RICK: Exam results! Great! Sorry guys, this is my ticket out of the gutter. There's big bucks out there for the right face with a degree in domestic science. That's one thing I'll say for Thatcher, she definitely has put this country back on its feet.
POSTMAN: You have come bottom in the whole world.
(Young Ones, Summer Holiday)
If all that matters are points, prizes and league table positions, then what follows is no more than a match report mitigating the final performance of the season by the worst team in the league, who have finished bottom of Division 5 in the Sunday Conference.
But it's not quite like that, is it?
Although losing to Brislington Sunday 2nd XI in a home game played away (?) the Cowboys resisted until the final over, not out batsman Andy Chester winning a couple of cider moment nominations for some stylish shots to the leg side boundary after the battle was lost.
It was said that the Brislington ground had been under water the night before and so the Cowboys waited at home for the result of a late pitch inspection before embarking upon a 30 over match at 3 pm. Later, it transpired that there had been a free bar at the ground the previous evening, which may or may not have had any bearing on the delayed start.
DC2 inserted the opposition on a stodgy wicket with a lot of cloud cover and Iggy and Dave L reaped rewards with some excellently targeted deliveries, reducing Brislington to 30 for 3. The change bowlers continued to take wickets, albeit a little less economically, ably supported by all in the field. It's still a bit of a mystery as to how Brislington ended up on 190 for 9, not only because at the time of writing the NSCL website currently shows no detailed stats.
After a hastily thrown together tea, not approved by the Vegan Society and constructed on a roundabout somewhere en-route, Iggy and DC1 began to climb the mountain. Together they gave the Cowboys a very solid base, Iggy scoring runs a plenty over the top and DC1 accumulating well along the ground. There was a faint whiff of jug avoidance as Iggy holed out before his 50, having previously smashed the opposition skipper for four boundaries in one over, but no matter, he justly deserved the Man Of The Match award later and is rumoured to be taking a day off to construct shelves at home to accommodate autumnal trophies.
Grant was very unfortunate to be out to one of the best catches of the season, plucked from the sky by the smallest person on the field. Others in the middle order fell to tamer opportunities while trying to catch up with an increasingly large run rate before the tail chilled and batted out the final overs.
Rather surprisingly, given that victory and promotion were in the Brislington kit bag, the opposition youth displayed more than a tad of petulance, their keeper advancing down the wicket at one stage informing the umpire 'that's out that is!' Apologies were immediately forthcoming from the older generation who expressed exasperation at the difficulties they have had all season in keeping their pups at heel.
Photographic evidence would suggest that the Cowboys reached 118 in the final over although the NSCL website begs to differ. It's true to say that there had been a few umpiring mishaps with regards to extras - for which apologies are proffered - although those alone don't account for the disparity.
Scorecard
League Table
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