Fool on the hill

On a hillside amongst the patchwork Mendips, in view of the Iron Age hillfort Maes Knoll, the sweet smell of mown grass and clover in the air, the Cowboys took on Stanton Drew. The covers hadn't been on the night before, apparently for fear of them blowing away, but despite the earlier deluge the pitch was playable,

As the Cowboys got it together, almost all of them showing some enthusiasm for warming up and fielding practice, the opposition captain rode up and down the wicket on a heavy roller, then over-egged the pudding a bit by trying to suggest to Budge that it was a batting wicket. Having won the toss, Joe was having none of it and gave the new ball to his bowlers - well, himself, downhill, with the wind behind him. Garner was left to take off uphill.

The combination of a left and right-handed opening pair kept the Cowboys on their toes in the field and tested the bowlers' line. The score crept along at around three an over but when the breakthrough hadn't come by the eighth over, Budge replaced himself with Evan who promptly got a wicket with his first ball when the batsman drove and Kalu took a smart catch. The following ball, the incoming batsman did exactly the same as his predecessor but Kalu was unable to take an almost identical chance. He went some way to atoning for that by coming on to bowl a maiden with his first over and getting the batsman a short while later, thanks to a good catch from Joe.

An even better, Cider Moment catch eventually came, when BenP dived and clung on and rolled and came up celebrating close to the boundary, where the batsman had tried to loft Kalu.

The score crept along, never too threatening but persistent, aided at times by some deficiency of due care in the field and not helped by the refusal of all LBW appeals. The bowlers - your correspondent included - continued to be tested by the left/right-hand partnership, gradient and stiff breeze. In a return spell, Joe removed the middle order, via catches from Kalu and Angelo, and finally the left-hander for sixty, thanks again to a good catch from Garner after Roger's return to bowling hadn't borne fruit.

The return of your correspondent up the hill prevented the tail from wagging, but after all forty overs, the score had crept marginally above four an over to end on 162 for 8.



A fine tea, including giant baguettes, kept the Cowboys quiet during the break, after which Angelo created an extra quiet zone in the dressing room for some kip while Iggy and Paul went out to bat and solitary spectator Duncan got his binoculars out.

While the bowler from one end bowled consecutive maidens, the one from the other bowled first Iggy, then Paul and in his sixth over Ben: Within a dozen overs the Cowboys were 26 for 3, then 37 for 4 when Alan's resistance ended and he was bowled by the change bowler from the top end.

For the next ten overs, Ev's reliability and stout defence partnered by Kalu's intent and stroke play lifted the run rate above five an over and put the innings back on track. When Ev was the fifth consecutive Cowboy to be bowled with the score on 96 for 5, Angelo's alarm clock went off and he found himself at the wicket but his feet were still asleep and he was LBW for a duck.

Your correspondent had been in the duck pond on his last outing and had no wish to return. Kalu, who'd earlier flicked a ball over the rope behind square for a perfectly timed six, was playing one of his finest innings and in between the well-run singles and twos he cleared the ropes again on his way to his first half century for the Cowboys. The opposition captain barked his orders incessantly and a few got shirty about wides. A new bowler came into the attack and without advancing his score, Kalu mistimed a pull and was caught: Fifty runs to get, ten overs and three wickets left.

Joe came in and was bowled for a single, Roger was caught behind off the returning opening bowler without scoring and now the Cowboys needed a run a ball for seven overs, the opposition, one wicket. Garner helped keep the dream alive and in the process hit the ball high in the air and hurt a child underneath, as the last pair scurried between the stumps. The required run rate crept up, but only just, until with two overs to go and fifteen runs to get, very regrettably your correspondent misjudged an on drive and was caught and bowled, stranding Garner not out at the other end.

Most from both teams then adjourned to the Druid's Arms and garden behind, as the sun hit the Cove of standing stones and Kalu was voted Man of the Match for another great all round performance.

Scorecard

Chocolate puns

E.C.C.C v Stanton Drew

Following a long-awaited deluge that left gardening cricketers with a split personality, the wicket at Frys in Keynsham was a bit soggy for the Cowboys' home match against Stanton Drew. Clearly, the only sane option was to bowl first and use the unpredictability of the wicket to get the opposition out, but for the second week running the benevolent Saturday skipper refused to deny the late-arriving opposition captain the chance to toss and when the coin landed in the mud, it was the Cowboys' opening batsmen who padded up.

It was still sunny, muggy and hot enough to melt a factory full of Crunchie bars (had production of the aforementioned honeycombed chocolate not ceased at the Somerdale site last autumn and moved to Poland) but more importantly, make the ball swing. Dave and Paul battled watchfully as the opening bowlers produced bananas, until Paul was bowled by a peach.

The score trickled along while Simon found his feet, until last week's centurion fell early, bringing Ev to the wicket. As Simon stroked the ball around at one end, Ev cautiously blocked at the other, producing a nice symmetry of dots against his name in the scorebook until eventually being caught at the wicket. Steve then provided a similar supporting foil for Simon, who by now had found the boundary a few times and was helping the score along. When he too was bowled, for a Man of the Match winning innings of 34 and Steve had found the keeper's gloves, Kahlu and Gretch came to the wicket to try a different approach, the former smacking the ball into the trees and provoking an extra flurry of blossom.

Such a direct approach was fraught with danger and sure enough, Kahlu soon departed to a good tumbling catch near the boundary, bringing the owner of a 'messy' ankle to join Gretch at the wicket. Defying probability, the ankle was further battered by a mistimed drive a few balls later but held up for a few twenty-two yard scampers. A couple of welcome pies were gratefully gobbled and sent to the boundary until greedily grabbing at one out of the crease, the keeper removed the bails.

Joe came in and looked stylish with the bat for a while, befitting of his orange cap, Gretch departed having arrived at double figures and Rich succumbed after a promising boundary. Not out batsman Rob, seeing the ball well, helped give some respectability to an otherwise rather crumbly and flaky batting performance as the Cowboys went to tea to contemplate defending 127 runs.

The overlap of sporting seasons brought cricketers and footballers into close proximity in the clubhouse as polystyrene plates were impatiently shuffled and doughnuts eagerly anticipated, but as players returned to the top field afterwards, the sky was past overcast and at an ominous dark grey.

The first spots of rain came as the Cowboys gathered towels and prepared to take to the field, but it was the opposition batsmen who declared the earliest interest in not wanting to get wet, retreating to the cover of chestnut trees. For the next hour, depending on your vision and outlook, the weather was improving / worsening and there was every / no chance of further play. There were those in both camps who at one time or another wandered towards and loitered around the wicket looking for a denouement, but in the end, there wasn't even a Wispa.

The match was abandoned just after six o'clock for a cider Cider Moment in the skittle alley.

Scorecard