FIRST XI MATCH REPORT SATURDAY 11th JUNE VS BRISTOL 2s (A)

After coming so close to victory last week against Twyford House, this saturday it was important to put the last game behind us and focus on our task. As skipper LWT managed to maintain his record as a useless tosser, once again it was the oppositions turn to choose whether to bat or field.

After putting themselves in, Rhys had a brainwave. This was to give senior bowler James Riley, aka Mr Tickle, the choice of ends. After he had picked to bowl down the hill, his counterpart Josh started to turn a very angry shade of red. He sucked up all the oxygen he could get into his Bob Parr lungs and trudged up the hill. But this was not before Mr Tickle, who had choice of ends and first over snicked off another arch nemesis, Hunt (0) to captain Grove who couldn’t believe his luck when it found its way into his hands. After a couple of tight overs, Bob decided that an early retirement was on the cards as he swore he ‘is a batsman’ and so a real batsman took over his end in Little Miss Show Off, Milo Ayres bowling his off spins. As Mr Tickle toiled from one end, beating the bat continuously, someone in the crowd mistook him for Marcel Marceau, the French mime. After a few ‘quelle a la date de ton anniversaire’s were exchanged, it was clear that James was not about to perform on the streets of Paris and he had just applied four bottles of factor 50 sun block. Whilst Jimmer needed to put a bell in the ball for the batters, LMSO once again was the man to take the wickets, taking a caught and bowled from a juicy long hop. After taking the wicket he said ‘I cant trust any of you to catch it, so I am better off just doing things myself’.

Another breakthrough as he trapped the number 4 lbw took us into a commanding position as Bristol 2s were 8-3 from 8 overs. Wickets continued to fall as Riley took another, with a smart catch by Mr Bump behind the stumps. Another caught and bowled for Milo (with a dive for the cameras) meant that Bristol was now 27-5. As skipper Grove through the ball to Little Miss Magic PK, it felt like the innings could be wrapped up quickly. He went on to take 4 of the last 5 wickets, giving debutant Jacob Wardle, the Sizzler, a mention in the book with a catch to his name, and another victim to Mr Bump behind the stumps. As he took the last wicket skidding one through number 11s defences Bristol were all out for 72. A highly disciplined performance from the bowlers who showed that they can do it without Mr Incredible ruining everyone’s day. No teas at half time was a result, as we padded up to get ready to try and chase it down.

The scoring came easy to openers Mr Quiet and Mr Perfect who continued their good form. As Charlie hummed silent night, he played beautifully through the covers again, easing anything over pitched to the boundary for four. Both took the arial route as they brought spin on from both ends to try to take the wicket. Playing positively on the front foot we managed to chase the total down inside 11 overs with Brain 38* and Thomas 29*. An assured performance all round that allowed us to get back to the club to watch a fine innings in the second team from Ben Sharp. Hopefully we can take this result into next week as we come back to Ironmould Lane to face Congresbury against a couple of friendly faces.