SCORECARD

Controversy at the mental hospital

As the season begins to wind down, the weather continues to get worse and a number of Fitmen were questioning whether the second Highcroft fixture of the season would also be washed out. Perhaps it was this reason that led to so many unavailable players as the Fitmen rocked up in north Birmingham with only 10 men. However, at 9 o'clock the weather looked set fair, if a little on the chilly side.

It was a family affair this weekend (not the Caesars - the Butchers). The oldest of the Caesars was rested on his Fitmen Central Contract, so took the time off to sample the delights of northern France. Called late into the line up were Father of Butcher and Nephew of Butcher. Even with these two additions, we still only had 10 players. The morning didn't get off to a flyer, with the Birmingham SkyRide cyclists clogging up the Pershore Road, but the whole team made it just in time to start at 1.45...ish. The wicket looked....well, it certainly looked like something...I'm finding the best way to say that it was a mosiac pattern of leaves rolled into it and was clearly very sticky.

The toss was won by Highcroft/Fitmen who elected to bat/bowl first. The Fitmen started with spin as Chas was bludgeoned towards the mental hospital, but the following over the batsman lost it and nailed one straight down Jack's throat in the covers. Another batsman was snared early on and the Fitmen looked to be in a good position. In strode number four who got to about 5 runs when a well known Fitmen controversy began.

Said batsman was well out of his crease when a appeal went up for a clear stumping...square leg raised his arm...team celebrated. Only for the umpire to claim he was pointing at the batsman to say that it wasn't out. Bizarre. Things got a bit heated, not only with the ambiguous arm movement, but also the fact that the batsman was clearly out. We just had to hope that the batsman would be out again soon... he went on to get 84 not out in very quick time.

The Fitmen had very safe hands throughout the game with eight out of the ten wickets being catches. Family moment of the game came when Mark came on to bowl. After the batsman skied it, the only person anywhere near it was nephew Chris who hardly had to move, pouching a nice catch to set the Butcher family going.

Given the circumstances of 'that' umpire, giving 'that' batsman a second chance, the Fitmen, with 10 men, bowled well, with two Highcroft batsman getting 160 between them. The oppo finished the innings 248 all out. A tough ask, but still a reachable total.

Tea was a cracker, with a selection of pasta, sandwiches and hot dogs available...perfect brainfood to decide how to chase down this total.

The Fitmen knew that wickets in hand would be key for a succesful chase. Congratulations go to Caesar Jr2 who took nine balls to get zero, trying to clip the ball that 'stuck in the pitch'. Jack strode to the crease to settle things down with Mark putting on a partnership of 65 with a quick fire 40 off 35 hitting some of the biggest sixes the Fitmen had ever seen. Everything looked good until Jack went for a jog down the pitch looking for a nonexistent run before being run out. He wasn't happy.

Although Sharif and Chas chipped in with 17 a piece, the total seemed to look further and further away. A number of (close-ish) LBW decisions were turned down by the Fit Umpires...you give what you get. However, this didn't help much as the wickets fell at regular intervals. Raj kept going, using the time to get some batting practice before departing off the last ball for a nice 35.

All out for 170 would have been alright if the earlier stumping call had gone our way, but that's life. In reality 248 was too much for us to chase especially with only 10 players. Although the score was 248, our bowling and fielding was good with the wickets being shared round equally. Two more matches for the Fit Season, both at home, so hopefully two more wins to finish the season.