Well it had to happen sometime! Hawkley suffered their first defeat of the season to the 'Staggerers' in what turned out to be a thrilling afternoons cricket and eventually lost a tight match by just one wicket.
Hawkley lost the toss and were put into bat on what was a lovely batting wicket. Runs were there to be had, but Hawkley, unlike a government minister filling in his expense form, failed to take full advantage. The opening experimental partnership of Sherrif (13) and Nipper (9) was looking useful until it was broken by a good caught and bowled by Webber. Thereafter Sam (0) was bowled by a surprise straight delivery (after an erratic start from Wrenn), and the unlucky Dapper (12) was out to an LBW decision that Hawkleyeye later showed may have pitched outside leg stump. There were contributions from Toddy (8), Johnny Retro (12), Hibby (11) ,Statue(14) and the top scoring Mondo (22) to allow Hawkley to post a slighlty below par 123.
After tea ( the normal fine Doris tea of cheese and onion, egg, tuna, sausage rolls) Hawkley took to the field with enthusiasm. Some excellent bowling and fielding by the Hawkley team meant that they were always in the game. The opening bowling spell by little Chris (2 wckts) and Statue from the start kept runs to a minimum and wickets followed . There were excellent catches by Sam and Dapper to keep the pressure on the visitors. The pressure was maintained by the bowling of Toddy (2 wckts) and Nipper (2 wckts) -who also had a good shout for LBW declined- Hawkleyeye later saying middle peg (after 3 pints!). The game went down to the wire after Statue (3 wickets for just 6 runs- excellent!) was brought back into the attack to take 2 wickets in his return over. Some excellent fielding by Hibby and another great catch by little Chris kept the pressure on -4 required with just 1 wicket remaining- until the winning runs were scored by the fine batting of Webber. The teams retired to the bar for much post match analysis- which I hear the Staggerers continued both at the Hawkley Inn and then later at the Madhuban.
It was a great afternoons cricket and played to a full house of spectators from Hawkley and the visitors alike.
Thanks to Guy Butchers for bringing along such a fine group of cricketers to play a very enjoyable game of cricket. We look forward to the fixture again next year when hopefully Hawkley can finally pull a win against them out of the bag.
puggy
WAG's match report Staggers vs Hawkley
The WAG's opened with a delivery of Pink fizzy and followed this with further spells of wine of significant quality and quantity consumed alongside a most excellent array of picnic foods.
A reasonable stint of gossiping took place throughout the afternoon with every member of the team making their contribution and this was followed in the later part of the day by a session of uncontrolled hilarity and giggling over nothing in particular.
As the evening closed in it became clear that a cricket match was still taking place and that it was now time for the WAG's to pay some attention to the score. There then followed a rapid session of enquiry (what's going on, who's that with the bat, is that my husband over there and what is the score) until it was established that Hawkley were fielding, the opposition were batting and it was quite a tight game.
At this point the WAG's showed their true worth by hurling abuse at their own team, conducting a prolonged spell of name calling with notable contributions from Sally Tanner and Jane Webster before the final ball was hit and the teams returned from the pitch to the welcoming sound of WAG's demanding more drinks from the bar.
In all an excellent result for the WAG's who staggered away to sleep it all off before next weeks game.
journo
On the other channel....
Nick Davis update:
Nick got a late call up to Hawkley and would appear to have bowled well (3 for 6) and got 14 runs. I say 'appear' as the match report doesnt refer to a N Davis but somebody called 'statue'. If you follow the link to the photo page, you will see a number of photos of Nick mid-shot. The only strange thing is that in all the photos, one can't see the ball! I suppose he is a photographer's dream......no chance of missing the action when the pose is held for 8 seconds.
Edited: journo (Sun May 17 09:10:07 2009)