Wield vs Dummer, Sunday 12th September
Weather – Warm and pleasantly wind free.
Match summary – Another low scoring game on a very slow pitch against excellent new opponents and a final ball defeat for the once mighty Wield.
With Jack Robson making this seasons home debut and Alton U11 teamate Sam Thomas getting his first Wield start our new youth policy had taken a dramatic turn with Guy Robinson and Hector Don being replaced by even younger versions.
With this in mind Yorkie won the toss and asked my good self who I wanted to open with!!! After suggesting that it was about time Andrew Yorke stopped batting for not outs and joined me on the frontline I was told to sod off!!! So only 15 mins late Johnny D and I strolled down the hill to put Dummer to the Wield sword. A thrilling opening partnership was destroyed on 5 when Johnny tried to pull a perfectly good straight ball and wandered back up the hill for 0 whispering thank God that's over!!!
Michael H-T arrived at the crease and after a few attempts I succeeded in running him out for 7 ......sorry Michael. This brought the long awaited return of George P to the crease and after bemoaning his lack of sleep and the slowness of the pitch preceded to lob a full toss straight to mid off.
As Sam Thomas was playing we also invited his father to make up the numbers and Ken strolled to the wicket looking strangely like Toby in his light blue cap. The likeness continued as Ken spent the next 40 minutes swishing away until he was finally bowled for a stunning 9 leaving Wield at a precarious 58-4.
For the first time ever I was joined at the crease by Jack who stunned the opposition by hitting the ball further than his father..... It goes without saying that no one else was surprised at this!!!!!
M H-T showed there was no hard feelings by giving me out LBW. The fact that no one appealed and it hit the middle of the bat seemed to pass Michael by but sportingly Dummer retracted their none appeal and our partnership continued (maybe that was their way of keeping the score down!!!!)
Apart from telling me to hit the gaps and run quicker Jack played beautifully for a career high 12, falling 3 balls before tea and with a tear in my eye I realised we had put on over 50 together. Another tear appeared as I then realised Yorkie was next in and we wouldn't be taking too many risks........3 balls later Yorkie got his not out and Wield had crawled to 119-5 at tea with the Robsons contributing 80 of the 101 runs off the bat.
After another fine tea, the usual fight for the sausages (the youngsters won) and a rousing Churchillian speech from Yorkie we took to the field with high hopes of being in the Yew Tree soon.
Ken opened with Yorkie and by the time their spells came to a rather uneventful end 17 overs had passed by and Dummer were 35-0. Another 8 overs from Robin and Phillip and Dummer were 65-0 and the Yew Tree beckoned (only 55 needed from 16 overs with 10 wickets left). It was around this point that George mentioned how boring this whole match had been. This sort of loose talk seemed to annoy the cricketing Gods and the whole match changed.
Robin got the first wicket via Ken's safe hands and the comeback was on. Dummer's opener Simon got to 50 and then lobbed one to the now not so safe hands of Ken but George spared his blushes 2 balls later with the coolest catch of the season.
To prove the cricketing Gods work in mysterious ways even Max caught one and Robin had 3 wickets. Yorkie replaced Phillip with Sam (only some 50 odd years between the 2 of them) and he bowled beautifully taking 1 for 8 off 4 overs.
Robin managed to squeek a LBW out of the umpire and then tried several methods to get himself taken off, feigning injury, bowling some old tosh and in a truly desperate attempt to avoid buying a jug pleading with the skipper. None of these worked and with George bowling from the other end the screw was tightened.
With hands on head Robin celebrated his second 5 wicket haul as George clung on to another catch and Dummer were 111-7 needing a run a ball for the last over. 5 byes later and Dummer needed 1 from 3 balls. 2 balls and 2 run outs later all outcomes were possible off the last ball of the match.
Alas in another last ball choke George bowled a half volley and Dummer sneaked a well deserved victory.
An excellent match with great opposition, a thrilling finish......and the Yew Tree had reopened after "THE WEDDING"......perfect!!!!
Jack Robson's father.
