SCORECARD

Curiouser & curiouser

Avoncroft 174-9; Old Mo 137-6

Avoncroft won by by 37 runs.



A delightful ground located just outside Bromsgrove was the venue for a new FitFixture against Avoncroft – famous for its museum of historic buildings. * See foot for further details.

Picked up through the fixture bureau at late notice the Old Mo ventured into the Worcestershire countryside buoyed by the skippers assurance of a bar and BBQ. And we weren’t disappointed in either promise which in itself was a pleasant surprise. Thatcher’s Gold was a remarkable £2.30 a pint and even Footballers Black Label as only £2.50. Along with the warmest sunniest evening of the year so far this appears to be a very good reason for this becoming a regular fixture.

The ground itself was unusual in that there were two mighty trees located within the boundary at ‘backstop’ and deep mid off – local rules dictated a 4 if the ball came in contact. The pitch was flat and true with an equally benign outfield . Readers looking at the home side’s total would therefore be forgiven for thinking the home side used local knowledge to their advantage in accumulating an impressive sounding 176.

At this stage you may wish to ‘look away now’ and try the “all our yesterday’s” feature at footnote 2 which is related to one of the reasons that Avoncroft enjoyed hosting a generous fielding side.

The FitFielders didn’t pick on any particular batsman, but a “post match ‘fess up session” revealed 10 drop catches, 2 missed stumpings and a couple of avoidance manoeuvres. None of the chances were particularly easy and one of the avoidances featured Ralphie - which sounds out of character in itself. His claim of self defence was justified.......as he moved towards a skier all he could hear was a low pitched Grrrr and the shadow of Sharif lurking – enough to put the most skilled catcher into 3 minds.

The series of ‘let offs’ (along with the first 7 conceded this season) inevitably meant the batting side would whack up a decent total – and they did. 176 looked impressive and indeed was. However there were some good bowling performances with an outstanding 4-0-21-4 @ 5.25 for Sunny and even the old fella weighed in with 4-0-24-3 @ 6. Most of the rest is probably best glossed over.

After the break (with BBQ burning brightly) the capacity crowd could be forgiven for expecting a bold riposte and the Fitmen going down in a glorious but ultimately failed attempt to score at almost 9 an over. Or.................lose a couple of wickets and struggle to 29 at the half way stage @ just 3 per over thus ensuring a target rate of around 14 per over in the final 10 overs!

Cometh the hour cometh the men and after a circumspect start, Tuckerrrrrrrrr finally found his touch (30 off 39) and he accompanied Welshman-of-the-match Geraint (55 off 32) in a bold effort at gaining some respectability. In the dying embers, not to be outdone after scaring the life out the openers with his brisk spell (4- 0-26-1 @ 6.5) down the hill, Ralphie took the ‘prize’ for strike rate as he squeezed 8 off the 3 balls he faced in the final over.

The other slightly disappointing aspect was that the oppo could field as well...........and throw the ball in accurately, catch and cook a decent BBQ sausage ...........but we’re pleased to report we had better cars than them (mainly ‘cos they mostly weren’t old enough to take their tests) and certainly way more Royal Mail bags.


*Footnote

www.avoncroft.org.uk . The highlight could be the world’s biggest collection of telephone boxes.............certainly worth a detour if you’ve really got nothing else to do...however your reporter’s personal favourite is the model train operated by ‘The Bromsgrove Society of Model Engineers’. The model train runs every Tuesday from March until October and a bargain 50p a go. Check out the website for ‘event days’ when it also runs. Note to parents: don’t be alarmed if the driver looks like Rolf........ it’s just coincidence.

Footnote2: More senior Fitmen may remember a famous day at Walsall Health sometime in the 1990s. Your current aged Chairman was ‘steaming in’ in those days and got a ‘7 for’. If all the catches were taken he’d have got a ’16 for’ and in fact the same batsmen was dropped 9 times on his way to a match winning ton.