Grr

Bad day yesterday. I got drafted up to the 2nds for a cup match - happy enough to do this obviously, but the 4ths had a cup game too, and I bowled well for them the previous week. I knew before the game that I wouldn't be contributing much, but that didn't make it any easier to be pretty much just an on-field spectator.

We lost the toss and were put out to field with just 9 men (one late and one cry off). I was fielding at deep third man and mid-off. I got my hands on the ball about 10 times in total, and one of them was to drop a difficult chance - driven hard at me to my right. The best I could manage was to get two fingers to it and parry it up in the air, but unfortunately didn't get close enough to catch on 2nd attempt.

Didn't get a bowl either. We had them at 120 for 9 with about 12 overs to go, with the number 10 and 11 at the crease. We should have blasted them out of it in double quick time at that stage to set up an easy win, but we allowed them to stay there for the remainder of the innings to bring the score to 151. Our bowlers kept putting it in shortish and they were fishing at it - but never connected. And when they put up a full ball it was just blocked. I was itching for a go, it looked to me that if a slower bowler like myself put the ball up on off stump they wouldn't have been able to resist having a go - especially since they couldn't get a bat on the other bowlers. It would have given a fair chance of a wicket out caught or bowled timing it wrong. The worst thing was that the skipper asked me to warm up - and then proceeded to bring himself on! Leaving me swinging my arms like a prat

The batting was pretty atrocious from most of the team. It didn't help that the skippers "rousing" team talk went along the lines of "We've already won a cup and the other teams are all in the running for theirs, I don't care if we win or lose so bat any way you want"!!

Our first 5 more or less did just that, either blocking all and sundry until they made a mistake or hitting everything in the air for a quick 15 before being caught. At 60-5 we got a partnership in of two lads that decided they did want to win the game to bring us up to 113. But once they were out it didn't take long for the rest of the team to fall. 120 ao.

I went in number 10 (of 10), and the guy at the other end had "borrowed" my bat (after I'd asked him not to ) so I was using my backup (read sh*t) bat. In hindsight I should have swapped bats with him, but at the time he was the only hope of making the runs. I faced 3 balls, leaving one and defending one before down came a slow full toss on leg. I'd put away a few of these nicely on Thursday, so I had a swing. It was only as I heard the clunk that I remembered that my bat wasn't the same one I was using then, and sure enough the ball dropped harmlessly into the hands on mid off. There's no guarantee that the same wouldn't have happened with my proper bat, but there's no denying that there's a lot more power in it, and I would have had some hope.

A frustrating game for me all round, hopefully next week I'll be dropped back down the teams again to somewhere I can contribute with ball in hand. It's a little annoying that I was drafted up for no particular reason. If the captain had no intention of bowling me, why didn't he take one of the lower team players that could bat a bit?

Ah well.