AVCC v Burbage
Well, that'll teach me to check emails before leaving to play!
On arrival, AVCC looked thinner on the ground than I remember from previous seasons. And Burbage were nowhere to be seen. The small band of players (two in fact: Bruce Carter and Paddy Bond) decided to take advantage of the glorious August sunshine and get some exercise to boot, having failed to persuade Peter Williams to remain. We were soon joined by Pip (who was peer-pressured into abandoning her tea and donning some wicket-keeping gloves), and nearly managed to recruit Peter's parents, who turned up laden with camping chairs to watch their son play (presumably having not been passed the message about the cancelled fixture... Peter comment!)
To the sound of muted clapping (or was it swallows chirping in the azure sky?), Bruce Carter opened the batting for AVCC and took an attacking stance to face the gentle medium pace of Paddy Bond (back from his sabbatical). After some ranging attempts (from both bowler and batsman), Bruce began to test the outfield (Pip - who by then had been replaced behind the wicket by Bruce's empty gloves, hat and some spare pads). Bruce shunned the invisible Burbage field, choosing instead to drive the ball tantalisingly close to Pip, yet distant enough to force some hard running to chase down the few shots which had the energy to reach the boundary. Bruce protected his wicket convincingly and notched up some beautiful boundaries (aided by several 4 byes let through by his own empty, unresponsive gloves) before retiring for (approx) 30.
No rest for the wicked; Bruce immediately shed his pads and the shackles of his wicket-keeping prison to bowl some wonderful deliveries against the mercurial (not) Paddy Bond. Pip earned her pay chasing down a series of erratic cover drives and square cuts that would have made Moeen Ali weep in disgust, whilst the batsman nearly slipped a disk trying to reverse sweep a rare wayward delivery down the leg side from Bruce. An unexpectedly fine drive for 4 past the bowler prompted Bruce's longest ever run up, a near-hernia on delivery and an end to Paddy's first innings (approx 20 runs).
Next in was Pip, who faced down some inconsistent bowling from Paddy but defended her wicket well, stealing many quick singles and allowing Bruce (back as wicket keeper) to rest himself as she hit pretty much every delivery forward down the turf.
Bruce returned for a second innings, more edgy at the crease and searching for the elusive bottle of champagne from the Judge. Despite several fine drives for 4 runs, the Judge's bubbly (and windows) remained unthreatened and Bruce - having set a good chase - returned to bowl against Paddy's second spell. Paddy also failed to hit any 6's but nearly took Pip's fingers off with a fast, high bouncing cover drive that she slowed well with outstretched hand.
After 90 minutes of play the imaginary umpires were, frankly, bored and the field retired for some well-earned squash and delicious sausage rolls courtesy of Pip. Bruce was grateful to both sides for leaving the pavilion spick and span, but let himself down with a very feminine scream upon finding a huge spider whilst washing up the tea.
Flushed with excitement, the players could barely contain themselves as they prepared to go and spin some match dits at The Ship, before remembering that we no-one had been there to witness the nail-biting turn of play. So the players dispersed after several glorious hours in the Rushall sunshine (blissfully peaceful without Tim's sledging), with the ground looking as stunning as ever, and content that the whites would last till next week without a wash...
Best of luck for the rest of the season AVCC.