Over 40's first completed match of 2022

Rich wins the toss and we’re batting Mark showed his class and his 24 off 25 was smeared to all parts that would make a cake maker proud. With his pulse almost back within the safe zone having been confronted with the smallest car park known to man, Dave padded up and joined Mark in the middle. We needn’t have worried, a visual combination of Joe Root and Michael Vaughan Dave anchored the innings and ultimately retired 31 not out. A top effort and maybe we’ve found an opening pair, 46 for the first wicket in good time is not to be sniffed at.

Mahesh looked the part but got an awkward delivery and was back in the hutch. Rich biffed and bashed with timing and poise but had his furniture rearranged when looking set on 19 including a fierce drive into Dave G’s inner thigh at the non strikers end. The schlep from Stepping Hill clearly took it out of Saeed and he departed without troubling the scorer. Rogers deep heat and voltarol combination on those expensive knees of his did the trick and elegantly going at a run a ball on 8 got a nasty one and there was more woodwork repair required.

Lanky made the very most of having 4 overs to play with and with limbs aplenty butchered and there’s no luck about it 13, there’s a batsman in there that’s for sure. I got in with 4 balls to face which is 4 more than last season and managed to nick 2 off the edge and was happy to applaud Gav off the pitch.

110 was no shame.

Sadly we were up against a pretty decent side and if their batting is as evidently good as their bowling it makes our 110 even more commendable. Jon and Rich took the new ball and deserved more to be fair but they know their ground well and exploited the short side boundary and raced to 30 each not out in short time, quite dismissive of Jon’s variation and on another night the oo’s and aah’s might have brought some reward.

In the meantime Rog took one on the sternum, it would be hard to say it was a dropped chance, but it might have been. Saeed took some uncharacteristic punishment too but recovered his composure to snaffle an absolute skyer at mid off to give Mahesh our only wicket who will incidentally be very happy with his official figures of 1-0-1-1, when he actually bowled 2 and was rudely pulled for a wide of the crease no ball, go figure, but Wisden will show 1/1 so who cares! And fingers crossed Saeed’s thumb is okay for tomorrows list. Mr dependable Roy tightened up an end and almost bowled a maiden. I was happy to get an over and must have hit a divot with my first ball but it worried them, and I’ll take that.

In between all this Dave G was patrolling the boundary like an expectant father outside the maternity ward and the ball followed him everywhere, no matter where he tried to hide, and on any other night would have deservedly got the golden award for his nights hard work continually throwing in from the deep and a touch of class with his willow.

However the man of the match goes to David Ng positively feline behind the stumps you’d never know he’d never done it before, sadly we didn’t get many edges so there was nothing for him to drop. But he took to it like a duck to water which was incidentally lashing down by the end and with ice coruscating through his veins enough to give Wim Hof a knee tremble he was tidiness personified.

And so we lost they knocked off 111/1 in 12 overs with only 5 byes, take a bow young man.

No argy bargy tonight and decent run out for us all, shambolic bar however, no bitter, canned Guinness but clutched it back with some takeaway pizzas, I think.

And a special mention to Chris for making the trip and umpiring, good lad and should have stayed for a slice of Hawaiian.

(Greg Lines, o40s official Match Reporter and Amateur Weather Forecaster)