Smith's plush bat proves just the job

Charlton Down versus Plush

Thursday 8th May 2008

So to the start of the 2008 season, and what a contrast to the start of last year! The Herrison Oval resplendently verdant, bedecked in late spring sunshine.

New challenges….. How quickly could we drink the bar dry? (10.30pm actually!)  New Faces…. Welcome to Alistair and Adam…..  And our new Overseas player, CCD.

 And so to Div 2, where our first game draws us against Plush. They elect to bat in a match reduced to 16 overs, as it is still getting dark early, and it is difficult to see the ball. This makes no odds to Skip, as he couldn’t see the ball at any time. In fact this report is also available in Braille!  He had a shocker in the field dropping 1 and a half catches and mis-fielding once. Some really tidy bowling from the Bar Steward and Marky Mark restrict our opponents to 6-2 with a quarter of the overs bowled. This resulted in series of fielding blunders. One wag was heard muttering, “There’s an epidemic out there….but it’s not catching!”

 Plush upped the scoring rate, but regular wickets pegged them back to 87-6 after their allotted overs. Mark finished with figures of 3-23, and was ably backed up by Snail, and Richard, who showed us how to catch.

 The reply saw CDCC off to a flyer with 13 off the first over, mainly through wides. In fact Plush were to yield a total of 30 extras. For those present, they were privileged to experience a dashing knock by Smithy, undoubtedly enhanced by his new bat and pads. Yes, he did hit the ball off the square on a number of occasions, easily outscoring Skip who was still fielding.

 CDCC reached their target with 5 overs to spare, with Smithy falling with 12 needed. A nine wicket victory, just the job!

 One pleasant note to finish off with. We were fortunate to have 2 League umpires standing, and one mentioned to me after the match, what an enjoyable game it was, and welcome they had been made…just like the old days. Praise indeed!