Week 16

Lydeard St Lawrence – Away

The most exciting weekend this season for Over Stowey, and where was I? Sulking, as my Victoria Sponge didn’t get a prize in the local flower show!

So the mighty 2^nd XI travelled to Lydeard St Lawrence and came away victorious. I asked Carl for a match report and this is what he came up with:


Mark, I hope the flower show was worth it, you missed a cracking match to start your tour: Having won the toss Lydeard batted first in a game reduced to 30 overs a side and finished on what should have been a winning 168-7 (M.Redding 55. Julian 5-39). Shit can take wickets because this was the worst I've seen Julian bowl for a very long time. Stephen and Carl both bowled well but didn't have much to show for it, Lee Rich, for a change, had a nightmare and the figures to prove it. 

After tea Stowey lost wickets regularly but scored runs all down the order, with Dan 25, Pikey 34 and Dig holding his nerve and the innings together to win the game with a six with only five balls left and Stowey nine wickets down. A really enjoyable game played between two shit teams who both enjoyed a game that was competitive and played in the right spirit. Shame you missed it not least because I ended up doing a lot of umpiring....I could try batting a bit longer!!!
 

Several points of note Dan and Dig both hit their first sixes in senior cricket, both to the longest part of the ground. Stephen Miller, probable not for the last time, opened both the batting and the bowling. He only opened the bowling because not for the first time Julian got lost and missed the start. Julian then had to leave early and for the second time this season left his boots behind. Never a dull moment in the 2^nd’s.


This victory was not enough to move the 2^nd’s off the bottom of the league, however there are two games remaining against Fitzhead and then away at Brompton – will that be my first away game?

For the first time this season both senior sides won, with the 1^st XI winning against Lydeard 1^st XI, I have been told in despatches that Jack batted well – in fact Jack was the one who told me.

Will that victory be enough to save the 1^st XI from the drop? Will the 2^nd XI avoid the wooden spoon? Will I actually get to umpire an away game? All these question will no doubt be answered over the next few weeks, what an exciting climax to the 2014 season.

Now for a Thatchers or two to calm down my nerves.