SCORECARD

Another Enjoyable Loss Down at Harvington

Talk about timing: -Fitmen took a 40-minute trip to the beautiful village of Harrington, enjoying the peace and quiet drive down the bypass, with the sunroof open, TMS for day 5 of the Ashes on the old DAB. Stokes and Bairstow only need 130 more runs to complete another memorable 4th innings chase. "Bairstow duck under another bouncer"; this could be on! ....we drive past the Little Lark in Studley; pies are nice there, haven't been there in ages.....wait WTF Bairstow walks down the pitch and is stumped, serious, WTF!

So Fitmen parked up debating what we would do in the same situation, a mixture of opinions "depends on the oppo," "spirit of cricket", and "Was Tucker the keeper?"

Let's talk about the game. Skipper Jonesy was standing in again, and there was a discussion about whether we should field or bat. Mouldy suggested that with a batting-heavy team, we should field.

cynffonnau i gymru - never fails

Jonesy got nervous and decided to field. On the way back to the changing room, he devised a plan to lie and tell the other players that we had lost the toss. The match report seems like a perfect place to fess up.

Given our strong batting lineup, we needed a new opening bowling partnership to take advantage of the new ball. Stevie Nicks and Mouldy stepped up, but after 3 overs from Mouldy, where he conceded 33 runs, he decided to retire from bowling and focus on his batting. Stevie, on the other hand, had it coming out the hand nicely, a maiden in his 2nd over and after 4 overs of swing and control, he requested a rest.

With Mouldy's assistance, all shine had been removed from the new ball, allowing Fitmen to bring in their many spinners. Harri was impressive with two brilliant spells, keeping the batsmen guessing with his well-placed darts and ending with an impressive 3/19. Fadel, who hadn't bowled in a while, was criminally underused by the skipper and a very tidy 0-6 in four overs. Billy bowled consistently on either side of drinks eight overs for 28 but unfortunately didn't take any wickets. Rumour has it he's already emailed Tom Ceasure to request that the match be abandoned on the website so that his stats don't count. Nokia took more wickets bamboozling the Harvington batmen again but seems a bit tired from a late-night discussion about the pedestrianisation of Norwich city centre (niche) 7-1-34-2.

This left an over spare; enter birthday boy and opening bat Harry to grab himself a wicket with his first ball! Stevie returned to take a wicket finishing with 1-35 off 7, and the captain joined in later to secure a couple of Martin/Wickets

Harvington total 191 - very gettable

The birthday boy Harry and Paul Caines formed the opening partnership, displaying their experience with patient and controlled batting. Together, they had a 56-opening partnership, which, funnily enough, is their mean age. Paul fell for 23 and Harry for 27 just as they began moving through the gears.

Jeet, who kept well, got a duck. Sam Moore looked good, hitting 5 of the best fours you'll see for his 29, but he tried to club and missed a straight one. Jonesy and Fadel saw us into two drinks, with us only needing four and a bit of over to see us over the line. Simple.

But nothing is easy, especially cricket, as shortly after drinks, we had a mini collapse losing three wickets for one run. Fadel used his pad one too many times IBW, Mouldy castled for a 2 ball duck, and Stevie Nicks got an absolute jaffa which kissed the top of his off stump for a golden.

But in walked, hope with an inform, Billy and the Fitmen fought back. Just as the partnership was taking shape and winviz was starting to turn to the fitmen the tables turned again. Billy was run out at the bowler's end, running a quick single that went behind square (some would say ball-watching, but this match report is entirely neutral). Harri hit two beefy singles but also fell ibw.

Fitmen needed to score an even fifty runs to win off 10 overs. Nokia in at 11, Jonesy well in by now, but not really timing much on what was now a worn wicket. (We couldn't help but recall Stokes and Leach's Headingly 2019 and tried to channel that) Jonesy focused on keeping the strike while we planned to go big in the last three overs. Nokia blocked bravely and managed 2 singles. But Despite our efforts, Nokia was eventually bowled out by the skilled leg spinner. However, we did manage to add another 20 runs before the game ended. We lost by 28 runs, and we put up a good fight. Harvington proved to be great hosts and may have a few tools left in the box that would have come out if the game was closer.

Nevertheless, everyone played their part and had a good game.

Once again, the Fitmen show that the spirit of cricket is alive and well at the very grassroots.