Blog from the boundary vs Barby 3rds –22nd August 2020

Afternoon my foxes (and those readers from afar)

I arrived at Foxfields for only the second time for a league game this year and felt a bit strange and wary this time around. There was an ominous gloom in the air and I must say I nearly blew away as I set up my chair on the boundary rope! I watched my boys drag the cover back off a wet-looking pitch that seemed to have blown away due to gale force winds. But a great effort from Pinny and the boys got the pitch ready to go.

Today’s opponents were Barby who GP have faced many times over the last few years, a nice bunch of lads but a different looking team to that we had seen previously. Tony Tiger won the toss and against his best wishes decided to bowl first. The conditions certainly looked bowl first but we know our captain loves a bat.

GP would open with Ollie Ollie sweet trolly and young Rayaan. A very tight first 5 overs saw just 1 run scored. The low scoring would continue with Rayaan picking up 3 wickets in an excellent 6 over spell. Before being replaced by Big D (not sure what that’s referring to David?). David gave us all a great laugh as it seemed that every over his first ball would always miss the mark! OOST would bowl all 10 of his overs not getting any rewards for a consistent stint resulting in just 9 runs in that 10 overs. He did drop another 2 catches but we won’t talk about that! Tony Tiger would pick up where OOST left off picking up 5 wickets in a sharp and accurate spell. Wickets from David and ‘leg spinner’ Jon Tiley from the other end would see Barby finish the innings on just 88. Remember that number it’s important later on!

After a short lunch break it was time for GP to bat. JR and JB strode out to the crease; one in great form the other still searching for it! They proceeded to bat brilliantly and knocked around 70 off the small total and looked dead certain to chase it without a blemish. There were a couple of close LBW calls, but umpire Anand was not interested much to the dismay of the Barby bowler Webb. I must say they looked plumb from where I was sat.

JR then decided to make a mess of his own stumps by leaving a straight one, which gave Michael a chance to bring GP home in his first appearance of the season. He was trapped LBW without troubling the scorers and Pinny went out to get the job done. He and JB chasing a scoreboard total of 87 got there and as the teams were packing up and leaving the field, they were informed by Tony Tiger they needed one more run as the scoreboard was incorrect! I could see the look of disgust on Rob’s face as they did a swift u-turn put the stumps back in and carried on.

What happened next was comical. As Rob went to smash the winning runs, he hit one straight up in the air and was caught. I would describe him as seething as he walked off, but I don’t think that does it justice. JB finished off the chase and GP won by 7 wickets! Its another home game next week against undefeated Finedon so that will be a tough test for my foxes as they chase a home quarter-final!

Until next time…

Dot.

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