With the sun shining and no rain forecast for tomorrow, we are on the verge of completing the first eight games of the season without a rain-off. I can't remember the last time that happened. Yet, with one exception, Saturdays have been so cold and blustery as to verge on miserable.
This was the blusteriest Saturday yet - double decker buses had been banned from the road bridge and repair works suspended. Largo's East Drive ground is a beauty with extraordinary views down and across the Firth of Forth, but it's also very exposed: we didn't even try to use bails and at times the umpires had to straighten the stumps, simply because of the wind.
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| One for the shopping list - proper heavy bail. |
In music,
largo is an instruction to play
in a very slow tempo and with great dignity. There's little greatly dignified about ESCA Div 4 cricket at the best of times, and even less when bowlers are struggling to steady themselves at the top of their runs and batsmen being blown around in the crease. But it was all certainly very slow - a total of 177 runs in just over 83 overs at barely 2 an over and with just 6 fours.
To be fair, things started at a slightly more hectic pace with Bob Mowat run out by relay going for a second and Baddeley senior hitting some lovely extra cover drives. But with Vik (9-5-9-1 spread over three spells), Dan (9-2-18-2) and Keith (9-3-20-2) all bowling very well, Largo were 50 for 7 after 25 and I was beginning to contemplate a pint back at Arbo ahead of the Champions League final.
But it was not to be. This week it wasn't down to the change bowlers leaking runs - Smudge (9-2-10-2) and JB (8-2-9-1) bowled well enough - but Filsell and "Milky" Bently (19, he also later bowled a fine and luckless spell) dug in to add 27 for the eighth wicket. They did it slowly - no one would have been too shocked if some tumbleweed had blown across the square during the stand - and it seemed a bit pointless at the time, with even the first batting point still well out of sight, but it was very nearly match-winning. With Anderson taking advantage of a single over from our sixth bowler, Largo finished on 88 for 9.
Nipun, looking good on his return after a couple of years away, and Ken started brightly and put on 30 for the first wicket. Both were out lbw. Both thought they'd nicked the ball, but the umpires didn't stand a chance of hearing a nick in the howling gale. Andy Quinn scored a good 24 and Ziggy 14 and at 67 for 2 we were well on top - 22 to win at a run an over with 8 wickets in hand.
Then it all started to go wobbly. I'm inclined to blame the batsmen, including myself - too many attempts to finish the game with a couple of big hits - but a lot of credit has to go to some skilful and gutsy bowling from Bryony Gillen (9-0-22-4), Baddeley junior (5-3-3-1) and Adrian Caddick (3.2-0-8-1). Bob Mowat didn't bowl after taking a bang on the head being run out, but it's a measure of the excellence of the youngsters' efforts that he might not have made that much difference.
Perhaps the hashtags from our Twitter account tell the story best. 83 for 7 - #squeaky. 84 for 8 - #choking? 89 for 9 - #ffs. And then we won thanks to only the eleventh wide of the match (a tribute, given the conditions, to the bowlers, but also to the great good sense and fairness of the player-umpires) - #ridiculous.
Many thanks to Largo for a game played in exactly the excellent, sporting spirit we have come to expect and with much good chat. The new changing facilities are great. We look forward to the return match.
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