BOTWCC 2nd XI v Appleby Magna
Saturday 5th May 2007
The season opener for Burton's Second XI and new Captain, Rob Morley, welcomed the Leicestershire Senior League's latest arrivals, Appleby Magna, to Towles Fields.
Naturally, BOTW had no idea what to expect of their visitors, who in turn were playing their first match in this League and were equally unaware of the standards they would have to compete in.
Rob Morley won the toss, put them in to bat and the game was under way with G Penton and the aforementioned opening the attack. (Baring in mind we were at least 3 bowlers down in this game. Shippo Senior and Jack Child demoted to the firsts and a new boy deciding to play somewhere else 2 days before the first game. Let alone Ian Merryweather choosing to play football without telling anybody! - Bloody shambles that it all is).
Still, it was all fairly irrelevant. These Appleby boys were batsmen with a very keen eye for the ball and the skills to back it up. It didn't take them long before the ball was being dispatched to all parts by a collective of young and enthusiastic players who have played and developed together for some years. Clearly the Burton (Staffs) League had a higher standard that ours. Runs came quite freely for the batsmen and wickets hard to come by. Although Penton returned the most economical figures (9-0-32-0) he was wicketless and other wickets were shared between Rob Morley (12-1-68-2), Tom Shipman (8-1-64-1) who bowled excellently by the way, bamboozling with flight and the occasional quick delivery, and another club newcomer, Steve Layzell (9-1-57-2). All in all it wasn't an easy start to the season, but certainly an eye opener for the bowlers.
For the record, and I have to mention this for fear of a lambasting next week, Penton dropped a dolly of a catch at mid off. Hard luck there to the bowler Steve Layzell, but Tom Shippo bowled him next over anyway. There you go. It's been said. Now leave it.
Appleby Magna declared on 278 after 42 overs. BOTWCC 2nds had 48 overs to get the set target and now get bowled out.
Well, one out of two ain't bad, is it?
No, we didn't get the total, but we could have been given another 15 overs and 5 wickets to play with and that wouldn't have happened. Instead, we welcomed the new boys to our standard of cricket and batted out for a very low scoring draw, finishing the 48 overs for a mere 133 for 6.
Mike Tagg had contributed as always with 21 before being trapped in front, backed by another fine knock from Steve Neal who batted for a good hour and was typically not intimidated by the pace or accuracy of the Appleby Magna bowling line up. He finished not out on 31. In the final stages he was well supported by A Archer who showed no signs of giving his wicket up and dead batted for half an hour or so for nought. Clearly a chap not playing for his averages.
But the real star of the show was yet another new boy, some bloke called Extras. We don't know who he is but he has several initials and is known as W LB B NB Extras. He top scored with a very respectable 50, the first half century of the season in the seconds. Well done that man.
Anyway, lets not dwell on a game that we'll all have forgotten in a week or two. We went away with 4 points, 2 from each discipline, and a friendly glass of lager at the end.
And that's what its all about isn't it? (Pah).
Next week, away to Burbage. Directions can be found on the 2007 Fix/Res Page or the 2007 Match Reports page.