On a day that we welcomed back Hotty Hotterson to the Field of Dreams the Pelicans amassed with one aim and one aim only, don’t be as rubbish in the field as we were last week.

Skip with pleadings from the team to bat first went out to do the honours with the WE Skip, the toss was lost and the Pelicans were put into field not much change there then.

As the thermometer hit 30 degrees the bowling was opened up by Toobes at the Railway end and Amit at the Nags end. It is fair to say after a three week holiday Amit looked like he was still tanning himself as he got smashed to the 4 corners of the ground, Toobes fared little better as the openers made their intentions known and decided to smash as many 4s and 6s as they could.

After 3 overs Amit was put out of his misery and put out to grass and Rags aka The Robot was brought into the attack. Toobes in the meantime had realised that the wicket was a useful tool to bounce the ball off finally took his first wicket, this was quickly followed by his second, proving the old adage one makes two correct

Rags as you would expect severely reduced the run rate and off his first 3 overs had only 4 runs taken off him. Indeed it was in this early part of his bowling attack that the Pelicans had their first fielding slip up, Amir out by the clubhouse had the ball dropping down his throat, try as he may to get out of the way it landed in his hands and then nestled as content as a chick in its downey nest by his feet. With the opener on 15 and hitting out we expected this not to be too drastic a drop.
Toobes by now finishing his 7th over was put out of his misery and taken off before he did himself a mischief, Rags though continued and finally got his first wicket to go with his miserly run rate in-fact having decided that possibly catching wasn’t our strong point he carried the theme of taking such a possibility out of the equation by bowling the opposition out which he did three times. Once again it was a Kankate bowling display of the highest order with 11 overs 3 for 47. As for the opener he was still there.

Following Toobes, the Pelicans had Amir, looking fresh from his holiday and ready to unleash hell, unfortunately the hell that was unleashed was more of the downey chick variety as the WE opener carried on his slog fest, still Amir game-fully stuck to his task and was unlucky on a number of occasions not to get his man, another day it would be a different story, with the run rate increasing it was time to turn to some twirling magic, step forward Raheel and Adam.

By now the Pelicans had decided that the only way to remove the opener would be pure exhaustion, and as he went for yet another heave Raheel finally had his man bowled for 147, Raheel soon took his second wicket a fine catch by Jalil who is now flying up the fielding honours following his similar endeavours at Middleton Stoney.

Adam not wishing to be left out soon had his wicket and Raheel then drew proceedings to a close by bowling out their last man to be all out for 241. I can confidently say we were not as bad as the week before where we leaked 242 runs.

This week the Pelicans and WE were graced with a Fairweather tea. Now this is usually a special occasion and today was no different as a feast of truly tasty and epic proportions was laid out to feed not only the two teams but the Saga away day that had amassed to watch the game.

With tummies full it was down to openers to start the run chase. It was a bit like ordering your usual restaurant dish something spicy and quick to fill your stomach washed down with a full bodied Rioja, or as we say Asad and Raheel. Asad deciding not to run and swatting 4s and 6s, and in no time reaching his 50 whilst Raheel took the singles and his time, eventually falling for 33.

Raheel was replaced by Amit who after swishing and swatting thin air decided that actually hitting the ball would be more productive, and not just all over the ground but consistently between slips 1 to 4.

Asad as the other week continued his excellent form and unfortunately fell on 74 a great foundation for the Pelicans, indeed as Amit continued pummelling the WE bowling the foundations looked incredibly strong, the hope was the walls were not made out of cute duck chick down.

With Asad out Ali was sent into battle and immediately hit a four. With Skip scoring Adam turned around and predicted next ball Ali out, mystic Adam as he will now known would in days gone by been burnt at the stake for witchcraft such was his accuracy, although we know that Ali is more of a Swiss watch when he looks to be in this mood as he trudged back to the clubhouse.

Following Ali we had the rock himself Niron partnering Amir. Amir being a true Peli decided attack was the best course of action as quick singles were taken, unfortunately it was whilst pushing the scoring on that he was run out. Never fear a Kankate is here and up stepped Rags, who never left his crease once as he smashed 20 runs before he too succummbed, Jalil soon followed caught LBW which brought Nico to the crease requiring 40 runs off four overs, a tall order you might think, but not in Nico’s mind. With all the intentions of emulating Ben Stokes Nico set to the WE bowling. Unfortunately our New Zealand import didn’t quite match England’s New Zealand import and was caught for 0.

During all the above Niron stood firm, Gandalfesque.

It was then down to Toobes and Niron to bring home the draw, which they did with great alacrity.

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Reports are intended to convey an entertaining picture of the day’s play. No disrespect is meant, but if on occasion we misjudge matters, please take it in the friendly and humorous spirit in which it is intended.