SCORECARD

A Club With No Beer

Aldsworthy 95 all out, Old Moseley Arms 96-2 and win by 8 wickets

A Pub With No Beer is the title of a song made famous by country singers Slim Dusty (in Australia and the USA) and latterly by The Dubliners, of Moseley Folk Festival Fame.

“It's lonesome away from your kindred and all,
By the campfire at night where the wild dingos call,
But there's nothing so lonesome, so dull or so drear,
Than to stand in the bar of a pub with no beer.”

And so it was the case for Guy and Rob, who had made the journey down from Birmingham and upon early arrival for a 1pm start noted a barrel of Weston’s outside the back of the Chipping Norton pavilion, eagerly anticipating a pint of warm-up fluid. This was not to be the case, for bar staff there were none – and we were later to learn, none expected until 5 pm. Neither were there any of the opposition, save for a couple of guest players and of the other Fitmen, a distinct absence...

1pm came and went and talk was of a two-a-side fixture, which could have been interesting had a wicket fallen. Eventually, at 1.20 the remaining Fitmen arrived having been stuck behind legions of Bank Holiday antique-hunting pensioners in Stow-on-the-Wold, and finally the opposition, who sadly could muster no more than 6 plus the two guests. An accommodation was offered by Simon which the three lowest scoring batsmen from the Aldsworth team could bat again. And a good job too as we shall see...

Aldsworth won the toss and opted to bat on what appeared to be a flat easy-paced wicket. The first over was bowled by Guy from the Combine Harvester End, who quickly found his line and length, testing the Aldsworth No.1 severely, and was joined by Raj from the Banbury Road end. Raj’s first ball was that perfect away-swinging full-length ball that he bowls so well and was far too good for the young opener, knocking back the off stump. Two overs later, and the No.3 batsman went the same way. Soon after, injudicious shots across the line saw Guy remove Nos 4 and 5 in successive deliveries and talk was of a match finishing before the bar would open.

After 6 overs each, off came Raj and Guy to be replaced by the spin-twins of Strickley and Nutt. Strickers rolled back the years with a fine spell of leg-spin, cunningly deceiving the batsmen with flight and turn, so much so that it could have been described as mental torture. Indeed, Strickers was the only bowler that got anything resembling bounce out of a lifeless track. A couple of wickets for Nutt, one courtesy of cunning field placing later that saw Geraint pouch one of the Aldsworth “guests” and back came the lowest scoring bats for a second go.

The returnees showed greater resilience second time round accompanying the No.1 bat, who ended up on 38 not out to post a score of 96; Geraint ending the proceedings with the 3rd ball of his “spell”, with Simon taking the catch at gully.

With the innings closing in the 30th over, it was decided to begin the Fitmen innings and take tea “as and when”. Out strode Tuckerrrr and Rob and runs began to flow from the start, though Rob didn’t contribute too many before falling caught and bowled off a leading edge. Chas departed soon after courtesy of the subterranean bounce, but Tuckerrr was having no such problems, dispatching anything loose to the boundary. Our Greek Hero captain, “Achilles” Howarth, accompanied him past his 50 and past the total with 25 overs to spare – and just as the barman arrived.

A leisurely tea was taken, and the contents of the bar explored (Weston’s Cider, the usual cooking lager and keg beers, but a good selection of Hook Norton bottled ales to please the more discerning palates). A chat with the oppo, gave the impression that they had a slightly different expectation of a “pub team” than what they ended up with. Rob was quizzed about whether we played in a league, or how many league players we had. The most recent league player we had, Richard Harris, neither batted nor bowled, so that theory was trashed.

Departing the cricket ground, we headed into Chipping Norton and to the Blue Boar to deliberate “player of the Tour”. Rob had the intention of handing out copies of “Socialist Worker” whilst singing the “Red Flag” and “The Internationale”, to wind up the “Chipping Norton Set” , but draught Hobgoblin quickly extinguished the revolutionary flames and the contents of the wallet (£11.30 for 2 Hobgoblins and a Stella 4.0) though the “Old Thumper” was distinctly iffy.

Initial voting on “Player of the Tour”, by those who had played/watched both games resulted in a 3-way tie and so Rob and Guy were called on to adjudicate and came down in favour of Simon Howarth – 48 runs in total and not out in both matches to see the team to victory and a double win for the first time in 3 years.