Narborough and Littlethorpe V Fleckney Village
Fleckney won by….oh heck who cares?
It's safe to say that the Sunday XI haven't had much luck so far this year. Well that's an understatement, it's a bit like a Hen Night finding the only male entertainment left unbooked was a troupe of obese poetry reciting eunuchs. However today it came good.
It came good through a combination of fine individual performances, a dose of personal bravery and big moments going their way. In short they played something like a proper cricket team. Yes , this Roving Reporter was shocked too.
The home side got off to a flier, a pitch that was good for the most part aside from the occasional extra bounce aided by a short boundary made shot playing worthwhile. A score in excess of 250 looked on.
What do you do when things look bad? No, you don't panic and call for your Mummy (even if you stub your toe and it REALLY hurts). You dig in and fight.
Mandeep took a ridiculous one handed grab, Ben O’Reilly took four wickets on his seasonal bow, the VC took a stumping before taking one on his thumb, finger and cheek respectively and passed the gloves onto Matt Short. The Claw snaffled the main home threat second ball and the target was 194. Big but not impossible.
Farhan who later revealed was playing on his birthday opened the innings with Mike Dunkley and both played beautifully. They were separated just after drinks when Dunkers nicked behind with 97 on the board. The rate needed was five an over and that's where they were, indeed throughout the chase the rate required stayed very steady.
You sort of knew it was going down to the last over and that is how transpired. Wickets falling regularly as the Fleckney men sacrificed themselves to keep things moving against tight bowling.
We pick up the action with 3 balls left and five wanted. Scooter on strike with Nigel at the other end who (quite understandably) fancied the strike just about as much as he would a 6 foot 7 docker with bad breath called Big Ron … i.e. not at all
Scooter gets the ball away to the boundary to wild acclaim. One wanted off 2 balls And Fleckney at least couldn't lose.
Penultimate ball. The skipper gears up for a big swing but only gets his helmet grille rattled
Final ball. Everyone holding their breath (including Big Ron thankfully) and Scooter muscles the ball long and handsome for 6. Cue absolute scenes as the Fleckney players went totally Berko.
Dramatic stuff indeed.
Thank you to our gracious hosts for the game. Thank you tothe VC for lending his bat to Scooter for him to hit the match winning blow.
Thank you to Farhans Mum and Dad for creating such a fine cricketer.
Finally thank you to Brij for pulling out this morning allowing Farhan to play. Never before has a Man Of The Match contender been nowhere near the ground…….
I'm off for a lie down
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