And verily it came to pass, the new, all-singing, dancing & fannying about with the start time Alnwick & District Cricket League, sort of groaned in to action. Your correspondent dreads to think what the combined average age of both teams added up to but what the hey! It's cricket time and for that we are grateful. The day started bizarrely with Rock strolling on to the field ready to face 45 overs of leather-chasing, (very popular in Alnwick on a Thursday night I am led to believe), when the opposing skipper informed Hi-Ho that we were in fact batting. Never mind, a quick change & we were ready; incredibly, Bobby of the Bell & Kev of The Wilsas led nobly from the front putting on 79 runs until Rod was cruelly run-out via a deflection from master veteran Brian Thompson. Wilsa was plundering to all parts ; Zola & Kim PhilB came & went. Kev was finally out for 58 and after more than a decade away from his spiritual home it was truly a welcome return. An unusually calm Mr Calm did not trouble the scorers for long & it was left to Saucy & Nels to winkle some more runs out of the tight Warenford attack. Thanks to some fine work from Boiler & Rog, Rock were restricted to 195 For 7. After last years indiscretions, Rock were more than happy to claim all 4 batting points.
After a splendiferous tea, Messrs DunnT & Wilson set about the Warenford batters. Apple Sauce accounted for Boiler & then Kev despatched Rog, Warenford 16 for 2. Then a stand of 85 between Brian Thompson & Dan "the man" Patterson,( who, by the way, must have Popeye arms, have you seen how far he hits it off the splice??!!), punctuated by Steve "Hilts" Gray performing his Bambi on ice impression & getting nowhere near a top-edge from Brian. This kind of summed up the day for PC Dodds who bowled well with no luck whatsoever. Then the master-stroke from skipper Gray, bringing himself on at Charlie's Wood end, (Snort!! Just read that back & it sounds a bit rude.) 4 reasonably quick wickets fell to give Rock some hope & an extra point. We would call him golden arm but with his initials it just wouldn't be right! Alas, to no avail; the even more veteran Davy Knox & Graham Rog steered Warenford home with 11 balls to spare.
So, close but no cigar. Pitch in pretty good nick as were most of the batters, bodes well for the season to come. Thanks to Mr Keith Wilson for a fine bit of Match-Ball sponsorship.
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