Sunshine and winning - also what bank holidays are for

Mondays Winning Thirds

A great weekend for the club - and an OK one for me personally. We had 4 games, one each on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and (Bank Holiday) Monday; and we had good wins in all 4. And it was all topped off by glorious sunshine for the entire weekend.

Friday and Saturday were straightforward wins, although our 2nds made things difficult for themselves by reversing the batting order and giving a bowl to all and sundry! They could have had the opposition out for under 100, but ended up giving them 140. Luckily they knocked off the total for the loss of just 6 - would have been very interesting if they'd lost though :?

Sunday was a fantastic win for our 1sts - chasing 200 against a good side, and just scraping home with 9 balls to spare and 9 wickets down!

Monday though was a rollercoaster of a game! I was playing with our thirds, in a game where both sides are unbeaten so far this season. We had, on paper, a nicely balanced team with plenty of batting, and too many bowlers - which meant I was unlikely to have much of a role to play :( We won the toss and opted to bat, but got off to the worst imaginable start - a first ball duck. So 1-1 at the end of the first over. And then, worse again 2-2 at the end of the 2nd :o

We did manage to steady the ship a bit, but still lost wickets too regularly, and at 20 overs we were only 51 with 5 down. I was batting at 11 (which suited me fine), but all too soon it was time to go in - 34th over with the score on 97. The other man in was quite a good bat - so I took on the job of blocking out an end and let him do the business at the other end. Our number 1 priority was to survive to 40 overs, as the opposition get to bat any overs we don't use. We managed to do OK, getting the score up to 110 in the 37th over before my batting partner was stumped trying to get a quick single off the last ball of the over. He started running before the ball was bowled, with the plan being to just get a touch on the ball to kill it, and we both scamper through to keep him the strike. Unfortunately the bowler pushed it a bit wider, and the keeper did the work behind :(

Still though, 110 gave us something to bowl at. As it turned out though, we needn't have worried too much. They got off to pretty much the same start we did with a collapse at the outset - and unlike us they didn't get to stabilise at all :D We got them all out for just 53. The only downside was that we got the winning wicket one over before I was due to come on. Still, a win is a win.

So not much for me to do, I'd a few stops at gully and at point, and one chase to the boundary. Obviously I was happy with the not out, especially as it gives the captains a little more confidence in me being able to hold up an end if nothing else; and it's better than a duck. I can't really expect to get a bowl on the thirds too often, as the bowlers above me are getting the wickets, it would be a different story if they weren't. It is dissapointing though - as my last spell for the thirds broke a troubling partnership and I ended up with 3-14. The stand-in captain on the day thought that I turned the game too.

I think the problem might be that the 3rds captain has never seen me bowl in a game. I've mentioned before how in practice I tend to get tonked, but in games the extra pressure leads to a good few wickets for me. Hopefully I'll be getting a few more overs with the 4ths in the next few weeks - and maybe he'll notice that I have a role to play in his attack.

Also, I've just found out that our 1sts have a cup game this evening - it was supposed to be on thursday but there was a scheduling mix-up, and the other team will claim a walkover if we don't field a team!! The captain got 11 at short notice, but a few of them are 50/50 available at best, so I've been put on standby! I played for the 1sts twice last year, but I reckon that this would be a different kettle of fish - it being 20-20 and the result actually mattering and all. Not completely sure if I want to get called up for that, but needless to say I'll do my best if I am.