Eltham CC

Match Report

Match report Eltham CC Vs Lessa Aquila CC

Another excellent win in a 40 overs game. The full match report should be available soon but in case I forget it should include:

For once we had more than 11 players...

Indeed we did. Roughly 25 minutes before the first ball was due to be bowled, the Skipper decided to work out his batting line-up. Presumably when he was left with two number 11's he worked out that there had been a monumental ball-up and we had 12 players (compare and contrast with previous weeks). The 12 included a mate of Liam's, who normally plays for Lamorbey, and generously Henry Hicks offered to drop out of the team in order to make way for him. This proved to be a good move later in the day...

It was interesting to be a spectator watching Matt decide who should be dropped:

• "Can't drop myself, I'm the Skipper. Nobody does it like Bulpitt!"
• "Can't drop Pete Fisher, it would look like I was picking on the small chap..."
• "Can't drop John Fisher, it would look like I was picking on the small chap's dad..."
• "Can't drop Colin Wouldham, he might slag me off in the match report..."
• "Can't drop Duncan or Andy, they've just been conned into buying a cap and might ask for their money back..."
• "Can't drop Liam, he's brought a friend with him and he looks a bit hard..."
• "Can't drop Chris Hobbs, he looks a bit hard..."
• "Can't drop Derek, he's the only one in the team who can speak fluent Dutch..."
• "Can't drop DJ, he's our senior player and an ex-headmaster..."
• "Can't drop Mick Cohen, I'll never hear the last of it..."
• "Aaah, Henry old chap...."

Great minds at work, you see.

Eltham batting

With 11 players once more, and news that once again we were to be involved in a 40-over match, Matt won the toss and decided to bat first. Eltham have, in the past, traditionally struggled in limited-overs cricket, but recently things seem to have improved. So much so, in fact, that Matt now feels confident enough to set a target for the opposition, even when George Power and Peter Swain, his two Aussie powerhouses, aren't playing.

Matthew himself opened the innings with Pete Fisher and Eltham enjoyed a quicker than usual scoring rate as a result (mind you, compared with Wouldham's usual scoring rate, it would have been difficult not to be quicker than usual). Pete scored a brisk 10 before holing out, but Matthew was quickly into his stride, hitting 4 big sixes in a brutal innings of 56. Following Pete's departure, Matt was joined (fleetingly) by Liam, and then (more fruitfully) by Duncan, who looks to be an excellent acquisition for the Club. Well done, Liam. With news filtering through that Mick Cohen had sold Duncan the last of the Eltham caps, we hope that Duncan will join the Club and play on a regular basis next season. If nothing else, he brings a fashion-sense to the Club that has been missing since the days of Simon Heather, and we all know we need that.

Other points to mention in the report...

• Andy Redman caught more in this game than when he has kept wicket for whole seasons...
• There appeared to br a six-hitting competition going on...
• The last of the caps was sold to an unsuspecting Duncan and a bemused Andy Redman who had a perfectly good cap already...
• Groin and hamstring injuries galore...

And hopefully more will occur to me!