Cotswold's Tour 2009
17th - 19th July
Tour Report
The rain that England had been praying for in Wales last week finally arrived this weekend for the 8th annual Legbreakers Tour of the Cotswolds. For those who weren't there and those too drunk to remember what happened, here are the highlights suitably edited to ensure that what goes on tour stays on tour.
Friday: RLB v John King XI @ Stowell Park
As the sun shone on England at Lords, the Breakers arrived at Stowell Park on Friday afternoon for the game against the John King XI full of enthusiasm for three days of cricket, beer and no mobile phone reception. Unfortunately it was umbrellas rather than bats that came out of the kit bag, and we spent an hour or so watching Will King hone his dog training skills with a wet ball and Nellie the terrier, before the captains decided on an early tea. Not to be outdone by the England cricket team who were introduced to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at lunch, we had a right royal tea-time with four Kings (John, Meryl, Will and Harriet) and the Queen of Tarts, Dave Chapman. With the pitch steadily disappearing under water, however, and the coffee cake finished, the game was called off by 4.15pm which for the first time in a long while meant that we went into the second day of the tour unbeaten.
Saturday: RLB v Langford CC @ Langford
The early finish on Friday afternoon had obviously not been wasted unlike half the team that turned up on Saturday lunchtime at the Five Alls pub in Filkins. After a quick game of Five Alls in the pub garden (yes it's a game - chuck a big stick at a wooden dolly - there's not much to do around those parts) and an English Mustard sandwich to clear the cobwebs, we found the ground by ignoring all the Air Tattoo diversion and road closure signs.
It soon became apparent that this was their nursery ground as much of the opposition were under 18 although the average age of the team was lifted by the late inclusion of John King, desperate to get his batting average up after missing out on Friday.
The captains agreed not to mix the sides up and for RLB to bat first in a 35 over game. There was a soon a feeling that we might have been hustled after the first 6 overs produced only 11 runs. Minutes before your skipper was going to send out batting gloves to each of the openers with separate messages to run the other out, John Sanders was bowled for a very patient 8. Oliver and John Southey tried to up the tempo but after 14 overs there was still only 40 runs on the board.
By this time the crowd had completely lost interest in the game and were now being entertained by a stray collie chasing a ball, as well as Lancaster bombers, Red Arrows and Spitfires. The chances of a dogfight were therefore very high and they were not to be disappointed as Will King (batting no 4 but not wearing his gloves) tried his Crocodile Dundee skills to eject the collie from the ground and ended up getting bitten on the his thumb...... Just as John Southey was bowled.
Mark A went up the order as Will went into shock. Luckily it seems that you have to have a tetanus jab before getting married these days so after the application of a bit of iodine, and an apology from the owner, Will went in at No.5 when Olly was caught for 15. 55-3 after 16 overs. 77-3 at the halfway stage. A score of 150 was not going to be enough if we were going to have to bowl underarm to half of their side.
Whether it was the result of the dog bite or a change in the bowling, Will started to go barking mad after 20 overs and began hitting fours and sixes around the ground. Mark soon joined in and unbeknown to the scorers both reached their fifties by the 30th over in a partnership of 122 which ended when Will was caught on the boundary for 57. 177-4. Craig 'Spewy' Sounes and Mark 'Spongey' Southey then joined in the fun for a while and supported Mark as he finished unbeaten on 91 and the innings closed at 224-6.
John King opened with the crowd's favourite, Pint sized Harry Puffitt, who batted solidly against Spongey and The Angel for the first five overs. Two wickets in two balls from Mark bought Oliver Lockey to the crease and a partnership that lasted until the 17th over. John King reached his annual 50, helped by his son's buffet bowling and a gift of a four in the field from your geriatric skipper, before he was trapped leg before for 58 by Olly Pritchard. 89-3 after 18 overs. The scoreboard kept ticking over thanks to a spell of pie throwing from Bunny but he did drop a bomb to pick up a wicket and figures of 1-27 off 2 overs. That brought their skipper to the wicket and another partnership of 35 runs before Spewy was brought into the attack to slow things down. Two quick wickets including a spectacular diving catch from John Sanders (no, you don't need glasses, it does say John Sanders) put Craig on a hat-trick which was only denied by the determination of umpire King. Mark returned to the attack although some big hitting from their No.10 kept Langford in with a shout all the way. Two wickets in the 34th over, which gave Craig figures of 5-39 (if the score book is to be believed) finished off the innings and Legbreakers won by 34 runs.
Man of the match: Mark Anderson for his 91no but well done to Will and Craig for their performances. Good to see Mike bowling again and returning a respectable 0-15 off 5 overs.
Champagne moment: toss up between Will's dog handling and Johnny Sausage's catch.
Quote of the day: Jon Southey when hearing about Will's misfortune: ' Was the dog alright?'
Sunday: RLB v Ampney Crucis CC @ Crown of Crucis Pub
And that was the end of the cricket. The pitch on Sunday was waterlogged and we all went home to watch the other game that was going on that day.
Thanks to all the breakers and WAGS who went on tour for making it such a success, and especially to Will and Harry for the organisation. Apologies if I've missed anything off the report.