Gardening or cricket... that's the question

Well, our scheduled match against JT Hughes at Whittington on Wednesday failed to materialise after the opposition failed to raise a side.

So we decided instead to organise a practice match involving as many of our own players as possible. In the event, 10 of us turned up and we enjoyed a decent night's cricket.

There was, however, one very notable absentee: Steve Daulby, who chose to garden - that's right, garden - rather than play cricket. Now I'm all for gardening, it's almost certainly the new rock and roll, but in a choice between cricket and gardening there can only ever be one winner. And it's definitely not gardening.

Thankfully I'm not North West Water's skipper, but I'm sure Justin will want to sit down with Mr Daulby and have a serious chat about his commitment to the sport. If you think Andrew Symmonds has problems...

Anyway, as for the game itself, we batted in pairs for eight overs. Top score when to father and son duo Huw and Rory Jones, with Rory displaying some very imaginative shots in a swashbuckling performance. They waltzed their way to a total of 60, beating mine and Dave Ryder's 57, the next best score. As you can imagine, any partnership that involves me is somewhat more sedate, but Dave showed a more flamboyant side to his batting, unleashing a series of fine straight drives.

Other highlights included Brian Cole's return - and a fine spell as wicketkeeper which resulted in half a dozen stumpings courtesy of Dale Penrose's willingness to charge down the wicket. Justin batted with his usual aggression and struck some meaty blows in his innings, while I committed the cardinal sin, dropping a sitter after Geraint Jones - who bowled very impressively - failed to connect properly with one of his brother's rapid deliveries.

Speaking of Rory, I faced him during my innings and I can confirm that he's developing into a very nippy bowler indeed; it bodes well for the future of North West Water.

All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable and useful evening. It's just a shame Mr Daulby couldn't join us...