SCORECARD

Fitmen prevail despite plague of flying ants

Old Mo 199 all out, Lapworth 74 all out

With livers duly rested from the excesses of the Herefordshire tour, a strong-looking Fitmen line-up welcomed our old friends from Lapworth to the Graveyard.

Faced by a well-worn track, the Lapworth skipper had little hesitation in inserting the home team and it certainly looked a good decision when Tom Caesar fell to an horrendous shooter early on. He was shortly followed back to the pavilion by Simon, Butcher and Rob, all looking out-of-sorts on a tricky wicket infested by flying ants.

Fortunately, the benefits of a batting order that features Tucker at 5, Tahir at 6, Sharif at 7, Ade at 8 and Chaz at 9 always gives a degree of confidence even when the “batsmen” above them fail, such as today. Tuckerr and Tahir both struck composed 50’s, punishing anything that strayed from a good line and length, but after 34 overs, when both decided that Ade’s steam pressure had risen to at least 100 MegaPascals, they departed to watch the impending carnage. They were not to be disappointed. With 3 successive maximum’s bringing to mind Sobers vs Nash at Sophia Gardens 1968, Ade surprisingly chickened out with a bizarre combination of a “Nutterrr Nurdle”, a “Howarth Late Cut” and a “Butcher’s Chop” to limply fall clean bowled. This brought Chaz to the middle to take the score closer to the required 200 with some well timed blows, but with the score on 199, opposition veteran Tim Fell brought the innings to a close with his first hat-trick after 40 years of trying. (For the record these were Sharif, plumber than a man who installs or repairs domestic pipework, Shah caught and Chaz clean bowled, aiming somewhere over cow corner)

Tea once again was a veritable feast, with Mother Sehdava’s pakoras taking centre stage. With a second helping of pakoras courtesy of Sharif and egg sandwiches too, a potentially explosive combination had unwittingly been provided.

When Shah opened up with 5 wides off the first ball of the Lapworth innings, the more pessimistic of the Fitmen could be heard taking a sharp in-breath. However, given that the next 30 balls of his spell failed to yield a single run, during which he accounted for the Lapworth opener courtesy of a sharp catch by Tucker, the run-rate began to climb. Sharif provided a suitable foil, removing the other opener, but with Lapworth’s star batsman at the wicket, the match was still in the balance. A neat low catch by Rob at mid-wicket off Sharif removed this obviously talented player and from then on the Lapworth innings stalled.

Chaz and Nutterr (now to be pronounced with a Hebridean lilt) both bowled tidy 8 over spells, before Ade, who had up to this point prowled round the outfield was given his opportunity to finish the innings. Opportunity not fully taken, it was time to unleash the demon bowler that is Simon Howarth – who took only 1 ball to bring the match to a close, and quickly dispel any rumours of his retirement from the “Summer Game”.

And so to the pavilion to sample the latest selection of real ales and where opposition bowler Tim Fell was kind enough to share a jug in celebration of his hat-trick. ( and where Simon still tried to quash rumours of his retirement...)