BOTWCC v Hinckley - Second XI

Sat 3rd June 2006 - Towles Fields

Oh where do we start? What a day it was. We had drama, tantrums, a bit of a laugh, some gripey silliness and a game of cricket fitted in there just for good measure.

So here goes. It went something like this...

Burton lost the toss and were asked to field on a track they would much preferred to have batted on.

The innings started with the Hinckley openers looking fairly settled, if not a bit over cautious, and this seasons opening bowling pairing of John (I feel like I'm 21 again) Shipman and Rob (hot on his heals) Morley did their usual steady job of giving little away. It was in the 10th over before anything interesting happened and on this occasion Golden Balls Shipman wasn't involved. One of the Hinckley bats tried to take a sneaky single having dabbed one to square leg, when in swooped the cat-like Simon Leek (or Leak... TBC) who in one smooth and slightly impressive movement, picked up, took aim at one visible stump and then actually hit the bugger for the first wicket of the match.

An ever enthusiastic Shane Marshall came on for Rob Morley and in one rapid fire over took the other opener's wicket by forcing an usual playing-on event (he tried to pull a ball that didn't need pulling and actually carried the ball around himself and dropped it on the stumps - very amusing) before retiring hurt (the poor love) having pulled a muscle in his side.

Then something very strange happened. What it was we're not entirely sure and nobody there could offer a reasonable explanation for the events that followed.

Grant Penton (yes, me) came on to replace Shipman and, thanks to some randomly allocated miracle and a slice of good fortune, got a wicket!

HAAAALLELUJAH ! !

With the ball swinging mercilessly in to (but mostly across) the right handed batsman the ball was nicked down the leg side and caught quite dramatically and professionally by the young and athletic keeper, Ian Merryweather. The duck was broken.

There followed a chorus of astonished cheers and hearty congratulations when lo and behold Penton went and got another! Swinging it in once more and this time rattling the leg stump of another bewildered Hinckley batsman. The poor man didn't know how unlucky he was.

By now Hinckley had two slightly more determined batsmen at the crease (Beasley [remember his name, it crops up a few times in this report] and Gilliver) who had clearly decided that the run rate was nowhere near high enough and opened up a bit, swinging wildly at everything and playing just about every ball across the line to the leg side. They rode their luck for a while and put on a 69 partnership before Shipman had Gilliver caught by Tagg at mid off. Thus continuing the trend of at least one Shipman-Tagg event in every match so far this season.

Shipman then carried on his good work and clean bowled the next two batsmen out for blobs a-piece before Penton clean bowled the 8th wicket with the last ball of the session.

And so a target of 176 was set for Burton to win. One that really Burton felt was attainable on this good pitch.

After tea, a new opening partnership of Mark Russell and Mike Simmons took to the crease and Russell got started as has been his wont this year, playing at anything and everything that was hitable before being out LBW for his useful 22.

The slightly edgy side of the game started somewhere here.

Burke bowled at Simmons and the ball ended up in the hands of the wicket keeper. The first slip (Beasley) made a very loud appeal for a catch due to a noise he'd heard at the crease and umpire Penton did not give it out. Penton explained that the noise was bat on pad and that should have been it. But typically it wasn't. Simmons then gestured to him that he wasn't out (in hind-sight he might have been better doing nothing, as the decision had already been made for him) and Hinckley's Beasley took umbrage with him. In stepped Skipper Steve Neal and a mini row ensued. Eventually, the handbags were put away and play continued.

A quick point if I might be so bold as to add one at this juncture, and if I'm wrong I'll be slaughtered next week (if selected). Batsmen would be better off saying nothing during an appeal and umpires should say as little as humanly possible. Agreed, their player was a bit unpleasant and verbally aggressive to play with throughout the entire match, but that's his problem and yet we made it ours.

There you go. That's me out for next week's game no doubt.

Anyway, Simmons was out soon after having popped up a catch to mid off to end his first outing with the bat for 4 runs. Another season debutante Richard Stenning blobbed out very soon after that when he was clean bowled by the steady away swing of K Burke.

Things at this stage were looking decidedly shaky on the run-chasing front and then Pauline Merryweather added to the sentiment by expertly chipping a full toss back to Beasley (him again) for a caught and bowled.

Further unpleasantness follow when Steve Neal was later, and apparently wrongly, given out caught behind off his shirt by the now umpire Mike Simmons. Steve eventually left the field in utter disgust after having retrieved his bat and gloves that were accidentally thrown to the ground in the process. The bowler who got him was, you guessed it, J Beasley. You can see why Steve had the hump now can't you? It gets worse.

Yet more bitchy sniping followed when Beasley appealed for what he thought was a plumb LBW and it wasn't given (no doubt fairly) by the Burton umpire. That umpire now being Steve Neal who had replaced Mike Simmons in his role. This time it was Beasley's turn for a strop.

Burton now had the big guns of bowling supremos Morley and Shipman to rely on. Both men were having their first knocks of the season and both were clearly enjoying it. A few runs were finally being put on the board and although it was unlikely that the total was going to be achieved, a more respectable score was likely and a draw was on the cards.

Sadly though, both departed when Morley popped up a sweep shot and was caught for 15 and Shipman was bowled on 37 after firey knock including 3 fours and a 6. The ball was never found, incidentally.

Simon Leek (or Leak... TBC) also had his first bat of the year and looked in good touch playing a few nice shots here and there. Penton blew it again and lasted about 4 balls for his duck after popping a forward defensive shot to mid on for a catch leaving the injured Shane Marshall to come in for the last two overs.

The task at this stage was very simple. DO NOT LOSE THE LAST WICKET.

But we did.

Just one solitary ball from the end of the match Simon Leek took a stride forward to a good length ball and nicked it in to the slips. Go and stand in the corner that man.

Game over. Amid a loud retort of celebratory cheers from the visiting Hinckley side, Burton Second XI had lost.

So near and yet so far. But this is what championship material is made of, Pauline and gentlemen. We have to take the rough with the smooth. Now its about showing the attributes of an entirely new and overused phrase, bouncebackability. Its a stupid word invented by former Crystal Palace manager Iain Dowie, but one that aptly outlines the task ahead.

Next week, away to Thornton at Bagworth. DON'T FORGET, ITS A 12PM KICK OFF - BE THERE FOR 11.30AM.

Grant Penton 4-6-06

A LINK TO THE FULL MATCH STATS ON THE ECB WEB SITE WILL BE AVAILABLE SOON

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