The final game of the year, before the Christmas break, saw Great Totham play Broomhill, against whom Great Totham have had a number of good games in previous years. The skipper's run of luck continued by dropping the coin at the first attempted toss-up & then winning the second toss-up, to put the opposition in to bat first, With only 5 players Great Totham knew they were in for a tough game, especially as recent batting performances hadn't been too good. Josh had his first bowl of the season & Broomhill profitted immediately from the lack of the 6th player. Pooky & Mini-Dicko then bowled some economical overs to limit Broomhill from scoring freely. But, dropping the opening batsman twice might prove costly later (it did!!). The bowling continued to restrict the oppostition & Broomhill lost 4 wickets through good catching. John was set to bowl the final over, against the opener who had previously retired, after being dropped twice. Forget any previous good bowling in this game or at any point in the season, as the opening batsman hammered any deliveries that were not wides or no balls for 6. What had promised to be a reachable target now seemed possibly out of reach, 120.
But, Josh & Nick batted superbly for the first 3 overs, 30 runs & were in no trouble at all. Josh then fell to a ball hit straight to the fielder, to bring Pooky in. Pooky kept the pace going with Nick, who had to retire. Pooky & John continued & all was going well until John ran too quickly, too often & made himself ill, summoning the Chairman-in-Waiting to replace him before running out of the sports hall. I cannot comment on James' innings as I was outside being unwell, but I am sure it was good! Once the future Chairman was out John joined Nick, with 60 runs needed. Nick continued to bat brilliantly, whilst John tried to avoid running. As long as Nick was there victory was a possibility. Eventually Nick was out & John attempted to make amends for his earlier bowling, but failed. Despite only having 5 players, ironically, it was the best batting for a while.
Christmas break means that the next game is a cup preliminary round v Upminster on 06.01.09.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to all at Great Totham
