Twenty20 season salvaged

Our last few games in the innaugural Fylde Twenty20 League had us up against the wall but with qualification in our hands. If we could win 2 out of 3 we would get to Finals Day and that's eactly what we did.

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...

August FCL update

The British summer has really kicked in over the past few weeks meaning we have only played 3 1st team matches this month! However they were games all against top of the league rivals and certainly played in competitive spirit.

Firstly we played Thornton at home in the league. Smarting after our Stuart Cup Final defeat we were keen to put right our mistake in the league. Put in to bat on a soggy pitch and under grey skies the omens weren't too good. A good start for Thornton before the first rain shower and we came off at 28-3, not good, Thornton eager to get back on the pitch. Rawcliffe and Amos battled in the next session of play getting us to 71-5 before another shower halted proceedings, Thornton not so keen to get back on this time! However we got back on to complete our 45 overs, with myself and Crabtree combining to reach the 100 runs mark to claim a second bonus point. Shame we got out in the last over slashing to give Thornton an extra bonus point, how crucial that becomes at the end of the season remains to be seen. After tea we were looking to get into them, and Captain Rawcliffe certainly did, destroying them along with Snape to reduce them to 11-7. Many long faces and grumblings coming from the sidelines and deep psychological scars inflicted! In the end we bowled them out for 26 for an amazing win again against our closest title rivals, taking 17 points to their 2.

More rain meant our next game was a few weeks later in the Wareing Cup, a semi final against St Annes which had already been abandoned the previous week with us on 12-3! turning up expecting a bowl off, we were informed the game was on and was to be reduved to 30 overs. A worrying slip from my first ball bowled looked ominous but we manged to bowl well and restrict their total to 109. However the talk of the first innings was the unfortunate incident involving local youths, a horn and an irate mother... We set about the task confidently, but soon were behind the run rate on a sluggish pitch and also the openers hadn't blasted away as we had hoped. With the middle order battling away it was looking close. I managed to get in to bat with 6 an over needed and was promtly run out by Amos withoiut facing a ball!! A demoralising loss leaving us only with the league to focus on.

Last weekend we faced Blackpool at home, our last league game in a rain ravaged month. Bowling first we felt confident, after restricting them to 75 off the first half of the overs, however soon Harrison had reached 50 off the change bowlers and started bashing away to reach a century in another 5 or 6 overs, including 6's, 4's and dropped catches, the Captain was not amused. Facing a massive total of 219 to win, orders were given to go for the draw. With their star player Harrison now bowling quiclly on the always amusing Cottam pitch, we lost early wickets and werelooking shaky. But the last hour call soon came and we survived 41 overs to salvage a draw, on a day when Thornton drew at Preston III, so no ground gained or lost in the title race.