BY GLEN SANDS
With neither Outcasts side having a fixture on Saturday, several players gathered at their Hirst Priory ground for a " friendly " match after which they struck up the barbie for a player/family gathering on what was a dry and at times sunny afternoon.
First team skipper Russell Fletcher and his father Ian, captain of the seconds, chose their teams from the players who attended with Ian's team batting first in a 20 / 20 match. Anthony Fitzgerald and Mark Coulman opened for Ian's side and they made a fantastic start , putting on 80 for the first wicket with some exceptional shots before the latter was bowled by Darren Clark for 35 , the Luddington suddenly proving to have a second string to his bow as well as beigan opening batsman ! It was'nt long before he had picked up a second wicket when Charlie Mason was caught in the deep by Russell Fletcher for five then Fitzgerald was stumped by Mark Fletcher having made 39 when charging down the wicket to Clark only to miss the ball completely. That left Ian's team on 93 for 3 with Andy Colebrook and Jason Whiteley at the crease but they were'nt there for long as poor old Jason was " stuffed " by Coey when a yes interlude resulted in a woeful run out instigated by the sorrowful Colebrook. Next to the middle was Andy Torr , no stranger to woeful run outs himself in the past and true to form the running between the wickets was eventful to say the least. Amazingly they seemed to cancel each other out in terms of their judging of runs and they had moved the total on to 146 before Colebrook was stumped by Mark Fletcher off Matt Wilkinson for an impressive 29 the veteran wicket keeper having been particularly severe off the bowling of Andy Lawson. Youngster Niall Chester joined the " I've been run out by Andy Torr " club when he was run out for five then Torr was adjudged LBW off the bowling of Russell Fletcher for 21 and it was left to Graeme Fletcher ( nine not out ) and Dad Ian ( one not out ) to take the final total to 177 for 7 from their allotted 20 overs.
Russell's team opened with Darren Clark and Jamie Arrowsmith and they put on an opening stand of 23 before Clark was deceived by the wiley bowling of Ian Fletcher and was bowled for 18 and the " old man " repeated the feat when bowling Arrowsmith for 14 when the total had reached 40. Russell Fletcher was joined at the crease by Andy Lawson who would need to make a big contribution if his side were going to chase down such a large target and his dismissal proved to be a controversial one in a game that suddenly started to take on a competative edge ! He struck an Ian Fletcher delivery to deep mid on where Charlie Mason took a well judged catch only for the crowd infront of the pavilion to rise as one to claim he had stepped on the rope. Umpire Rick Green stood firm however and deemed the catch to be valid , much to the delight of Ian and his fielding side. To compound matters further Russell Fletcher was then run out by a piece of outstanding fielding from Anthony Fitzgerald who swooped in to throw down the stumps leaving Russell short of his ground and his team on 56 for 4. Mark Fletcher and Matt Wilkinson then added thirty before yet another controversial incident involving Charlie Mason occured when Mark was adjudged to be run out when it appeared young Charles might have dislodged a bail before having the ball in his hand ! 86 for 5 then became 86 for 6 when Liam McAnaney was trapped LBW by Graeme Fletcher when facing his very first delivery , poor old Macca being crestfallen to get out to Graeme in such a fashion but that brought Graeme's works boss Jonathan Wroot to the middle to join Matt Wilkinson who was going quite well. Wroot has his own inimitable style of batting which involves swinging from the hip and virtually every delivery and on this occasion it was proving fruitful as he blasted the ball to all parts. Wilkinson continued to look good at the other end and for a while an unlikely victory seemed to be on the cards until Graeme Fletcher took the most incredible diving catch in the deep to dismiss his boss for 42 off the bowling of Anthony Fitzgerald and put at risk his recently commenced job prospects !! Fitzgerald then bowled Wilkinson for a well constructed 36 which signalled the end of the mch with Ian's team gaining a triumphant victory by 28 runs.
All participents then retired to the bar to discuss the burning issues thrown up during the match but it was all in good humour with Charlie Mason adamant his catch was quite legitimate and one or two of his opponents seeing it differently!
It did'nt take long for their thoughts to turn to other matters as the smell of the BBQ whafted across and all in all a terrific afternoon was had by everyone, although Ian will probably keep reminding son Russell of the eventual outcome when the conversation turns to cricket over the next few weeks!
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