Barford Cricket Club

Barford Cricket Club

A friendly cricket club based in Warwickshire

Back to winning ways

After a couple of lacklustre Sunday performances it’s great to report that the midweek team are on the march again. Inspirational leader Simon “twinkletoes” Drage reports:

“On a cold April evening the Barford midweek cricket machine rolled into action for the
first of it’s 2015 season’s games. Fielding what was possibly the youngest averaged
aged team in the clubs history ( 30 ) made so by the inclusion of young Morgan
and Hawkins 13 a piece, older Hawkins 14 and the ever young International 40
later this year, ha ha. Would there be enough in the Barford tank to prevent a new
and improved T.N.C team from claiming there first victory over us ?????.

After winning the toss skipper International chose to bat first and give something to
T.N.C to chase. Openers Griffin and Farquhar set off like a rat up a drain pipe and had
put a very quick 30 on the board before Jake was caught after top edging one. This
bought Johnstone to the middle and he was soon in full flight playing his effortless
strokes all around the field. Griffin finally went for 22, caught on the boundary going
for the big six, which bought O’Rielly to the middle. Chris wasn’t with us too long as
he swung at a straight one and was given out lbw by umpire Peirson. Still we already
had 80 on the board with plenty more to come. Andy Hawkins was next in and Paul
Johnstone was soon retired on 25 ( well batted ) so little Jack Hawkins joined his dad
and they set about the T.N.C attack. The 100 was passed and everything looked good
for a big score when Andy swung at a straight one and was bowled for 11. Enter the
skipper for the final 2 overs to hopefully smash a few boundary’s at the death and
push our score. Unfortunately the only thing that died was the skipper himself who
when setting off for his first run of the night, tore some mussel in his leg and hobbled
up and down for the rest of the innings like Forrest Gump in callipers. Young Jack
finished on 17 not out and we had amassed 128 from our 14 allocated overs.

Was that going to be enough against a cold and hungry looking T.N.C side ????.

Skipper International briefed his debutant kids on the game plan, which was simple,
attack attack attack and then passed the ball to Will Morgan to bowl the first over
and what a first over it was, slick, fast and accurate ( the complete opposite to how
his dad bowls, ha ha ) and immediately putt T.N.C on the back foot. Steaming in from
the other end was Jack and it wasn’t long before he opened his account and the team’s
by taking the first wicket of the season, clean bowled. The first bowling change saw
Harry Hawkins replace Will and not to be outdone by his older brother he also opened
his account, again clean bowled. Another tight over each and the change bought
another Hawkins into the attack only this time it was Simon ( no relation to the others )
and from the other end Steve Howes. Both bowled superbly and both took deserved
wickets to get their season up and running, again clean bowled. Tight overs from Jake
and Andy Hawkins, coupled with some brilliant fielding especially by the youngsters
and another excellent performance behind the stumps by Chris and we had come to
the final over of the night. T.N.C needed 22 to win and I needed someone with broad
shoulders to carry us across the line. The ball was passed to young Will and was simply
told to bring us home. 8 balls later the game was in the bag and we were off to the
clubhouse for the first victorious pint and or coke of the season.

Well that’s how I remember how it happened.

Many thank’s to Sandy for umpiring the whole game on a very cold night.”

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