Double match weekend

A tough schedule last weekend with matches on both days. Funnily enough both against St Annes IV, in the League on Saturday at home and in the Stuart Trophy on Sunday away.

A frustrating match in the League at the freshly rolled and mown but still comedy Cottam Hall pitch. Asked to bat first the openers dug in to some accurate bowling, with Mike as usual showing the way and scoring quickly. However it wasn't as easy for the rest of the top order, and with Greggy unable to see it was once again down to the middle order to produce some runs after Mike fell at 48/1. Lots of quick singles frustrated the opposition, and with a blind Greggy the only batsman keen to hang around and keep the scoreboard ticking as he ran out of partners, Wyre could amass a below par total of 128. Tea time came and thoughts turned to forming a plan to ensure the low total could be defended. However we needn't had worried as no sooner had we started bowling that we seemed to travel in time and start playing in a pre-war test Match, with a run rate hovering around 1 per over!! With the opposition reluctant to go for the win it turned to us to go for wickets and take the game by the scruff of the neck, but they just wouldn't budge. By the time we had got into the middle order, the last hour had been called and Mike had turned to bowling spin again. (How long is Snape on holiday for?!) The overs ticked by and the batsmen continued to block and leave. But with St Annes having batted for around 2 hours trying to draw, wickets started to fall and they were 7 down for just under 100. 2 overs to go and 3 wickets needed for another win from the brink, more plays and misses, a cheeky stumping, slow change overs by the batsmen, "Come and play the game boys!", but this week it wasn't to be and the draw was claimed. Frustration.

Thankfully we had a chance to play again the next day and luckily the weather held to allow us to play on the main ground at St Annes, such a treat! With Alcock on the motorway, 10 Wyre players took to the pitch, including youngsters Robert Gregson and James Trippier, along with debutant Stephen Taylor. Scott and I opened the bowling in the limited 25 overs match against batsmen who hadn;t appeared the day before... and being able to trust the pitch I managed to get 3 of the top 4 in my 5 over spell, not too shabby. However Mackenzie had made his mark, blasting a 50 and getting St Annes to 100 in quick time. Alcock arrived and the skipper came on to bowl with him, more excellent fielding with 5 more catches to add to the 6 the previous day, meant that we had come back strongly and restricted St Annes to a mere 138/8 when a much higher total looked on the cards. Tea was skipped as the skies darkened, the rains were coming, quick batting was needed. Stephen "swashbuckling" Taylor was sent in to open the innings with Alcock and face the top St Annes bowlers. Once again we needn't have worried, but for a different reason this time as Mike and Stephen flayed the ball to all corners of the ground and ran lot of quick singles to reach the victory target with both unbeaten on 73 and 49 respectively. What a comeback and what a satisfying performance after the previous days exertions. Job done.