Thursday 4th July. Osler/Green/Templeton, Jack Cox Group stage. Twenty overs.
Our second Jack Cox game, with one rain-off and one victory so far seeing us standing mid-table and looking good for the Plate (the Cup is all very well, but plates are more useful). Skippper Matthew Neely had very impressively won the toss the previous day by way of an expected mini-exodus of Osler players in the second half, and taken the offer of batting first. The pitch looked green and plasticy, whilst the outfield was grassy, and green. As this match was some days ago and I do not have the score book to hand, I will attempt to recount events as best I can... The kick-off was fumbled by the winger but the opposition defence effected a ruck and made hard yards over the gainline. Hang on, that didn't happen. Daves Freeman and Shackleton strode out to open the batting for what must be Bodley's most correct and attractive partnership. As expected, these two settled in very nicely and the runs began to flow, whilst the Osler fielders worked hard on this years Edinburgh Fringe routine, with one-liners the order of the day. In between the hilarity Bodley ticked along to the halfway mark for somewhere in the region of 80 runs. Roughly. Shortly after that Shackleton was out, and Freeman retired shortly after a brief partnership with new player Joe. The skipper joined Joe and then, after some more Ken Dodd impressions from the fielders, Joe gave way to new Bodley buck Jagdish, who gave way to serial swinger Tim Philipson, then Gareth Jones came in only to be told he had a hole in his bat, more misses than Henry VIII, and - there's more - more blocks than a Lego set. Well, as you can imagine, batting whilst being entertained so royally was very hard indeed, and Bodley rather faded away from what could have been a big score, to posting about 130. Not bad, but outside the comedy circuit Osler are known for being a bit good with the bat, most of the time. So, with tea consisting of a mars bar and a trip to the loo, we quickly headed back out for the second innings and hopefully more belly laughs. Bodley are not exactly disciples of Steve 'oh do shut up' Waugh or disgraced Australian cricketing comedian Steve 'sandpaper' Smith, but nevertheless we took to the task with relish and tried to entertain our opponents as best we could, the cricket having now become almost secondary to the task of mentally disintegrating our enemy. That second innings exodus of players failed to materialise as those concerned opened the batting and swung like millionaires. After some cutting asides and a canny fumble to lull the batter into ever-more daft shots, the first wicket fell and Bodley looked well on the way to victory. Sadly, as sometimes happens when players swing for all they're worth, the swinging comes off and the runs fairly race along. Thirties were blasted, the short boundary was peppered, catches fell agonisingly short, and by the time the much more accomplished middle-order came out to bat, the match was all but over as a contest. Well, sometimes you just get beaten by the better side, and Osler certainly were that on the day. It's fair to say a lot of work is needed before either routine is ready for the Fringe though, so not all good and something to take away from the game for Bodley. Keep calm, and carry on. GJ.
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Note from the Ed.Generally always written late on the night of the game. Any accuracy or sparkling prose is purely accidental. Archives
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