A battling defeat

As I said in yesterday's post, North West Water lost to BT on Tuesday evening on a difficult pitch at Oswestry School.

We won the toss and batted but made slow progress in the first ten overs, despite some dogged resistance from our opening pair Pete Danby and Rory Jones.

Rory continued his fine form with the bat, producing a couple of superb boundaries, while Pete showed a deft touch to keep things ticking over in the face of some accurate, hostile bowling.

The pitch didn't help. There had been plenty of showers during the day and the pitch cut up pretty quickly, which made the bounce more uneven than usual. One delivery even reared up and hit Rory on the helmet.

We continued to struggle throughout the innings, despite a cameo innings from Steve Daulby, who crashed a couple of boundaries before departing. I ended up going in with a couple of overs left and ended on four or five not out, but not before almost gloving a catch to mid on and then falling flat on my face trying to set off for a quick single. I really must invest in some spikes.

We ended on 78 and, in truth, it was always 20 short of a competitive total. We bowled tightly for most of their innings, with our skipper, Justin Evans, bowling economically and taking another wicket with his increasingly effective leg spin.

I opened the bowling and was given four straight overs, taking one for nine. It was the best I'd bowled for ages, although my wicket came from a wide ball that was knicked through to the agile Pete Danby behind the stumps. It was probably my worst delivery, but as I'd beaten the outside and inside edge of both batsmen a couple of times, and had one ball sail over middle stump, I felt I'd earned it.

Steve Daulby also bowled a good spell, taking one wicket and instigating a run out, to leave BT needing 26 off the last four overs. At this stage it looked like it could be a close finish, but BT hit back through a tall left-hander, who simply demolished our attack. They ended up winning with two overs to spare.

It was a disappointing end to a decent match. We're now turning our attention to the rematch with BT next Tuesday, followed by Shropshrie Health at Whittington on Wednesday. We need a win.

Strike rates and updates

Just a brief update on North West Water's recent progress... or rather lack of it.

I missed a game two weeks ago due to work commitments, away at the beautful Acton Reynolds ground against Shropshire Health Authority.

We managed 94 chasing their total of 114 which, according to reports at last night's game was a decent effort, "we just lacked a few boundaries".

Last night, we also lost, failing to defend a total of 78 against BT. I'll post a full report on that match shortly.

However, I would like to boast about my strike rate so far this season. Now I have a quite deserved reputation as being the most negative batsman in our team. I admit that I possess very few scoring shots... in fact, I'm struggling to think of any.

Instead, I prefer Mr Boycott's high left elbow, no need to score runs today, approach.

But last night, our resident statistician Jamal produced a spreadsheet not only showing that my batting average for the year is 32, but that my strike rate is a frankly remarkable 84. In fact, it's the third highest in the team, behind Rory on 110, and Justin on 100. It's obviously inaccurate, but I'm still going to have it framed. In fact, I'm seriously considering retiring on a high...

No cricket

The disappointing British summer is continuing to disrupt our programme this year - hence the lack of updates recently.

Tonight's game is scheduled to be away at Acton Reynolds against Shropshire Health Authority. I can't make it due to work commitments but I'm not sure whether it will be on anyway judging by the view from my desk in Mold.

Next week is fixture-free, followed by two games the week after - weather permitting.

So I'll be watching the Test match intently instead. At least the return of Freddie Flintoff adds spice to the occasion. I just hope his injury troubles are behind him because, on song, he's one of finest bowlers in the world. And, if fit and in form, he could make the difference against Australia next summer.

The great British summer strikes back

The dodgy British weather saw off last week's scheduled fixture against the Orthopaedic at Gobowen.

Although it was disappointing, at least we were able to retain our 100 per cent record over our arch rivals - for another couple of weeks at least.

Anyway, in more important news, our skipper Justin is now a proud father. I had a text on Friday evening (while sitting in a pub in Maidenhead, of all places) to say his wife, Sally, had given birth to a baby boy. Congratulations Justin. Does this mean you won't be available for this week's match against The Woodburners?