Marlow 2nd XI v Baggies 2nd XI
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- Last Updated on Sunday, 07 August 2011 18:45
- Written by Geoff Young
What is it that football managers & TV pundits say...? "Well, Gary... It was a game of two halves..."
Our mid table clash at the picturesque Marlow didn't necessarily fall into this cliched category but our innings certainly did. 100-1 at the drinks break, 60-9 after it. In actual fact it was worse than that.
Alex Cave went to his 50 at 120-1. It was a very fine knock, all straight bat & high elbow text book stuff. Very pretty to watch. His dismissal wasn't. At this level the term 'dibbly-dobbly' bowler strikes fear into division 5 batsmen seemingly in the same way Curtly Ambrose & Courteney Walsh did to Englands Atherton, Hick et al on a bumpy concrete unmade Jamaican road in 1994.
The 'fear' may be different. Lives are not at risk. Extra chest padding isn't called for. This is a very particular & peculiar kind of fear. But the outcome is very much the same. The introduction of Peacock had the proverbial 'rabbit-in-the-headlights' effect on Bagshots batters. Barely registering 25mph on the speed gun his drifting non-spin did for Cave the ball after he reached 50. It then accounted for Young (46), Barclay (1), Dunnage (0) & Theobald (7). It was carnage.
At the other end the skipper bowled something slightly more conventional to pick up the wickets of Ishtak, Skilton & Medlock. DJ was run out in over 51 to put an end to the 17 miserable overs that took us from 120-1 to 160 all out.
We couldn't blame the sunshine. We couldn't blame the moonlight. We couldn't even blame the boogie. Tea was taken and we sat there in total silence as though at a wake. Utter bewilderment. Hope had died. Solace was to be found only in the glorious chocolate brownies. Momentum is a funny thing. If you get 160 after being 64-9 your total seems as insurmountable as an attempt on the Eiger without crampons.
In this instance however it's as pathetic as a premiership footballers attempt at a 'spelling bee'. And so it proved.
Jonny & Skilts couldn't recreate last weeks heroics and the opening pair put on 130 with the minimum of effort and fuss before skipper Fisher lobbed one up to Ratty at mid on. I think he sensed our mournful disappointment and simply felt sorry for us the way cosmetic companies employees do when shampooing a caged guinea pig to see if its product is fit for human consumption.
The whole game was punctuated by the repetitive sound of 50s rock & roll music bellowing from the speakers of a giant jukebox in the adjacent field as revellers ate candy floss and won coconuts at the county fair.
It's the first time I've been out to the chorus of Jackie Wilsons "Reet Petite" ringing in my ears. If I hear that record anytime soon I'll blow a gasket. The one good thing to come out of this 9 wicket defeat is that we should be playing each other again next season.
I like the way Marlow go about things. No chirpy youths or aggressive has-beens. Just a decent bunch of guys enjoying a saturday afternoon playing cricket. That's what I signed up for. You win some, you lose some...
