ACME CC 181 for 7 (Skip 2-15) beat Quokkas CC 142 all out (Faggie 32, Seagull 29, Driver 25, Evil 25)
Another day, another BBC news story about Seagulls, this time a bird has been banned from a store for shoplifting. The gull, named Steven has a penchant for BBQ beef flavoured crisps apparently and due to a six-year thieving spree, the desperate owner has put up `Wanted’ posters. This follows a story last month about a gull, also called Steven, that was regularly raiding a Bangor store for croissants whilst picking up his daily newspaper, the Cambrian News. Why are am I telling you this? Filler, just filler.
I’m not sure if I was extremely busy, had writers block or with the Euros in full swing, I just couldn’t be arsed to write the match report immediately after the game, but for whatever the reason it’s now a month later and I am struggling to remember much that happened other than Skip having at least three servings of trifle. Batting second has its advantages.
I do recall that, Jeremy, making his Sunday debut for the Quokkas, was far too good for our opponents and had to be taken off after just four overs otherwise there wouldn’t have been a score to chase. He went for just three runs and should perhaps have had a couple of wickets to his name but for some generous home umpiring. At the other end, Evil Dave was almost as frugal, but thankfully we had plenty of bowlers to offer some `bertie basset’ stuff, not least Niall, who attempted to break Locky’s record of 19 wides in an over. Despite this, according to the scorebook he did take a wicket thanks to a Faggie catch. My guess is that it was a horrific delivery, the sort that always seem to get wickets, that left the wicketless Jeremy and Evil shaking their heads and muttering under their breath (Ed: It was, and they did).
There were wickets for Faggie, Egg and the Driver, with a runout completing the set, but not before our opponents set us a stiff 181 target. This would be the last time we play ACME CC at the Westcott Cricket Ground, but hopefully they will take their chef with them, as the tea was once again tremendous. We feasted on a plethora of breads and cheeses, which was topped off by the pre-mentioned trifle. I believe we discussed the possibility of Southgate being knighted, the need to swim to the cricket ground whilst on tour because Radio John had booked us a hotel on completely different island and whether we’d see fusion-based power generation in our lifetime. All fascinating stuff, but time for some batting.
I can see from the book that our innings started badly, with Sohail run out without facing and the score on zero. Thanks for coming Showman. His colleague George, another Quokkas debutant, departed not long after. Faggie and Seagull settled the ship with a fifty partnership, before our nemesis, ‘Dave’, ripped through our middle order with increasingly tempting moon balls. First Faggie, then Seagull and finally Driver, who was going well, all succumbed to deliveries they really shouldn’t be getting out to.
102-5 quickly became 111-8 as two generations of the Bradley family came and went quicker than hoped. Sadly, Jeremy failed to knock off the three runs he had conceded from his bowling and Niall matched him [Ed: in terms of batting score, not failure to knock off the runs he conceded from his bowling]. Evil Dave, hiding down the order, came in and showed everyone how easy this batting lark is. But by then though, we’d left him far too much to do and when he was eventually out, we were still 40 runs short.
All in all, it was a disappointing performance from the Quokkas, but with trifle that good, we didn’t care.
Seagull