Match Report Date 02/07/17 Oppo Royal Sovereign (h) Type 35 Overs Report by Liam Mulholland O's had the start time moved back to 2.00pm for the visit of Royal Sovereign, good move as the away team slowly dragged themselves to the field of dreams. The game was reduced to 35 overs in the hope the match would be completed by midnight, Ritzy arrived a full 5 minutes earlier than normal, whilst the Minkster arrived a full 35 seconds ahead of schedule with a big grin & smelling of Chanel, allure is the brand apparently after one of his early morning connections with a special friend. The skipper won the toss & backed his batters to chase as that plan has worked recently, good opening spell from Ritzy picking up 2-10, which should have been more when an edge behind which you could hear in Glasgow was turned down. Comments from the batsman was , 'Your opener done it 2 weeks ago so thought it was a local rule', the umpire explained it perfectly well, 'Sorry about that, not sure he edged it, plus he is a big guy and he is giving me a lift home', fair call ump explains it perfectly. Immediately it was obvious the pitch was a Barkingside throwback, balls rearing off a length smashing into Whittam's helmet behind the sticks. Nice steady bowling from the youngsters Marsh & Manchanda kept one end pretty quiet. Whittam denied a stumping but unfortunately the umpire after a tidy spell of 8 cans of Special brew, 3 tumblers of rum and numerous dodgy fags before taking the field was frankly doing well to count to 6 to focus on a stumping was too much to ask. Sovereign finishing on 156-6 which on that wicket would prove even tougher than normal to chase. What followed was the highlight of the day as Danny's wife & daughter Jen & Dayna produced a magnificent spread for tea which even had it's own menu! As the last ball was bowled the Minkster tore of the pitch to be first in the queue, he was not missing out today, within seconds he was hidden behind a giant pile of sandwiches, pies, cakes, the pile of chicken bones piled up was something from the killing fields. The skipper gave the Minkster the nod to open the batting but the Minkster nearly choked on his 128th piece of chicken as obviously our growing lad was not finished with his tuck. The sight of the Minkster going out to bat wailing with tears rolling down his face was frankly not a pretty one. He had a cunning plan as in the first over he calmly chipped one up and raced off the field, tearing his pads off before diving full length into a tray of jam tarts. The O's battled hard with Humphrey top scoring with a gritty 37, O's fell well short by 28 runs as the last ball was bowled at 10.11pm. Catholic 94 cup winning team up next weekend.
© Dave Revell