It was a chilly day when the Pelicans gathered at the Misfits ground (after the usual confusion created by following the stated post code to a line of garage lock-ups in a back alley that made one wonder whether the phrase “the strip was like a road” was invented in Little Missenden).

The Skipper won the toss and duly elected to bat, swiftly followed by intense conversations about a par score being somewhere in the region of 150-160, given the slightly fluffy nature of the outfield and the size of the boundaries (more of that anon). The Pelicans batted deep, so deep in fact that when Yousuf went for 11 and James for 8, there was no sign of butterflies in the Skipper’s stomach. Bails, returning from retirement number 3, duly crunched his first ball through extra cover for four runs (fluffy outfield?) and all was well with the world. Until that is, several balls later he was undone by a straight one for 7 (nothing changes), shortly followed by Raheel for 4 (and yes Raheel, you did run down the pitch and were duly stumped). At 89 for 4 after 21 overs, Skipper was beginning to feel slightly queasy. Thankfully, Asad was in spankingly good form, and Ali thumped a few, so things progressed steadily until Josh replaced Asad (undone by a straight one (spotting the theme?) for a tasty 68 and started to up the ante. Severe spankage duly followed and at the end of the innings, Josh was mightily unbeaten on 51, Ali had departed for 12, JG for a watchful 10 and the Skipper for a magnificent anas platyrhynchos, leaving us with a handsome total of 186 for 8. Confidence was at an all time moderate level as the more experienced heads wondered, as one does, whether we had enough.

An equally moderate tea of the ploughman’s variety, with altogether too many vegetarian options, was followed by some light stretching, and Tooby contorting himself on the ground like an epileptic gymnast. Oh, you were warming up? I’m so sorry, I’ll try to remember that next time I’m tempted to attempt resuscitation… Anyhow, on with the proceedings and the Misfits innings started with Tooby slinging one down the leg side, so good to be back. Thankfully this was not a predictor of things to come and the bowling sharpened up nicely, with Josh (4 for 19) and Toobey (2 for 17) reducing the Misfits to 30 for 6 in the twelfth over. Par, it seems, was more like 50 or 60. There then followed 14 overs of extreme blocking that would have put West Wycombe to shame. Numbers 7 and 8 seemed to have entirely missed the point of a limited overs game (which you can’t draw, you f***ing numpties) and simply laid bat on ball with no effort to score. Skipper did the right thing and brought on the tactical bowlers one always turns to when wickets are needed from unconventional means (nicely done Nico 1 for 20, JG 0 for 10, Skip himself 1 for 14, Raheel 1 for 11 and James 0 for 20) but it took a back edge of the bat around his legs piece of wizardry to dislodge one and an inside edge onto the stumps to remove the other. Thanks be to God… After that, those that followed had a bit more gumption to hit out and things became significantly less boring for a while. In the end, the opposition reached 120 for 9 off their 40 overs (yawn) and the Pelicans were victorious, if slightly dissatisfied with not skittling the oppo for a less than deserved 60-odd.

Well done to one and all, and on to the next willing victims!

Back to Results page

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.