FIND EMBERTON   CRICKET GROUND

TOTE  WINNERS

SUNDAY ELEVEN

May 20th 

Wollaston 196 for 8 in 40 overs -  Dean CC   122 for 8 in 40 overs

 
Wollaston's intrepid Sunday XI travelled to deepest rural Bedfordshire to be entertained by Ralphy's old club Dean. Enthusiastically lead by Chris Perry who managed to summon eleven players and an umpire but neglected to bring a match ball or scorebook, the away side took to the crease with willow in hand as the toss was won. Openers Zulu and Duddle survived the first over unscathed, but the same could not be said about the second as the latter fell cutting. It was to the surprise of many of his watching team-mates that Mike should be dismissed in this manner considering the amount of time he spends in the nets grooving this particular stroke to both short, full and leg side deliveries. At the other end, Zulu was living up to his name with some rapier-like strokes to the loose balls and was desperately unfortunate to receive the first of many 'pea-rollers' on his ankle - slap bang in front of the stumps. Jeff's long trip from London initially looked as though it was to pay off with a neatly clipped 3, but this was not to last as he was soon stumped for the second time in the weekend. On his return to the club, Ralphy played a useful cameo of 46 before poking a catch back to the bowler. Lucky and Pez both made 30s in a middle period where scoring quickly was difficult due to the slow, low nature of the wicket. Jamie Perry then added a touch of finesse to the proceedings with a nuggety 27 not out at the end, although he did alienate the author of this report by cruelly running him out.
 
With a total of 196 on the board and pitch specialising in grubbers we were always in the box seat, particularly with the fearsome opening partnership of Jones and Clarkson chomping at the bit. Jones was first up with a spell that featured mixing line, length, width and pace with some balls literally thudding into the keepers foot and others that could be described as wild leg side pasties. Clarkson was more consistent as both bowlers struck with grubbers and restricted the scoring to byes as wicketkeeper Driver struggled to come to terms with the moss covered square. James Hillis struck twice in an encouraging first game for the club and Jamie Perry completed a man of the match performance with 2 wickets in his miserly 8 over spell. Zulu then claimed a scalp in an over that featured no balls for both excess bounces, and conversely, not enough bounces. Jeff snared a tail ender with some neat off-spinners and Ralphy spoilt a little kid's day by clean bowling him to complete victory and round off a very pleasant afternoon