Sun Jul 25th Grannies lose. 183-9 v 248-3.
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Players
Match report
Under sultry skies on a parched, yellow pitch the Grannies lost a game that ebbed and flowed but as so often with the Grannies, the ebb had it.
Match manager Frank Strachan pulled out on Thursday (sore hip), asking one of Ely or Yeates Snr to captain on the day. Yeates pulled rank, so Ely got the gig, though the provision of two junior Yeates cushioned the blow of having to find more players. Strachan, for the record, sauntered in looking very fit and sprightly around tea time, did a lap of the ground, had tea and left. Oh the privilege of authority.
Ely immediately stamped his authority on the game by losing both the toss and Mark L-G, who defected to the oppo to make it 10 a side. Splitter. We started bowling well with excellent away swing from Julian Graham and very tidy lines from candidate Quinton Newcomb. Scoring was difficult on a slow pitch of uneven bounce but wickets were hard to come by until an inspired stumping from 1st slip by Mark Wheeler gave us hope. The Wine Trade's no. 3 started slowly but then decided to flay us to all parts for a 100, before an excellent running catch from Quinton on the boundary, bowled Jeremy Wynne, who could have had two wickets in his first over. As ever with the Grannies we had a bit of everything; excellent keeping from Harry Yeates (who let only 2 byes through despite never having kept before), a five for hitting a helmet and some England style footwork from John Lucas.
So having been scoring at 3 an over for the first 15 they made 248, declaring generously after 35. One small note of consolation was at drinks when Mark L-G's wife informed him she was going home, although he was on 47. "Stay for just a few more runs" he said confidently, before being out immediately after the break.
Julian Graham and Simon Byers gave us a very confident start and the dry outfield was leaking 7 an over fairly easily but whilst a few Grannies made a start we kept getting out just when we didn't need to. Ben Yeates batted excellently for a flashing 49 (get over it) and shared an exciting family partnership with dad Nick, who threw the blade well for 34, despite a pulled hammy.
At the last 20 over mark we were on track, still needing 7 an over, which we were making until running out of wickets. Thanks obviously to Mark L-G; the 94 run swing would have seen us home.
A good fun day with generous hosts and thanks to all for making my day easy.
Match info
Nice friendly game, played in Bushy Park. The sun always shines (I hope that doesn't scupper us this year), the BBQ is always fired up and the skipper's hamstrings always tend to snap during play.
Please send me your names so that I can add you to the list of players - bring families and picnics, lots of open space to spread out, read the papers/Grazia/Marie Claire.....
Location
Bushy Park,
Hampton Wick,
KT1 4AZ