Launceston arrived for this bank holiday fixture, with the enquiry was Sam Boundy playing? Being generous hosts we confirmed his absence, due to attending the marriage of former player Matt Rickard (congratulations Pasty). Unfortunately our generosity continued through the day, although we did muster seven bonus points as we slid to a 30 run defeat.
The toss was won, just to prove the skipper can do the odd thing right, and Gunnislake chose to bowl. A good start was made with a hard catch to dismiss experienced opener Simon Wilton. We thought we had another, with a caught behind, but the umpire’s hearing was perhaps as bad as Geoff’s, and youngster Ted Kenyon made the most of the let off with some hard hitting in a score of 31. (But maybe it was us that were wrong?) Would we oldies be able to clout the ball so hard…. Some can though, as Launceston’s youth development manager and former first teamer proved, Bill Glen scored a classy 75, with some quality late cutting rarely seen at our level. Glen was finally trapped LBW by a Josh Reynolds longish hop, but from there the Launceston tail was well marshalled by Paddy Webber as a challenging total of 201 was set.
There followed a moment in history as we all shared Brenda’s last cricket tea, well at least for now. Hey Brenda you still have a few years on one or two of our players! Next week should be interesting, perhaps player prepared sandwiches will be our secret weapon against Werrington? Meanwhile, back at the cricket…..
Yours truly and Barrie James shared an opening stand of 71, but struggled to get the ball away against the slower bowlers, and attempts to up the run rate led to the steady fall of wickets. A late flurry from Brain Martin and Adrian Cameron gave some respectability and four bonus points, but we had left them too much to do. Scott and Adrian managed personal best scores for the club, but Mr Extras once again won man of the match, scoring 45 for ourselves and indeed 32 for Launceston.
Jose Mourinho style excuses:
• Bill Glen was the difference, otherwise we dominated the match
• We were missing Tony Godwin with an alleged calf injury
Arsene Wenger style excuses
• The umpire didn’t hear the nick, which changed the game
• We missed Sam Boundy
The reality was that Launceston were the better side on the day
Quote of the week
“Little do ye know your own blessedness; for to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labour.” Robert Louis Stevenson, 1881
Any volunteers to write either occasional or regular match reports, please contact the webmaster. As you can see from the above, like our cricket, a willingness is more important than talent…..