Theale and Tilehurst vs United Services 26th August 2004

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Report by Chef

Fingers, Rags, Cheddar & I all set off in the same car.  I was in the front, so I was navigator.  My only contribution to the journey was an attempt to follow in the footsteps of the Great El Presidente by trying to get Fingers to head towards Southampton.  Fortunately Fingers is not as stupid as I, so politely ignore my gesticulations.  However in my defence I did provide some help nearer the ground though

When we got there we went to the usual pub for a light lunch and a drink.  An enormous Lamb Burger and Chips was not the light lunch my body was expecting.  Both myself and others paid for it in the first few overs of the game.

Things started steady with both Chef & Bruce keeping them to around 3 an over.  However it was Rags who started the rot.  Rags started to float the ball up and Scutt had second thoughts on his pull.  "Tempting Rags" was the shout from Chef at deep square leg.  Scutt stared at Chef and laughed.  Next ball Rags went slower and pitched it shorter.  Scutt duly obliged and spooned it into Chef's hands, albeit caught by his wrists.

AJ came on to bowl.  Dot ball, dot ball, then the batsman drove a ball that went through Cheddar's hands and they ran for one.  AJ was clearly upset by this drop and refused to bowl another ball in the game.  This wasn't really in the spirit of the game so he made up something about an injury.

It was then Santa & Fingers who did the real damage, taking 3 and 2 respectively.  It would have been 3 all but Chef dropped a dolly off fingers.

We managed to restrict them to 134 for 6 off the 40 overs.  Mind you we thought we'd done well last year and still got beaten.

After the earlier incident with the burger, the donuts and cakes at tea didn't appear to be the best idea in the world, however we felt it would have been insulting to the Tea Person had we not have helped out, so we sacrificed our fitness to keep up the good atmosphere between the clubs.  During tea we went into the hospitality suite to gaze over the historic pictures, only to see a picture of Corporal Crofts from the 2003 squad.  Also during tea Fingers asked AJ where he'd like to bat.  Fingers expecting the injury to form some part of AJ's decision was noticeably surprised when the reply "I'll open" came.  Clearly AJ had got over the pain of being dropped  the injury.

So AJ and Rachel went out to bat.  AJ got off to a great start with 15 off the first over, two of which we 6's.  The score was 35 before the loss of the first wicket.  It is a long walk out to the crease from the Pavilion.  In fact it took longer for Rachel to walk there and back than it did for the 6 runs he made.  Also consider his 6 out of the 35 partnership.  When he came back and said "it just didn't feel right", we kind of agreed.  Still early days yet, he could still make an impact on the game.

Raj came in and was batting well with AJ until midway through through an over AJ's injury returned.  The score was 88 and Raj and AJ were going along nicely.  AJ signalled for a runner so Rachel made the long trek from scoreboard to pavilion.  He rushed to get changed.  This was his moment.  This is where he could impart his authority on the game, this is where he could influence the result, it was the time to stand up and be counted.  He strolled the long walk out to the middle.  AJ was facing.  AJ drove the ball to cover.  This was it, Rachel could finally make amends.  The ball went straight into the hands of Eastlick.  Foiled again.  So for the second time Rachel made the long walk back having only made 6 in two innings.

Cheddar and Tim came in.  Tim was clearly on a mission to get out and finally managed it when he reached 6, there's dedication for you.  He was followed by Spike who helped knock off the remaining runs with a few overs to spare.  This was by no means the same strength as the team we faced last year but it is still a win.  One game each.

As per last year we went off to Gunwarfe Keys for yet more Burgers.

For the return journey it was left to Cheddar to become Navigator.  He faired even worse than Chef.  As we found ourselves heading towards Guilford, we suspected we had missed a turning.  Amazingly the club professional sat in the back corrected us on our mistake, knowing exactly the turning we had missed.  The reason it was amazing is that he fell asleep shortly after leaving the car park, yet when he awoke he knew exactly where we had failed to turn.  This was both amazing and late.  Still, this highlights the sort of timing he's had this year.