Cricketting Woes
The last couple weeks league games have been the kind of games I’d rather forget.
Dropped to the 2nd team, through some poor bowling and a couple other players becoming availible, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. On the one hand, I had been opening the bowling for the 1st team, bowling at a decent level of cricket, and at times doing quite well. Certainly my bowling has improved from the experience.
On the other hand, the 2nds have really been sturggling this year, problems with getting a team together properly and in a division of 2 halves, one set of teams far ahead of the other set of teams.
Last weekend saw the the start of 3 weeks where the team would play 3 of the top 4 sides. Not then perhaps the best introduction to the 2nd team.
So, last week we played, and the opposition batted first and got off to a quick start. I came on after about 10 overs and managed to clean bowl one opener, but we were still going for a good few runs. In 45 overs, we got hit for 279 runs. Thats a lot, even on the relatively small pitch. I probably came off best with 4 wickets for 44 runs, not too bad considering some of the others.
The batting then capitulated as we put on 119 runs in reply. One of our guys hit a very nice 50 not out, but still, a hell of a beating.
So this week, despite playing the league leaders, we were hoping for something slightly better than last at least.
This time I did open the bowling, and did pretty well for 4 overs, only being hit for one run. Unfortunately though, on the last ball of my 4th over I managed to land awkwardly and twisted my right ankle. Not terribly badly, but enough to as good as put me out of the game. I went off the field for a few overs, then came back on and hobbled about a bit, even managing to bowl off a shorter run up, and more gently all round later on.
By the time I bowled my 2nd spell though, we were in all sorts of trouble. After the first 20 overs, we had the other team 60 for 3. Not bad we thought, hopefully we can keep this up. The 2 batsmen who were in at the time had other thoughts though. They went on to have a partnership worth 251 runs, finally ended in the penultimate over when one was caught near the boundary. We came off the field with a total very near to 300 to beat.
This time though, the batting was even worse than the week before……
Their oversees player managed to get 4 wickets in 4 balls to effectively end our innings. All out for 60 we had a fairly early evening, the bar wasn’t even open……
So, 2 games, 2 very heavy defeats, and a slight injury that ruled me out of playing in the club day match yesterday and the touring team we are playing today. Not a wonderful weekend.
Next weekend we’re off to one fo the other top teams, hopefully I’ll be fit to bowl properly, I’m pretty sure I’ll be needed…..
Something to look forward to though, one of the clubs players is getting married on Satuday, and we’re all off to enjoy his reception after the game! Then, its our annual trip to Weymouth on Sunday. A good game, against a good team, followed by a very good session of drinking! Hence next Monday has been booked off work, I certainly won’t be in any state to do much other than sleep!
Anyway, time for me to watch a bit more of the Test Match (Looks very like an England win!) and make some sandwiches for the game I was supposed to be playing in today. If you’ve read all this, I salute your patience! me rambling on about myself? Not sure even my mother would read it 