Wisden Lyrical May 2008
Mild mannered middle Australian men by day, fearless formidable Founding Fathers by night.
The night was thick with controversy but the Fathers rose above it all with four skins continuing their unbeaten streak in S5.
Two beer boys had been picked for the occasion but neither bothered to turn up. Harmey and KEVIN! cop a TRIPLE FINE each and are facing lifetime bans when they face the judiciary next week.
Kermie and Madman were late withdrawals and Our Kylie texted Norris the day after the match saying he was keen to play.
Lucky for the Fathers the second match of the double header was cancelled when one of the teams was a late scratch.
Itchy won the toss and elected to bat after deciding the wicket had more runs than hooker's 3 day old fishnets.
The Fathers piled on a big total with big partnerships:
Gladdy and Snorkey - 38
Itchy and Billy - 61
Hugo and Norris - 36
Cheezy and Nads - 25
It was a tenuous start with Gladdy (22) facing the first delivery - dot and a one straight down the pitch. Snork (16) was stumped and then run out but the lads settled and put up a handy total.
Gladdy smacked three boundaries in the second over (4, 7, 5) and Snork smacked a couple of 4s and they put on 27 runs from 8 balls (off the bowling of budgie Sean) and never looked back.
Itchy (30 NOT OUT) and Billy (TOP SCORE 31 NOT OUT) smacked it all around the ground and put the fieldsman through their paces. There was good hustle between the wickets and they deserved every run despite several dead set sitters and general crap fielding.
Hugo (18 NOT OUT) and Norris (18) faced the pick of the bowling and shrugged it off with an air of nonchalance. Hugo saved the Fathers 10 runs with clever backing up at the non-strikers end and Norris was faultless leaving six balls down leg side for easy runs.
Nads (18) and Cheezy (7) opened up the shoulders and were just a tad unlucky to be run out twice, stumped once and caught four times. But Cheezy smacked four scintillating straight drive boundaries including a disallowed 7 that ripped through the net at long off. And Nads unleashed a couple of sevens and they put on 60 runs from 25 deliveries - too bad they were out off the remaining 7 deliveries. Nads stooped and dropped his shoulders in disgust and had his head lolling around his navel while dragging his bat around behind him. Itchy was incensed and very nearly flew into a rage. The Budgies lifted. Nads and Cheezy crumbled. They were out for a hat trick in the final over - Cheezy stumped, caught and Nads caught (FINE! EACH) And budgie Sean, who had earlier proved expensive (0 for 27 and 0 for 14) had better luck with Nads and Cheezy when they picked him to bowl the extra over he took 2 for 3! Itchy paced and the boys went quiet sensing another premature Captain's Dressing Down!
The Fathers were on top at the turn but how would they respond knowing the car park would be beerless? And Gilly not in the side for the first time since 1972? Could they recover from the body-language incident?
Snork opened the bowling with the breakthrough coming off his fourth delivery. The Fathers lifted. Then Itchy took a first-baller but the budgies settled and were on 31 needing 8 for the skin off 6 deliveries. The Fathers lifted again. Billy the Kid took the crucial late innings wicket to tidy up the partnership and hold them to 32. A steady stream of wickets from Gladdy, Hugo, Cheezy and Norris held the second partnership to 28 and the Budgies were in trouble needing 101 from the last two partnerships. Nads, Billy, Norris and Itchy looked to have lost the skin with the budgies on 39 with one delivery to face. Itchy bowled an absolute screamer and the Fathers effected the run out taking back the skin. The Fathers were ON FIRE!!!
Snork, Hugo, Gladdy and Cheezy pegged back the final partnership and they put -2 on the scoreboard for their troubles.
Fathers figures as follows:
Gladdy 3 for -5
Itchy 3 for 10
Cheezy 3 for 11
Snork 2 for 3
Billy 2 for 9
Hugo 1 for 8
Norris 1 for 32
Nads 0 for 26
Best on Ground goes to Billy for top scoring with the bat; honourable mention to Gladdy who was outstanding with a match high +/- 27; and Itchy was ferocious with the Dressing Down.
Other key stats:
The Fathers retired to the pavilion and beers were on Nads but he kept a tight rein on the FFCC purse strings. Hardly a light beer was seen. Cheezy picked up the sitter (FINE!) again this week and Nads was severely dressed down (FINE!) Late withdrawals (FINE! each) to Kermie and Madman. Kylie DOUBLE FINE! for failing to attend the match or give notice. KEVIN! and Harmey each cop a TRIPLE FINE! as noted above for failing to front up with a slab. And Cheezy and Nads cop a FINE! for getting out for a partnership hat trick.
NEW TIMESLOTS FOR MATCHES: 6pm, 7:20pm and 8:40pm
Next WEEK - 6pm match
In the 8:
1. Gilly
2. Gristle (beer boy - welcome back Gristle)
3. Itchy (Captain)
4. Snorkey
5. Cheezy
6. Billy
7. Gladdy
8. Hugo
(Gilly - you are going to be seriously bruised by this line up - don't forget your box.)
Cheer Squad:
Norris, Nads, Choco, Kermie, Madman
Facing the Judiciary:
KEVIN! and Harmey
Too Early:
Our Kylie (Our Kylie is now available for the 8:40pm timeslot)
ENCAMPMENT
Make sure you confirm you are IN with The Snorkmeister.
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