Sunday report

A good day today. The sun was out and it was about 20 centigrade so very pleasent.

As usual the team struggled to get the full compliment and had to use batsmen from our other team that were playing on the adjacent pitch whilst they phoned around trying to get more players to come to the ground. They eventually turned up an hour or so into the match, so as I've been saying there's cricket to be had here and it's good fun because we frequently win.

Anyway they batted first and despite the fact that we didn't have any of our usual pace bowlers the people that stepped up to the job did well and we piled through easily and quickly. They did look like they were going to be good as they had Warsop Stebbing bats and some other obscure brands, but they dropped like flies and were all bowled out for 119 and we only used a handful of our bowlers. This meant that some of us including myself didn't even get to have an over which I wasn't that fussed about because of my shoulder. On the subject of the shoulder I was able to put into practice the throwing techniques I've been reading about and it worked. I suffered a lot pain which was nice and it's something I'm going to practice with - especially the using different weight balls.

Fielding today I was in the Deep Mid on position and had one chance where 'The Wizard' another leg spin bowler (real name Alex) forced a shot off a RH batsman that looped up high. I had to run back for it but needed my arms for balance at the critical moment as the ball reached me and therefore didn't get a good hand to it.

Not having bowled, the bowlers were given the option of what number they wanted to bat at and I opted for No.3. The openers batted through to 109 before one of them was bowled. I faced 2 balls before the other bloke finished them off, so I came away from the match 'Not out'.

The main team (3rd XI) were still playing and the visiting team were short of players and I was called in as their 9th batsman. I scored a few runs - actually hitting the ball a couple of times which was nice. The difference was that I was facing spin bowlers as opposed to pace bowlers. It's the pace bowlers I can't handle.

So all in all I had a good day. In addition I paid my membership fees for the current season, so I'll be able to attend the AGM. It seems there's going to be a big change in the way the club finances itself. The club fees are normally £75 a year but they're talking about dropping them to less than half that and increasing the match fees. So the more games you get the more you pay. Which seems okay to me.