And so after a gruelling pre-season of boozing and not much else it begins with the real stuff. My cricket season has begun with the ever present hopes and dreams of a clean sheet and the gratefulness of a shortened match to kick things off. My hammies and feet sure were thankful come the 40 over mark when we changed innings rather than having to don the gloves for another 40 behind the stumps. I am surely not getting any younger and the body siezes up given the first opportunity as I discovered when I stood up to bat with only a dozen runs needed for victory off 4 overs.
We started our chase of 193 very slowly and were only 50 off 20 at drinks with two youngsters at the crease occupying but not scoring. The captain took them aside to let them know that things were a smidge urgent and so it was that the next 10 overs produced 90 runs without loss!! They let fly after getting their eyes in and were 48 and 70 respectively when they headed towards the rooms and it was left to the oldies to get the rest done. I waddled towards the crease as stated with the scorer needing 12 more runs and my partner on fire however he scooped one to mid on an over later and my captain wandered out with 6 to get. At this stage it was 6.20pm on an overcast evening and my 35 year old eyes were having trouble with timing. My captain knocked the 2nd ball he faced for 4 and I guided one through gully for my first run. We needed 1 off the last over with yours truly facing. Things looked decidedly darker from the other end with dark clouds on the horizon. I clipped the first one to the left of mid on and immediately yelled "YES!!" My captain was backing up so it looked a done deal however from the instant the words left my mouth and the time he heard them he had stopped. I scampered through and watched the throw let fly and then heard the horrible rattle of a direct hit followed by the raucous cheering of a positive result. My first game with a new club abd I run my captain out!! The next ball was a rank waist high fuller that beat batsmen and keeper and raced to the boundary. WE WIN!!
I look forward to reporting on next weeks game as I surely carry the refreshments......
Yours in cricket and I hope your teams had a win.
