Battle of Youth

A talented young Caribs side gave us a glimpse of the future as the Stiffs were beaten at home.

We bowled first and Caribs were all out for 207 with Skipper Cowlard taking 3-47. As usual our fielding was a mixed bag. Leggy was fresh from a morning watching the Two Towers on DVD, but sadly had fingers more like Gollum than Gandalf, spilling a tricky chance, and longed for Frodo's ring to make himself invisible from his chuckling team mates. Meanwhile Billy was back to his river-dancing best, all of a Michael Flatley flap under a steepling slog.

Tea by Jude had many highlights; sausage rolls and chicken nuggets tempted some of the Youth Policy onto solids for the first time, while those with a more developed taste opted for the coronation chicken wraps followed by special recipe chocolate cake. Cowlard scoffed a full plateful, and put a second in the fridge for later, anticipating a long innings.

In reply we batted well but lost wickets at the wrong time. AC top scored with 42 before being tempted down the track by the young spinner. Paul Lay, Billy and young Sam Wood all made good starts, but fell just at the wrong time. Caribs 13 year old spinner bowled a great spell to take 5 wickets and we were all out for 162.

Half of the players on the pitch were aged under 20 which bodes well for the future.