ENGLAND EXPECTS EVERY (COUL)MAN...

By Glen Sands, Outcasts' first team scorer

Outcasts made an early start to their journey to Nettleham yesterday, in order to be home in time to watch England's ignominious start to the World Cup against the USA and were rewarded with a hard-fought victory against one of the better teams in Division One.
The Isle side batted first and quickly found themselves one down when Richard Wroot was caught at slip by Martin Connor off home skipper Martin Strawson having scored just four which brought father and son combo Mark and Oliver Coulman together. In an ironic twist it was another father and son combination that saw Mark head back to the pavilion when wicket keeper David Lea took a snick to give son Danny a wicket , Coulman senior having made 21. Andy Torr and Oliver then batted well to move the total up to 74 when that same Lea combination struck again to remove Coulman junior for 25 and when Torr was bowled by Simon Grocott for 20 with just one further run on the board the whole complxtion of the game seemed to change. Suddenly runs were at a premium with no less than five maidens being bowled in a row and even though Outcasts then inched nearer to three figures batting was becoming more and more of an effort. Peter Tait was next to go , bowled by Grocott for 10 and as is often the case another wicket fell almost immediately when Simon Lewis was caught by youngster Neil off that man Grocott having also just managed double figures. Left handed pair Russell Fletcher and Tom Sharpe then took control for a few overs , moving the score on to 113 before Fletcher became Grocott's fourth victim then Sharpe , having made 16 valuable runs became his fifth , caught by Pinkney with the total on 129. Jason Whiteley and Graham Oxley added a further nine runs then Whiteley was caught in the deep by Bayliss off Grocott once again and the innings ended with the total on 139 for 9 as Nettleham failed to pick up that final wicket , although Simon Grocott's figures of 6 for 32 was a testament to his tight bowling and canny knowledge of the game.
Nettleham began their reply steadily and as was the case with Outcasts they lost an early wicket when Liam McAnaney bowled opener Mitchell with a beauty when the total stood at just six. Chris Smith joined opener David Huthcinson at the crease and in the face of some excellent tight bowling from McAnaney and Jason Whiteley they moved the scoreboard on slowly , finding runs hard to come by. Outcasts catching was on a par with that of the England goalkeeper as three catches were spilled but to their credit the Isle side did'nt drop their heads and they were rewarded when Smith was trapped LBW by Whiteley for eight with the team score on 28. David Lea then went to the middle and along with Hutchinson one might have thought they would look to push on , although that wasn't the case as they seemed to go even further into their shells. Lea took 13 overs to make just nine runs before he was bowled by another excellent delivery from McAnaney with the total on 49 but that brought Simon Grocott to the crease and he had proven to be Outcasts nemasis in previous encounters. He struck an early boundary but soon found batting just as difficult as everyone else and with Hutchinson still taking his time Nettleham were falling behind the required run rate. By now Tom Sharpe was bowling again and it was he who turned the game in the visitors favour when he bowled the danger man Grocott for 12 , leaving Nettleham on 67 for 4. That proved to be just the filip Outcasts required as they tightened their grip on the game. Martin Strawson attempted to push things on for the hosts but the ground fielding from Outcasts was exceptional and they finally took complete control when opener Hutchinson was bowled by Jason Whiteley for a hard fought 42 , the overall score standing at 81. He followed that by trapping youngster Jake Pinkney LBW very next ball which meant that Nettleham were suddenly on 81 for 6 and appeared to be in something of a state of shock. Jake Neil was next to go , run out following an terrific throw from Oliver Coulman and the writing was really on the wall when wicket keeper Graham Oxley produced a quite stunning stumping to remove Strawson for 14 , earning Tom Sharpe his second wicket of the innings. From that moment Outcasts were heading for victory which duely arrived when Sharpe wrapped things up , finishing with 4 for 38 , although both Liam McAnaney ( 2 for 28 ) and Jason Whiteley ( 3 for 39 ) should also take some credit for their outstanding bowling contribution in what was in the end a very good 20 points haul.