A nice sunny afternoon greeted the Pilgrims as they gathered at our friends Phoenix Cricket Club, emboldened by the victory in the second Ashes test.

The pitch looked a little interesting with a few dips and hills and the rugby pitch outfield was patchy and would prove difficult to field on as usual.

Penthouse lost the toss and we were put in, looking to score in the vicinity of 200 runs.

Admirable

Seedy and Col Juan did an admirable job in the opening overs scoring at a slowish, yet steady pace and ensuring that they saw off the opening bowlers. Col was first to go with the score on 29 after nine overs. The skipper came in and proceeded to lift the run rate and push the scoreboard along nicely with Seedy still holding up the other end – until he became the next to go, caught behind, with the score at 63 for two.

This brought Tipple to the crease and he showed his intentions early, cracking 21 off his first 11 deliveries. Penthouse and Tipple carried the score along at a healthy rate for quite some time before Penthouse was caught and bowled for a respectable 35 with the score on 118 for three. McFly was determined to improve on last season’s best score of one. With the second string bowlers on, we were able to keep the score board ticking along without taking too many chances.

Donkey

However, the curse of the donkey drop was just around the corner. Tipple was first to be sucked in trying to hit a lobbed delivery back to his home town of Invercargill (on the southern-most tip of New Zealand, not far from Antarctica for those not aware) and was clean bowled, followed quickly by Flymo.

Whippet showed he can stick around while fending off nicely some good deliveries by the pick of their bowlers before he too attempted to hit the skin off a lobbed delivery and consequently ended up bowled. The score was now 142 for six and the wickets overs remaining were running out.

Shaky

Matt Tanner looked a little shaky facing their quicker bowlers, choosing to jump away from the pitch of the ball and swing with the bat from afar. This technique was good for five runs but it was only a matter of time before the ball knocked down the stumps. Xero came in with four overs remaining and 179 on the board and a little late, McFly started to lift the run rate to reach the psychologically important score of 200. Too busy attempting to hit the ball over the boundary, he was not thinking of taking the quick singles – something Hansie certainly reminded him of with some terrifying screams of “Run!” while thundering down the wicket. Hansie was bowled on the last ball of the innings – all out for 190.

Tea was replaced by a bbq at the end of the game, so after a quick break for a cup of tea the Pilgrims were back on the field for some warm-up drills and looking sharp. Phoenix attempted to unnerve us with some delaying tactics before taking the field (possibly due to the Chelsea v Arsenal game on the telly).

Brutish

Whippet and Tipple opened the bowling and threw down some brutish deliveries asking some good questions of their opening batsmen. A couple of early chances went begging with a dropped catch and a difficult-yet-catchable edge between the keeper and first slip. However, they managed to keep the run rate well and truly down with a few early maidens hence putting pressure on the batsmen to score.

Hansie and McFly came on at first change and continued in much the same vein until a nasty bounce lept from a McFly delivery and caught the glove of the batsmen, Seedy made no mistake in gloving the catch. The next wicket fell with McFly’s next delivery when the batsmen made the bizzare decision to leave a ball directed straight at his stumps.

Bizarre

At the other end, Hansie was bowling his magnificent, well-flighted deliveries which baffled the next few batsmen and he finished with figures of three for 33 off eight overs. Xero came into the attack next and once again showed that accuracy is more important than pace, bowling a couple more and completing a caught-and-bowled for the amazing figures of three for nine from four.

The game was nearly over and the calls to get the bbq started were beginning to echo around the ground. The opening bat was holding up one end but he received no support. Once Hansie had produced the catch of the century to get him caught and bowled, the match all but belonged to the Pilgrims. Whippet was brought back in and showed no mercy to theer final batsman who attempted to show some stick. But the inevitable eventually occurred and his wickets were torn from the earth.

The match was over. Phoenix were bowled out for 104 and the Pilgrims managed to complete an enjoyable 86 run victory.

The bbq was fantastic as the weather held out for a very nice evening.

Grazin’ without Daisy – or Daisy’s Teas

What can you say

When your poet’s away?

Nowt really.

Never mind.

Daisy is away. Well, no actually – he er, just didn’t play and therefore didn’t have tea...(ed)