A glance at the scoreboard (as dear old Magnus used to say) would suggest a comfortable win for Swinbrook…………but closer inspection reveals a fair share of thrills and spills and a game that was a lot closer than it seems at the time.
So once again we gather - not 8 or 9 of us this time but a good dozen today – another practice for the forthcoming 1-day subs’ rule perhaps? After 3 weeks of drought, the rainy season is on us, with all League games for miles around cancelled – but the pitch is deemed playable, and the game is on, sodding – sorry, that should read scudding clouds permitting. Skipper Harris loses the toss again, but this time we are invited to bat.
John W has another new opening partner in Gully, but neither lasts long, John finding that the ball doesn’t always creep along the ground after pitching and Gully trying a slightly ambitious shot for an opener. Still, Frank looks good. In fact, the President arriving on the scene, just pays him a high compliment, (the exact nature of which I am asked not to reveal), upon which Frank immediately wafts stylishly but uppishly to third man. We are suddenly 3 down for very little. Sam & Macca now dig in. The wicket is decidedly uneven: most balls creep but now and then one pops. This leads to the rare sight of Andy Mac on tiptoe frantically fending off a ball he thinks is going to behave normally. When it is short, however, both players crash a six over square leg. Sam gets 2 more boundaries from powerful hooks; Andy goes the aerial route past extra cover more than once. Both live a bit dangerously but the 50 comes up without further mishap. The rate is slow, hardly scraping 2 an over, but no-one is heckling………then Sam is out trying to accelerate, and Hassan wafts too early. Half the side gone for not many. Andy Mac, Murray, and Adam get things a bit more respectable, Adam blasting 3 boundaries in an over, but a wicket is never far away. Most people can (and do) blame the pitch, but Adam can’t. Whether it is entirely Dave Keeper’s fault will never be known. All that can be said from the boundary is that Dave refuses Adam’s call for a quick single – surprisingly, since Dave is usually the agent provocateur in these matters – but Duds, afflicted either with temporary loss of hearing or sheer disbelief, keeps running, with the inevitable tragic result. A bag of sawdust at the boundary edge is the first innocent victim of a slight peevishness on Duds’ part, then we all hold our breath waiting for the dressing-room to implode. Meanwhile the innings has come to a close at 128, and tea is ready. For some reason the WI cakes have fallen apart though no-one complains, and the chocolate fingers are being traded at a very high premium indeed. While we munch, it rains, but kindly stops in time for Swinbrook’s reply. With the wicket uncovered, Skipper turns to his slow bowlers (less likely to fall over at the crease?) to open. Murray gets serious respect from the batsmen, especially after he dismisses one of them. After 6 overs, with the ball feeling like a cross between a sponge and a soap-on-a-rope, he has the impressive figures of 1 for 4. Hughes also finds the batsmen in timid mood, and, in thickening rain, has a lone lbw shout upheld, the batsman probably unable to see the curving loop of the full toss in the deluge. 10 for 2. With spectacles misting up on the inside and dripping on the outside, and the ball now feeling like a cross between a jellyfish and a cooked beetroot, the batsmen finally start to take advantage, hitting 11 of Hughes’ last over before the umpires put us all out of our misery.It is touch and go whether we shall start again, but, after a lengthy and learned pitch inspection – Duds "What d’you think, Muzza?"; Murray "Oh, should be all right" – we reconvene. The ball has been nicely warmed up on the radiator, but soon returns to its previous forms, with a soupcon of sawdust now adding to the mix. Swinbrook bat on, seemingly less troubled. Dave Keeper misses a sharp one, and Murray accidentally (?) kicks some sawdust on his gloves. When this is pointed out, he makes what I consider to be a rather unnecessary remark about it helping the ball to stick to them, but Dave K luckily does not take offence.

Sam bowls; Adam bowls. Adam picks up a wicket. Gully’s whites bear witness to his agility in the field. Macca bowls, rather gingerly it seems, off a short run-up - the crease is more sawdust than soil. The ball starts to resemble a cross between – well, you get the idea, think seafood and mushy fruit……Swinbrook proceed at a stately 3-4 an over, always keeping the target in sight and seemingly in control. Sam tries Murray again, and then springs his wild card: "This could be a match-winning decision, or……….." he leaves the sentence unfinished as John W, cap reversed, tries an over. The experiment is not a success. Murray has the leading bat dropped by Hughes, who claims the ball is a bit slippery but then can’t make the same excuse when he clings onto one off Sam shortly after. There are the usual accusations of favouritism. We continue to squeeze the opposition (and water out of the ball). Adam bowls a maiden, another chance goes begging, the penultimate over yields just a couple, and the last starts with Swinbrook still needing a run to win. The first 3 balls are dots, then Duds steps neatly over a firmly-hit straight drive and the opposition are home.