(No match report, the following is The Lee’s account of the match.) Adversaries for many years, the Pelicans landed at Manor Park with high hopes. The toss was won by The Lee, and after a nanosecond of thought, the decision was to bat. On an easy paced pitch, Henry Quinn, with an out of tune […]

(No match report, the following is The Lee’s account of the match.)

Adversaries for many years, the Pelicans landed at Manor Park with high hopes. The toss was won by The Lee, and after a nanosecond of thought, the decision was to bat. On an easy paced pitch, Henry Quinn, with an out of tune bat, and Mike Cooper got us off to a watchful start, and 40 runs. Mike nibbled at Richard Frank, and was snapped up behind by Tony Harris. This brought in Jules Swain, an occasional guest player for the Pelicans, and he and Henry got us to 70 before Henry fell to good one. This brought another guest player to the crease; a guest from the Misfits, who looked remarkably like a guy who used to play for us… He’d heard how much better our wicket is, and proceeded to have an extended net, practising the boring forward defensive we can all look forward to next week… Jules kept the run-rate up, but when he fell in uncharacteristically tame fashion, stumped playing a nothing shot, the Pelicans tightened up. Walters bowled an excellent spell of accurate seam, removing yesterday’s hero Walsh with a good one. A breezy injection of runs came from the skipper, rolling back the years with some elegant strokes and 2 hefty 6s into the park. Jonny Bellwood continued his ‘solid’ effort, and we scraped up to 255. Probably below par, but a decent total.

After an excellent tea, presented by York and Mel, we prised ourselves away from the table, and began the Pelicans’ chase. They took to the wing, but flight was a little ponderous. and after 10 overs they reached 42-1. Some hostile stuff from Harry Hutt, backed up by the experience of Ed Boakes, meant that we could open up the game with some opportunities for youngsters. Charlie Line persevered with not much luck, and Rob Walsh backed him up with some tight seam, causing the batsmen considerable inconvenience. Further youthful exuberance came via the ‘spin’ of Guy Morgan, who used variations of flight to keep the runs down. Nonetheless, after 25 overs, Pelicans were well-set on 142-2, and with Assad Rehman poised to accelerate, the game took a dramatic turn. Jon Swain had one of his better day’s bowling, and conned Assad into a rash attempt to hit his 2nd ball into the pavilion. Alas, it only had the legs to reach Walsh, waiting to snaffle the important catch. In 3 telling overs, Swain removed 3 more Pelicans, one via an excellent catch by Harry Hutt, fending off the unwanted attentions of Walsh, who, excited by his catch, thought every other ball in the air was his. The other 2 were bowled by JS’s surprise delivery; the straight one. That caused a hiatus in the run-chase, but Tony Harris hit strongly with Arif to cause one or two alarms, but a Yorkie straight one did for Harris, and a suicidal run-out saw the end of Arif, and that was that. A good win, played in an excellent spirit, with everyone contributing. More fines were imposed on miscreants after the game.

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.