A long delayed match last Wednesday v Blackpool EVH at home led to a comfortable win to get us on track. The next day we were away to hard hitting Jolly Boys. Cue late arrivals by the opposition, another lost toss, grumblings from my team which raised my temper and sluggish fielding to compound my mood. However in the match reduced to 16 overs played on an astroturf wicket, we kept them to 96, a good total but one we knoew was below par for thier big hitters. Chasing was going to be hard but the plans had been laid the night before to bat aggressively. The new opening pair of Crabtree and Hindle did the same, with Kenny getting out to another good catch, but the following batsmen failed to bat with enough purpose to leave the lower order chasing 3/4 an over, as opposed to 5/6 an over. Going in in the last few overs needing 10 an over the writing was on the wall. However we manegd to get up to 90 and record an honourable defeat. However I wasn't amused by the comments by the top order of thinking they'd batted brilliantly when clearly it was too slow by allegedly better batsmen. The debate continued to the pub where we agreed to disagree!!
Anyway all that meant that last night's game against Warbreck was winner takes all, to claim the last qualification spot. Winning a toss an electing to bowl to keep the team happy all was looking good. We were bowling and fielding well on a quick outfield and in sunshine, what more could we ask for. Tough umpiring early on helped the bowlers to tighten their lines and we manegd to keep Warbreck under 100 off their alloted 20 overs.
At the change of innings the clouds started to come over and the light disappeared rapidly. The openers set about the task fantastically, running singles and extras off wides and byes. Sloppy bowling meant lots of chuntering at the umpires, however if they can't bowl to the rules they have little to complain about and the disrespect shown to 2 of our umpires was not well received. We were cruising at 6 an over, well above the 4.5 an over rate required but it was getting rapidly dark and under any normal circumstances the game would have been called off as a tie. However since a tie would knock Warbreck out, they wanted to carry on and my batsmen were happy to continue. Conditions were certainly dangerous when I got into bat at about 8:15 after their quick bowler was brought back on with the clear intention of injuring somebody and had taken a few more wickets. Poor sportsmanship by some of the non regular Warbeck Hill team clearly being shown. Needing 15 to win Stu and I continued in the dark, literally seeing the ball for a fraction of a second in the sightscreen, but that was just enough to flick the ball around and reach the target. Helped by the fact the fieders had zero idea where the ball was going! So a heroic win was claimed and a place in the semi final on Sunday, where we will hope to perform and do some damage as the darkhorses of the Fylde Twenty20 League...
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