Report by DRB

Between Friday evening & Sunday morning there were an estimated 15 player changes to the side to take on Sewerby Park – not funny & any biblical references to Ives giving with one hand & taking away with the other were not made by this correspondent!  Thanks must go to Dobby & Macca for their efforts in getting 11 players to make the seaside trip which included  3 debutants; Matt “bukka” Hall, Lee Platts (from Darley c.c.) & Benj McCallum.
Half the team decided on a early start to beat the holiday traffic on a hot sunny day. After parking up at the ground a ride on the mini-train down into town was the order of the day. There was just enough time for lunch in the Hook & Parrott & a ice cream before getting a packed train back to the ground. Unfortunately the other half of the team, after some late night birthday celebrations (Carl) the night before had set off later & had caught the heavy traffic making them late. These pleadings did not hold much sway with the home captain when he won the toss & decided to bat. We eventually got started at 2.30, playing 35 overs-a-side game.
On a dry sand based pitch there was always something there for the bowlers & after early wickets from Lindwall (Thomson) & Miller (Brown) the skipper decided that we needed to be chasing about 150. Dobby helped the home side attain this by bowling his usual leg side line & letting the batters score at will!!!!! A fine late innings spell up the hill from the skipper was un-rewarded as catches were dropped (no pointing of fingers but it was Macca & Bukka) & Jamie reaped the rewards from this tight spell at the other end. It’s a team game & over the years many bowlers have kept one end tight while others grab the glory at the other end, good examples of this include:- Brian Statham for Fred Trueman, Mike Hendrick for Ian Botham & Ron Brown for Mike Hitchenor!!!!!!!

Sewerby Park always provides fantastic teas as they did again today. In fact we were looked after all day & thanks must go to Mick & John for umpiring the game & Val for scoring all day; the 1^st half on her own.
In the reply Lee impressed, has he had done with his bowling (but not his catching) & brought up his 50 with the winning hit. Bukka managed a couple of “3-irons” & Carl finally managed to get himself a Jesters batting average.
This is one of our best fixtures & we like to say that we go from coast to coast (Blackpool – Bridlington) but every year it is a struggle to get a full side! I live in hope for next season.

Catching competition update:- RL=5, DRB=4, Ives=3, Hill tag team=2, Scottie=0