Telling Tails — Sunday vs The Beehive
A sun drenched afternoon in Ramsbury where temperatures reached 29 degrees. Beehive cricket club were the visitors, due to injury, illness & holidays it was 9-a-side & sensibly, a reduced game of 25 overs was agreed by all parties.
Beehive elected to bat first and if the visitors had any grand plans of getting off to a flyer, they were quickly thwarted by boom boom Al Slade from the 'bell end', their opener sent back to the pavilion with just the third ball of the game, expertly caught by Gilligan.
Slade (2-25) shared the new kookaburra cherry with Hall (2-18) who was equal to the task in causing all sorts of issues to those who took guard in the middle. The Ramsbury openers making a mess of a Beehive top order, the visitors finding themselves 25-4 after only 8 overs.
The batting side regrouped after drinks and worked hard to put 70 runs on for the 5th wicket partnership, Judd (2-3) & Gilligan (1-25) combing with the ball, using variable pace to halt the momentum of the away side. A total of 116 was posted in 20 overs with McCullagh (1-4) claiming the final wicket. Special mention goes to L.Roberts bowling her first red ball over of Sunday cricket.
In absence of quail eggs, orange juice was the order of the day at tea, as the Beehive fielders took to the turf for the second half the heat showed no signs of relenting. Mitchell & McCullagh set about making inroads into the Beehive total with some finesse & force to put the home side in a strong position, 68-0 after 9. Mitchell departed for 30 after an unbelievable C&B effort, McCullagh shortly followed for 43, a slight wobble but no reason for too much sweat as C.Roberts (10), Judd (21*) & Ousley (11*) guided the home side to victory inside of 18 overs.
A competitive game played in good spirit, post match recovery beers were soon opened and traditionally, to the Bell it was for Al's scores. Next week the midweek side heads up the road to East Garston on Thursday evening before we host Village Freehouse at home on Sunday. Do update your availability on Spond to help our captains out.
[Big thanks to Sam for the write up!]