Grange Park blues as 3rds lose.

Arriving at a sunny Grange Park early to prepare the ground after two days of heavy rain we were optimistic as the cover was in place and the outfield and square looked dry and had coped from the deluge the night before.

However when we removed the said covers we were horrified to see a 3 metre wide wet patch just short of a length at one end. The only spot of water anywhere to be seen!

Work started on soaking up the water but a 1:00 start was now off the table. Lots of discussions between the players from both sides ensued and we decide to delay the start for an hour initially. Nik was sent to Horton to fetch the sawdust as none could be found in the groundsman's shed and we waited for the water to dry .

At 2:00pm we came up with a cunning plan- , why not use the good end of the track! The concern was that the bowlers would've able to stand up on their follow through so a further 45 min delay followed. With the weather perfect for a game and the whole ground bone dry everyone was desperate for the game to take place. The sawdust was whacked down , the bowlers put their spikes on and tested the run ups and it was decided to play the match bowling from the damp end .

Horton won the toss and I put the opposition in to bat as I was confident that we would be OK bowling from that end. We mutually decided to play a reduced overs game splitting the remaining overs between the two sides.

Horton started well with good bowling from the skipper and Zahid Mirza with 5 maidens on the trot. It took a while for everyone to get used to the situation, batsman changing ends at the end of the over and the fielders hardly having to move but it worked. The first wicket fell at 24, bowled Kev. Kev an Zahid bowling tightly to finish with good figures of 1-14 and 0-10 respectively. Continued good bowling from Paul Wolstenholme saw the danger man Marcus Broome bowled with the score on 42-2.
Ian Street picked up after Finn Herrington with a great spell of 6 overs 3-18. The pitch was slow with little bounce and proved tricky for the batsman with Ian and Paul picking up regular wickets. Paul finished with 2-34 from his 7 overs. The final 2 wickets came from Nik Patel 1-25 and impressive run out from Ollie Newton. St Crispins finished their innings on 135-8.

We were hopeful of reaching this modest total with the batting line up we had. However St Crispinn's opening bowler 16 year old Jacob Broome destroyed our top order reducing us to 21-5 and finishing with figures of 4-14. Harry Knibbs seeing all his batting partners departing batted superbly for 38 before he fell with the score on 69-6. Ian Street batted very well as well for his 28 but ran out of partners with Horton finishing on 100 all out in the 31st over. The final wicket falling when Finn was run out by the skipper- sorry Finn!

Still we managed to stage the game and salvage something from the day. St Crispins won by 35 runs
St Crispins 26 points Horton 4 points.

Our next game is in a fortnight's time at home to Wellingborough Old Grammarian's . Please let's have some good dry weather before then!

Kev Taylor 3rd Team captain.