Sight For Soar Eyes

The Stiffs had a great win on the road last Saturday. Guest blogger Mr Dearden reports.........

Keyworth took to the field in Arnold against Basford, as is the habit of this league, having already been at Nuthall to play Kimberley. No doubt our match against HG Carrington Caribs will be moved to Tobago!

Anyway buoyed by their comfortable heroics the week before this was week 3 in the club search for Drurs' “Apprentice"; Dearden and Beake having already staked an early claim for the run-machine’s spot, and Cowlard having already been fired into the 1st team.

Having decided to bowl on a strip which was the same colour as the outfield, runs looked like they could be as precious as diamonds in a north Notts mine, with overcast clouds requiring full winter wear for the fielders. A slow start, consisting of erratic deliveries from Liam and, well, Leggy at the other end, meant Basford got off to a decent start, a couple of drops in the field not helping the cause.

The breakthrough came after a short time out was called by Ted, sensing that Beakey needed a fag break and Leggy a Bowel Break (as opposed to an off break). The skipper brought himself on and turned in an inspired spell of bowling. Rolling back the years he bowled five consecutive maidens, including a double wicket maiden in the fourth over. We made regular in-roads into their line up and with some excellent backup bowling from Sam Nice, who bowled some beautiful deliveries, and Ben Healey, who also proved a problem for the Basford line-up, Keyworth restricted the opposition to 157/8. Leggy picked up a couple, but Ted proved the spin master with 12-5-39-3. Fielding highlight was a fine catch from Joe Nice, watched by his dad, sitting in his van listening to the cup final.

Tea was average, not helped by the fact you could see the Greggs in Arnold town centre whilst fielding at deep backward square leg, but snowballs were retro highlights, not that the kids could understand Ted’s glee when spotting them nestled in between an array of jam tarts.

Keyworth’s reply was not dissimilar to the pitch. Highs and lows, one past the glove, or head in Ernie’s case, closely followed by one along the ground, which unfortunately for Ernie hit his leg, which was unfortunately in his crease, which was unfortunately in front of the stumps, which unfortunately meant he was out.

Beakey, came in, played some great shots, but then was accounted for by the same method of madness. Phil came out, was told by Ted to watch the low bounce, then was promptly dropped at slip by a riser off his glove. Ted looked in good nick and then top edged one.

A mix match of bad shots, meant Keyworth struggled to 49-5, with five senior players back in the hutch and only Paul Lay left as a recognisable batsman. We had Leggy of course, but then he only scored 30 runs all last season in the 2nd XI, so there was not much obvious hope there. However, cometh the hour, cometh the man. Leggy matched all his innings from last year in one fell swoop, hitting an entertaining 29, as together with Paul they put on 66 for the 6th wicket. Paul looked in great form, putting Forest’s playoff troubles to one side, he played some great shots.

When Leggy was out at 115/6 the final total still looked a long way off, as See-Soar strode out to the crease. However, after a 20 minute coaching session with Ted (whilst Leggy was still batting – we didn’t make them wait), Chris played a mature and sensible innings, providing an able back-up to Paul’s match winning knock of 46, which included a fine 6 of the last ball to give the Stiffs maximum batting points.

Soar finished 28*, his highest score for Keyworth, and a very positive sign for the future. Indeed the performance of all the juniors was a huge positive and a massive step forward for the guys involved. Keyworth finished 163/6 off 40 overs, with time and young confident batsmen to spare!

No one was fired by Drurs this week, but the search for his apprentice is hotting up...