to Hucknall with a ‘thanks, but no thanks’ letter ………..

Please note: this incident was so amusing that it even forced Big Bear Baker and Graham into smiles! And found the umpires adjusting their 6 signals down to a 5.9!

In summary, we got well beaten after a very poor display and it was most definitely a week to be forgotten.

One consolation was that we had a good turnout at the pub including a debut for many of our Under 5’s .

Unfortunately about 5 seconds after the photo below was taken, a wasp was daring enough to try and come between Olivia Baker and her food – big mistake!!!

However, the wasp didn’t come off worst on this occasion though, as Olivia swung for the said insect, but in doing so she fell off the picnic table and cracked her head on the concrete patio slabs beneath. This lead to a crying fit similar to that offered by her father for several hours the very same afternoon, a bad day for the Baker’s and lucky Paula!