The not so mighty 3s went to Navestock to play a team near the top of the table. Tim was still AWOL, so John led the team once again. The toss won, the 3s were bowling. With the Pughs running late Max opened the bowling with (old man) John. Max had the wind behind his back, John was gently tossing the ball into a strong breeze (will the ball reach the batsman?)
After a few overs the Clarkes struck. a pretty average shortish ball from Max was top edged to his dad, (old man Ricky) behind the stumps, first wicket down, 12-1. The Pughs arrived & Jess was soon into the attack bowling tightly as usual. From the other end John bowled some dross, which was hit towards square leg where Owen stopped eveything with most parts of his body, giving John economical figures.
In the 16th over John took a wicket with his final ball, a good catch by Tickle, 55-2.
Danny joined the attack & immediately caused some problems with his pace. At the other end Owen started well, bowling miserly. Next over, however, Owen bowled out one batsman, then, 2 balls later, tossed up a juicy pie. The batsman'e eyes lit up immediately. He drew his bat back & the restaurant over the road was in danger. Cue big swing & a gentle edge giving the easist of catches to John.
At the wicket next are 2 older batsmen, who demonstrated how to play sensibly & score without too much trouble. Getting into the tail end of the innings, the skipper turns to Harry, who produces a perfect delivery first ball to bowl the batsman. The innings finished with Jess & Max keeping the runs down & the slowest call of a no ball that anyone could remember, as the batsman was bowled & had almost removed his pads by the time he was called back. The real highlight of the innings was (old man)Rod Stewart arriving at the restaurant for lunch, in his helicopter!!!
The wickets were shared around, nobody's bowling was too expensive & the fielding was an improvement on previous weeks, especially Jacob, who showed much more speed in in the outfield. Navestock socred 171-7, which could have been better without the 29 extras. But definitely we were in with a chance.
Home made tea before John D & Nick opened up the innings. The (older than any of us) opening bowler for Navestock produced a masterclass in accuracy. The other, younger bowler didn't do too bad either. Nick bowled out, John D bowled out, Owen bowled out & Tickle bowled out, 14-4. It was like watching England bat.
John & Ricky (combined age 117) faced the bowlers who had just taken 4 wickets for hardly any runs. The (older than any of us) bowler maintained his accuracy & John decided to wait for the other bowlers & batted out 4 maidens. This was the most dots balls in John's career, probably more than the last 10 seasons combined.
As soon as the opening bowlers came off Ricky & John became more positive. The bad ball was dispatched to the boundary, especially by Ricky early on. Both batsmen tempted the fielders with some aerial shots that were half chances. The score moved to 101 when Ricky fell just short of a maiden Gt.Totham 50. Needing 5 per over Totham kept up with the run rate with boundaries & plenty of hard running. Navestock worked out John's strengths eventually, as 7 fielders were on the leg side boundary for much of the last 20 overs.
John's innings had a few highlights, including the lofted drive that almost cleared the ropes, but went directly to the fielder, going through his hands & onto his nose, then trickling over the boundary.
Wickets tumbled & the runs kept coming, but Navestock managed to dismiss Totham winning by 17 runs.
This was a really good game, which was hard to predict even at the end.
