SCORECARD

So the season ends…………….in the last weekend of September, in pleasant sunny conditions just north of Spaghetti junction. Bright blue sky and a hint of a nip in the air, but another season is over and a successful one at that. Few rain interruptions/cancellations, 2/3 of games won.

The Fitmen returned to the scene of their impressive triumph the Sunday before (won by 9 wickets) in a bid to decide the pecking order for bowler of the season.

The side contained 4 of those in with a shout (see *). The two missing contenders were both injured (shoulder and leg respectively). All those in contention got a decent bowl……….and the winner is???

Before the final game on Sunday 29th September:
*Ian Nutt 22 wickets
*Adrian Martin 22
*Sharif 22
Guy Brentnall 20
Ash Hussain 19
*Tony Caesar 18

Given the emphatic nature of the previous Sunday’s encounter, the odds were that Highcroft would either strengthen or let us bat first. Call of tails near Spag never works and Highcroft elected to bat – again. For the Fitmen there were two enforced chances with Ralphie and Raj unavailable so (thanks chaps) Rob and Richie (on debut) stepped up. Similarly for Highcroft (well, similarly in that they also made two changes) who drafted in the Thomason Twins. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson_Twins
We soon discovered this pair were neither the bumbling detectives from Tintin nor the New Wave band from the 80s. Without doubt they were on the wrong pitch at the wrong time – for us!

For more information on the dynamic duo see foot of report.

And it all started so promisingly as Caesar Senior (8.0 1 30 3 @ 3.75) and Umberto (7.0 0 50 2 @ 7.14) opened the bowling. Despite an obvious statement of intent by scoring at 5 an over the Fitmen felt reasonably in control. A couple of breakthroughs and we thought we could be looking at a similar target as last week.

The false dawn was reinforced by earlyish wickets and at half way 110-5 indicated that the change bowlers may indeed be treated to an opportunity to assault the bowling award and a sub (or near) 200 target.

How wrong we were…………………….in Thompson Twins speak it was less ‘Here's to Future Days’ (1985) and more ‘Big Trash’ (1989).

Thomason Senior (all 18 years old senior) had every shot in the book - and I can’t even remember how he eventually fell, but by then he had plundered 168 all round the ground.

Suffering was equally dished out to all as the 6th wicket stand took on monsterous proportions.

Sharif (8.0 0 48 0 @ 6) bowled tidily and without luck, Ade sealed his bowling crown (7.0 0 42 2 @ 6), nobody seemed to want to fall into Ian’s traps a la last week (5.0 0 65 1 @ 13) and Will had a good season bowling-debut (5.0 0 46 0 @ 9.2) suffering only in the last over to the very in-form pair!

The less said about the detail the better probably! There was little wrong with the fielding, nothing much was dropped (indeed Debutant Richie took a snorter against his sternum) and no heads dropped, but 304 is challenging!

Tea – once again was spot on, and (with private reservations) we told each other that batting like last week may just get us in with a shout.
Turg Jnr and Umberto strode purposefully to the wicket. Whispering death paced out his none-too-foreboding run up and that was about it. 8 overs later the top and middle order had disappeared.

The clang on the sight screen from 4 byes was the most cheerful sound in the next hour or so. A cheerful estimate of 85mph were muttered from fielders nodding knowingly. Umberto (18 @ 65) and Si (10 at 34) made a decent fist of it – in fact all the top/middle order got in the right position but were just a little late – and despite the carnage we had got to 40-1 off 8! In fact Si’s claim to fame was 1/ shedding blood for the cause and 2/ ‘blasting’ all the 3 runs that the quickie conceded off the bat in his spell!
Messrs Caesar Jnr, Harris and Tuckerrr all got fast Yorkers that dreams/nightmares (delete as appropriate) are made of and Si somewhat unluckily played on.
Some respite came when their tyro was taken off (presumably in an effort to elongate the game) and normal service was resumed – albeit shorn of the top 4. However it would always be a case of ‘catch up’ which inevitably leads to wickets clattering....…and so they did.

There were some rays of sunshine as a rear guard action was kicked off by Ade (22 @133), Richie (7 @ 54) and then defiance in Will’s knock (44 @ 105). 3 Fluffy Quack Quacks (you know who you are!) is not something we’ve seen much in any recent Fitmen innings but then again this wasn’t any ordinary day!

Frank hovered behind the bowlers arm (as if were weren’t already in enough trouble) and then we were down to the last pair. Ian’s 2 @ 9 was considered a moral victory and the first bat of the year from the Chairman (breaking his record of 12 games without facing a ball) got a hearty round of applause (4 @ 67).

The curtain then came down, the hawkers peddled their blades and the whites were consigned to the kit bags for the winter.

Next up ……………….awards dinner on Sat 7th December at the clubhouse.


PS
Lee Thomason (168 in this match) has scored 1200 runs this season for Sutton Coldfield (3 tons and 10 50s) http://suttoncoldfield.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/battingStats.asp
Fortunately Aaron (5-1-5-3 in this match) didn’t get a bat – he’s scored 400 for Sutton this season. Fresh from playing for Warwickshire 2nd XI a couple of weeks ago and England Development against England Under 19s. Might be half useful when he gets to his 17th birthday!
And also (fortunately) Lee didn’t bowl as he has also taken a dozen or so wickets for Sutton.
http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/500/500779.html