On the 8th of May Yeti’s 4s were set the task of playing the Worcester 3s at home. With the sun out the fight for the 1 bottle of sun cream was on. Based on a dusty-looking pitch, Yeti won the toss and elected to bowl, to the dismay of Jeremy Roach who looked as lethargic as everyone feels on a Thursday morning.
Things started well and continued well throughout. Roach and Turner opened up with Roach claiming 3 wickets in his opening spell. Their captain was first out plum LBW trying to pull a half volley. Hopes of any more than 3 were quickly ended as the heat seemed to be getting to Roach who seemed to have benefitted little from the warm weather training in Sri Lanka. Turner managed to complete his 7 and was finally rewarded for a tight bowling display with a wicket in his last over, caught by Hall.
It was about this stage that Bexson and Freddie’s dark patches on their necks were noticed. No one had really commented on them at this stage but their left handed number 5 – who was Worcester’s knock off version of Jonny Hall as he offered only the playing leaving outside off and tried to hit it all through midwicket (how he lasted 61 balls no one knows, except Rooty who seemed to curse the slip cordon yet again) – stated ‘Shock… The Warwick cricket boys shagging again’. Cheers, I guess, Goodyear’s actions must be spreading some kind of image of the UWMCC in Worcester. After Worcester slowly started to rebuild against disciplined bowling from Rooty and Clobber, albeit with some attempts to run themselves out, wickets tumbled after the drinks break. Larkins came on and got their two set batsmen out. One caught by Jez (lovely those Fantasy points), and the other to what some described as the ‘BUCS ball of the season’ already. Picture it. A clueless lefty, still wondering how he could get his numbers up to UWMCC levels, sees the ball pitch on leg and rag to clip the top of off. Cue celebrations from everyone except Larkins who simply said, ‘Sorry bat, I didn’t mean to do that’. After some impressive work in the field by all, at least 20 dot balls in a row flew by and the pressure finally told as Ferdi Rex picked up a wicket with the batsmen hitting the ball onto his own stumps during his follow through after it had pop up off his legs. Larkins then followed it up with 2 more and went in search of that dreamy baggy. Too much disappointment it couldn’t quite be reached, but he finished with excellent figures of 4 for 18(ish) off 10 overs. Roach then came on to try and clean up the tail and finally their last batsmen edged one through to Yeti and Worcester were all out for 139.
After we had restocked during teas, Yeti and Lewis strolled to the crease, not quite hand in hand but close. Worcester’s openers keep them quite with some tight bowling and a barrage of short balls aimed at Yeti, who’s survival effort involved 1 to the chest, 1 to arm and bruises all round. With the worst seemingly over Yeti edged behind in the 12th over, admirably walking, leaving UWMCC 37/1. The theme in the next hour was typical of the UWMCC this season, making small chases harder than they need to be by getting themselves out. It was nothing to do with Worcester’s chat, as although it was annoying, being told ‘hit a 6 or your gay’ was typical of the 97th best uni in Britain. Worcester quickly turned to spin having seen Ferdi and Freddie’s success when we bowled and this led to Lewis being bowled, another start for 22, and Rooty slapping a half tracker to square leg after hitting some well-timed shots. With Hall falling soon after caught on the boundary to perhaps the slowest off spinner ever UWMCC were left 61/4. Piers and Bexs attempted to rebuild but the lack of pace and dusty bowl of a track led to Bexs chipping one to mid-on and Piers slapping a looping ball to point. This left Ferdi and Freddie to see out the game and chase the remaining 54 runs. They crawled along with some smart batting and some counterattacking smacks from Rex. Even with Worcester’s openers coming back on at the end Ferdi and Freddie saw us home with 45* and 9* respectively, steadying the ship and get us home with 5 overs to spare.
A great team effort, with tight bowling, great fielding and smart batting at the end leaves Yeti’s 4s 2 from 2 and ready for whatever challenge lies ahead.