Looking to avenge a narrow opening day defeat, the Originals entertained third placed Oxenford in another day of high drama in the searing Gibbon heat.
A number of changes from last week’s loss to the league leaders ensued, the most notable being Kyle (or Mr Chairman as he now likes to be referred), who travelled as far as Wales to ensure his batting average remained protected. We welcomed back the aggressive clergyman Mathers after a couple of years absent, Will ‘Spud’ Honour fresh from his colouring-in exam stress and new Marsh resident Alex for his first taste of poor banter and even worse music choices provided by the village cricket team. Despite assurances that the 10p provided by Crouchy would be an absolute certainty for winning the toss, Skipper duly lost in standard fashion. Gibbon asked to field first on a lovely batting wicket and lightning fast outfield. Skipper returned to a barrage of abuse for yet another tossing defeat, led by Crouch who earlier vowed to be “working hard on my language”……..he’s now achieved his advanced swearing badge!
Tommy (AKA Les) opened up with lanky potty mouth Crouch, who started well creating a few chances, but with Gibbon only fielding with 10, due to Satty doing his school sports day duties, there were gaps available and opener Andy Harris was taking advantage with a range of powerful strokes as Oxenford steadily built around him.
On a batting day, it was tough work for the Gibbon boys and some dropped chances and a few misfields didn’t help their plight, most notably LES who put down opener Harris later in his innings in what must go down as the biggest sitter of the season thus far! The boys plugged away, with the wickets shared around. LES bowled a nice spell of 11 overs, picking up one, whilst going unrewarded on a number of occasions, with the slightly jaded Satty bowling a controlled spell of 1-33 from his 12 overs. Harris finishing with a very well made 91 before being stumped, one of three by the skipper behind the stumps. With poppadum fingers Joe dropping the final ball of the innings, Oxenford closed on 237-7.
With everyone gasping for liquid refreshment, an exquisite array of tea delights was provided by Mrs Honour, who achieved a wonderful contrast of sweet and savoury…… it was certainly a biggie!
With regular opener Joe damaging a digit in the field, a last minute change to the order was required, with Sat promoted to open with Jules, then more chaos ensued just before the resumption as Satty proclaimed “I’m tired”. Combined with the heat and lack of sleep, he didn’t look as if he was firing on all cylinders. Skipper was the only one semi-dressed and reluctantly left his favoured number four spot, so strapped them on. With potentially two men from the top three unable to bat, it was difficult to gauge which way to go about things, but the openers got off to a watchful start, before Jules nicked off for 3. With skipper battening down the hatches, as we awaited the impact of various anti-inflammatory medication, the returning Mathers (5) was promoted to number three and Spud (11) to four. Skipper went for a watchful 27, mistiming a short delivery, with Jayson promoted providing a couple of big blows before being bowled.
Following his manicure and nail polish now dry, Captain of Vice Joe proclaimed he was fit to bat “with only three fingers” and along with brother LES, who only a few weeks previous had declared he was going to lay his older sibling out, proceeded to plunder the bowlers to the boundary regularly. J Leno was run out attempting a 2nd, returning to form just at the right time with an impressive 83, whilst Tommy ‘Spark out’ Leno was caught for 40, including a wonderful straight six……cue the Danny Dyer walk! With 9 an over needed, Gibbon were back in the game up until that point, but the innings faltered. A decent effort nonetheless. Satty, now semi-conscious, was stumped with the keeper stood 10 yards back from the pegs, as the innings closed on 213-8, giving the visitors victory by 24 runs.
Another battling performance, but no cigar for the Originals, as we continue to search for the consistency and availability to move up the table. Thankfully, Satty was fully recovered enough to wrap up a solid five pieces of coffee cake to take home to replenish his depleted energy stores, however, Joe’s injury curtailed his planned evening activities, so he and his fetching pink shirt settled for a night in the dog………..
Despite remaining the strongest team in the league (holding all above them), there is plenty of optimism given aspects of performance and players starting to fire again that Gibbon can (like our expert alpinist Timmo) start to climb the mountain.
Onto the Westcott double header………..