Sunday, 8 August 2010

Goin' Through The Motions

Good evening one and all. A double helping of all things Didcot today. Last weekend was rather busy in the Gates household what with a cricket match and a wedding to squeeze in.

You know that saying 'If you can remember the '60's, you weren't there'? It's a reference to the amount of character altering chemical compounds consumed during the decade that gave birth to everything good in life. I can't remember much about last weekend, it is a blur of bubbles, cigar smoke and a snowman nose.

To be honest there wasn't much to report on last weeks game at home to Bledlow Ridge. To be honest there isn't much to report on yesterdays game either. Both matches had a sense of inevitability to them that started before a ball had been bowled. The only tension was at the coin toss really.

Having called correctly and invited Ridge to bat we duly set about the top order and soon had them at 45 for 5 with 3 wickets for The Gravy and 2 for Sean Cronje. Spectacular catches from The Judge and Showboat Pritchard backing up great opening spells from both bowlers. A period of consolidation from Ridge got them 92 before the fall of the sixth wicket when Cookie removed the unconventional Needham (we later learned he plays a lot of hockey) Laurel and Hardy joined the fun and The Gravy ended with 4 for 33 as Ridge withered to 123 All Out.

The chase was uneventful with Pritch and The Judge putting on 48 for the first wicket leaving Gravy and Cookie (doing his best Chris Tavare impression) to finish off. An 8 wicket victory achieved without ever needing to get out of second gear.

We travelled under dark, foreboding skies to Nondescripts yesterday knowing that a winning toss would all but guarantee a victory. It did.

In an almost carbon copy of the previous week we had Nondies at 39 for 5 with 3 for The Bisto kid and two for Stimpo. We lost 4 overs for rain and set off again with Nondies 6 down. A strange batting display from their top order. They appeared to have technical ability but were unable to concentrate for longer than about 10 minutes and ended up getting out just as they appeared comfortable, going for the big glory shot. Ahmed managed to get his knickers in a twist about something or other and duly tripped over them. He was still muttering about something only he heard hours later. Play the ball you muppet.

A wicket apiece for The Don, The Judge and The Caretaker (Le don, le juge, le gardien - a film by Luc Besson, coming to a cinema near you?). Stimpo finished off the tail to finish with 4 for 30 from 11 overs. 122 all out wasn't going to cause us any problems unless the rain intervened.

We set off at a clip and rattled up 60 for the first wicket, Pritch making a fluent 34. Brockett soon joined The Judge and they both carried their bats on the way to an 8 wicket win. Bris finishing on 42 and Jules on 34. Home and hosed by 6.10 we headed south to the FoD to watch the end of the seconds victory.

A stiffer test awaits next week as we welcome Banbury to the FoD. A must win game. At this stage of the season no one has scored a ton yet. Surely it is well overdue.

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