The Curtain Comes Down
It's a wrap!
The 2016 season is over. And it ended with both teams losing. But this time nobody was overly upset - for the Saturday was a day of celebration, a day to enjoy and have fun, and a day to say farewell to cricket until next year. Given the position we found ourselves in at the start of the year, it's amazing we managed to make it through to the end at all. Having both teams retain their positions in their respective leagues is a miracle. So yes, Saturday deserved to be a celebration!
As such, both teams played games in the right spirit. Given neither game would have any effect on promotion or relegation for anyone in the league, some 'generous' bowling options were used that on another day probably wouldn't.
Therefore I had the pleasure of seeing Akeel, Zain and Biggy (Bilal Bashir) all bowling for the first team on a beautiful September day. And I have to confess, Biggy impressed with figures of 3-28 from 8 overs. Mohammed Zulfiqar finished the season with his usual impressive control, conceding just 11 runs from 10 overs, and Zahir Abbas showed his wicket taking class again with 3-20. However, the stand out bowling figures have to be Mohammad Shahnawaz with an incredible 3 wickets from just 5 balls! He then opened the batting in style too - a six and five fours off the 1st over. Sadly he couldn't repeat the trick in his next over, but he clearly had a bit of fun there. We fell just shy of Cowling's score, but everyone was smiling at the end.
In the 2nds game at Skipton, they too shared the ball around using 7 bowlers, including the usual wicket keeping Steve McGarry (1-15) in his first bowling spell for the club! Bob Morrisroe was the pick of the bunch with 3 wickets for just 8 runs, backed up by tight bowling from Mohammad Qadeer (1-11), Darren Shields (0-11) and Jamie Fullwood (1-7), Danny Kernan was the chief destroyer though with 4 wickets. In a tight finish, we lost by just three runs with Qadeer (33) and McGarry (27) getting the bulk of the total. Again, never mind eh?
So, what's next? I'm glad you asked, because although the cricket's done, the club goes on. This Saturday we plan to start work on the clubhouse roof. And we're looking for volunteers to help out! The more we can get down on Saturday (about 2:30pm) the easier it will be, so if you can make it please do. We're planning on having a bit of food afterwards so there's an incentive for you! But in all seriousness, this does need to be done - we've managed to refurbish the clubhouse spectacularly after the floods and don't want to see it ruined due to the (badly) leaking roof over autumn/winter.
Also being planned is the traditional bonfire - more details later - and perhaps there'll be a little Christmas treat to keep you all going through the dark days of winter???
Finally, congratulations to Stephen Bailey who has decided to hang up his playing boots after a long and (hopefully) enjoyable cricketing career. He'll still be doing his gardening (or grounds-keeping as some call it) and plans to take up umpiring, so clearly isn't worried about being popular! Well done Steve - how long until you get that playing itch again though?