SCORECARD

Fitmen 131-8 beat Lapworth 79-10 by 52 runs

Q: What time does a duck wake up? A: At the quack of dawn!

Q: What's another name for a clever duck? A: A wise quacker!

Q: Who stole the soap? A: The robber ducky!


Let’s get all the wise quacks out of the way at the beginning of this match report of a thrilling game at Lapworth CC. It has taken skipper for the evening “Golden duck” Martin 5 days to get over this fixture before being able to write up the events, but here goes…

On a fine mid summer’s evening (cloudy/windy/15 degrees), the Fitmen assembled almost on time and upon winning the toss on a pitch at the very edge of the square, a mere 25 yards to the boundary, the decision to bat was taken. A very talented opening pair of the Bicemeister and “soft hands” Mo strode to the crease to lay the foundations of a competitive total. Bice (not at his most fluent) provided the “Agri” to Mo’s cultural play before departing for 11.

The father –son partnership of Mo and Hamza lasted only a couple of minutes allowing Mr Run Out himself, M.Butcher, to enter the affray. Mo was showing some lovely batting technique to the assembled Fitmen who possess about 3 shots between them, however he was unaware of the fact that an elegant cut to just short of the long boundary was only ever really going to garner 1 run and not the expected 2. Butch “jog-sprinted” the first, turned dummied for a second and Mo was left high and dry for a run a ball 29.

Enter, stage left, our very own Derek Randle at number 5, S.Howarth. Quick touch the toes hamstring stretch and whoosh you’re in. Quick cut to the boundary by Butch, simple yes/no stutter and Howarth was run out for a career first “Diamond Duck”. Sitting in the changing room with 2 run out victims is always a sight to behold but where that tumble weed came from we will never know.

Needing to steady the ship, new-boy Rob Molloy with 1 run to his name this season gambolled to the crease. He doubled his personal stats with an excellent 1 off 8 balls before getting out caught. Butcher (with absolutely no desire to return to the club house to face the music) really knuckled down and smashed a superb 64 with 3 6’s and 7 4’s off only 38 balls to put the Fitmen back in the game. Sharif came to the crease with only a few overs left with the intention of “giving it some welly” but was out for a 4th ball duck, allowing Ade to come in to “give it some welly” to be out for a far more impressive (Fitmen 1st) golden duck. The fact that Si, Sharif and Ade were all in the same car made for a memorable journey back to Brum I can tell you! Sunny smacked a boundary before being caught to leave the Fitmen with 131 for 8.

What was needed in defending this total was a good opening spell from Ash and Sunny and that was exactly what we got. Ash nipped out an opener and could have had a second with a near brilliant catch by Molloy in the Gully but went for only 2 an over whilst Sunny a little more expensive 1-21 got out a key bat with a fine catch (super soft hands) by the ever talkative Mo. Enraged by his duck, Sharif came on and bowled the Fitmen to victory with a superb 4 for 11 off 4 overs. Showing excellent variation (very Asian – thanks Mo!) and supported by more good catches in the field, Sharif was in fine form. Special mention must go to Rich Bice who kept wicket to a very high standard (1 bye only) in goading the fielding captain into not being so cautious, moving Molloy to cow corner. Next ball was smacked straight to cow corner where Molloy held his nerve to take a difficult catch under the tree.

With the middle order ripped out, Gerraint came on to bowl really well in his 4 overs to finish with 2 for 14, Butch bowled to orders to tighten the grip yet further and then Ash finished off the tail to card excellent figures of 3 for 8.

Lapworth were finally out for 79, so a victory by 52 runs. All that was left was for a pint at the ever friendly Lapworth club house and that fateful car journey home with 3 ducks.