Sapcote v BOTWCC 2nd XI
Saturday 23rd June 2007
Against all the odds and many a climate soothsayer, a match was actually played on this painfully dismal day at Sapcote. Memories of the 2006 final day fiasco were fresh in the memories and approximately 22 people's fingers were tightly crossed hoping that a complete game was going to be allowed to take place. Which it almost did.
After yet another toss winning start, Rob Morley chose to bat and give the youngsters and out of form batsmen a crack at posting a score on a track best suited for water skis and and wet suit rather than whites and things got under way as the dark and threatening clouds loomed ominously overhead.
Openers Mark Russell and Rob Morley wasted little time clocking up the runs in the face of some indifferent bowling until Russell (10) took the long walk after trying to larrup one out of the ground that skidded low and removed his bails. It was 12 overs later when Morley was undone being bowled for 18. Meanwhile, debutante Rob Simmons was having a blast and popping the ball to all quarters, disappointingly missing out on boundaries due to the slowness of the long wet grass and unbeknownst to him he was well on the way to a decent score.
Along side him at this stage was the affable Ian Pauline Merryweather (18) (runs, not his age) who was also enjoying the opportunity to hit some loose deliveries until he tried to hook a suspiciously high full toss, only to thick edge it to backward square leg. And yes, it should have been called a no ball at that height. Merryweather duly sulked for an hour or two in disgust.
His replacement, Mike Tagg, probably feeling slightly nauseous this low down the order continued the trend and took the game to the bowlers knocking of a very respectable 26 before being caught and bowled by the 7th bowler in the Sapcote line up.
And so young Rob Simmons continued to pile the runs up until he was finally applauded (much to his own surprise) for his first senior 50. Well done that chap and lets hope we see plenty more of him. Shame about the run out though. If only he'd actually bothered break into a trot, he would probably have made it home.
Richard Stenning once again looked quite tidy and he knocked off a useful 12 runs before the overs ran out and the innings ended with the maximum 8 points on the board and a target set of 176. A special mention also for the contribution of young Ed Everett Stewart who played a fine innings for about 30 seconds, facing one ball and ending on one not out. That boy doesn't give his wicket away easily.
A quite enjoyable tea followed and then it was the Burton XI's turn to turn their arms over. Or at least it should have been. Openers Steve Layzell and Grant Penton each bowled an over and the heavens opened, possibly in spite for forcing them to play in these conditions last year. And off we came for a few minutes reducing the match to 43 overs.
Play started again and the same two bowlers had a second shot before once again it wazzed it down, only this time for a while longer. Covers were put on the track but so much water was hard to avoid. The square was very soon a swamp.
Still, play eventually restarted and the match was reduced to 34 overs, making the run chase virtually impossible and bowling them all out a tad harder too. The opening bowlers were then taken off and after only 7 overs played and the slow attack was tactically brought on. And didn't they do well!
Adam Archer seemed to have found some form and his accuracy was much improved as he bowled flatter and with much less air than usual. There was some turn for him too and plenty of his deliveries skidded in the mud provoking a few "no ball" comments from the side lines. Still, he took two good wickets forcing a juggling act from Ian Merryweather at mid on and clean bowled another for a duck only a couple of balls later.
Another shining light was young Sam Shipman who mixed up his pace well confusing the batsmen almost every ball but was sadly only rewarded with the one wicket for 16 runs off his 6 overs. Well bowled that lad.
Rob Morley replaced him at the 'Car Park' end and it wasn't too long before he too knocked up some wickets, pretty much bowling wicket to wicket and dislodging the bails on three occasions to end on figures of 8 overs 3 for 22.
Even better still, and perhaps the highlight of the match was Richard Stenning's bowling. And no, I'm not taking the p*ss. It was the first time he'd bowled in a few years and after a loosening first over bowled really tightly and was justly rewarded with a brace of wickets after taking out the persistent Shane Clarke who had batted for way too long in our opinion (fair play he though for putting up a fight where others hadn't) and a nonchalantly taken caught and bowled 3 feet above his head (5 feet up then) to remove the number 8, ending with figures of 4 overs 2 for 16.
Other positives from the game was a run out from Penton at the mid off boundary, beautifully taken by young Ed, and yet another catch behind the stumps for the aforementioned Mr Everett Steward, who had spent a torrid day diving about in the mud defending the Burton total. He spent some considerable time picking dirt out of his eyes from balls bouncing just in front of him and spraying mud in his face. He smiled on though.
Sadly, all this praise wasn't enough. The rain had played too big a part in the final result and although 9 wickets fell, losing 11 overs proved too tough an ask to finally get all 10 wickets. It was a close thing though.
Still, 19 points and a winning draw was a good result, especially since most other matches were rained off, so some headway was made on the rest of the pack. It turns out that if we hadn't been deducted 5 points for not calling in a rained off match, we'd be above next week's opponents, Hinckley. Also, if we'd have called the game off after the second downpour, we'd have finished on only 13 points. So the aggravated rheumatism was perhaps worth it for the extra 6 points. And amusingly, Sapcote ended on a mere 5 points when they would have got 7 if the game was abandoned. But there's your luck, hey!
Next weekend, a home match to Hinckley. Should be fun.
Team news
1.R .Morley
2.G.Penton
3.R.Simmons
4.S.Layzell
5.I.Merrysocks
6.E.E.Stewart
7.R.Stenning
8.M.Tagg
9.M.Russell
10.A.Archer
11.S.Shipman
Directions:
M1 to junction 21
Onto M69
Take first exit sign-posted to Hinckley (Junctions 2)
At roundabout take the first exit to Sapcote.
Travel about 1 mile and the ground is on your right. You can't miss it. Unless you're not paying attention of course, but you should be because you're driving.
Map HERE