Report by DRB

After travelling through Armageddon like weather to get to Thongsbridge there did not seem to be much chance of play but an enthusiastic Almondbury Casuals team assured us that the weather forecast was good & sure enough things brightened up & after some super sponging a 30 overs match was commenced at 3.30.

A Jesters side consisting of 4 debutants & some familiar faces and not containing any Rawdon players for the 1^st time in many a year (all turning out in Waddilove & Bertwistle cup matches) won the toss & after no thought decided to bat first.

Another father & son combination was added to the annals as Dane Winterbottom turned out alongside his dad, unfortunately his 1^st ball dismissal left him disappointed.

2 Barnsley Menorca tourists (rampant Griffins) Andrew Ivill & Ben Senior both struggled to find the venue but once there made impressive debuts; The latter with a debut half century using the biggest bat ever seen (a 3 pound 6 ounce railway sleeper) when asking for his guard Coco had to go to mid-on & mid-off to get a view of the stumps.

A potentially disasterous moment was averted by the captain when the EX Jester Steve Bindman unexpectedly showed up. He was the casuals 12^th man but knowing the fixture was against the Jesters had turned up hoping to get a game for the visitors. As we had indeed only 10 men ( due to a communications failure ) a fabricated phone call (by Dale who seems to be quite good at this sort of thing) to the missing man assuring us of his immediate arrival kept Binders at bay. The chairman (that’s Coco if you did not know) overcome with a conscious all of a sudden declared this was unfair & decided he would over-rule the captain & invite the ex-tourist to field for us in the 2^nd half. Fourtunatley Binders must have had enough & left just before this was possible.

After the pile ridden chairman had his banana sandwich at tea he astounded all by snaffling 2 catches at gully from the impressive debutant Ivill; Indeed Ives & the stalwart Ritchie Barker ripped out the first 6 casuals batsmen on a now drying pitch.

Scottie & Coco bowling in tandom again (it’s great to see) could not quite manage to mop up the tail before the overs ran out partly because of the easiest catch ever offered on a cricket field dropped by part time (& only time) wicket keeper Dale. This now officially takes over as the worst drop ever seen from the debacle at Kidmore End by Chipper Ramsden some time in the 80s.

catching competition update

S.Scott - 0  D.Bell - 0  RL - 1 Pod - 1

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