“Tour – Day 2: Can You?”

Match: 22 / 575

Lost by 45 runs

Team	Total
Shanklin & Godshill CC	182 - 7
J. Hoskins 1 - 9
FFTMCC	137 - 6
J. Bateman 32*, D. Shorten 32*

Day two of Tour dawned bright and sunny. As the Premier Inn possie enjoyed an alfresco breakfast overlooking the picturesque Medina estuary, news broke that we would be a man down for the rest of tour. Circumstances had conspired against Jake and not for the first time he had spent a night of Tour unable to access his hotel room. As he headed back across the Solent, the fourteen remaining tourers wished him well. Look after yourself Jake, hope you’ll be in a better place to enjoy next year and many years to come.

“I believe gentlemen, we are one shorter in numbers today.”

Friday of Tour traditionally sees a long period of inactivity followed by a T20 evening game. For those not playing (and even for those who are), it affords the best opportunity for getting totally battered. Missing out in the draw this year were Spam (who has previous for making the most of a Friday on the juice) and Jan. Time would tell if Jan would be the Lennie to Spam’s George, but the accumulating years, and perhaps a sense of responsibility meant that the worst excesses of previous tours were avoided.

Messrs Darley and Shorten did the team a huge solid by transporting players and kit the ten miles across the Island to Shanklin, a pretty seaside town facing South and therefore subject to the unrelenting sun all day.

The team rocked up at Shanklin and Godshill CC, a lovely little ground overlooked by a pavilion, left the transport, and headed down the steep steps to the seafront. Gary had knowledge of this location from his youth and assured the team that there was a variety of crazy golf courses to choose from. Some money had been spent and the facilities upgraded since his day and the team were presented with two pristine courses, one from the Jurassic period <insert joke about Geoff here> and of course the obligatory pirate themed one.

On Gary’s advice it was decided that the courses would be tackled in chronological order and it was therefore back to one million years BC to commence competition. What can we say, Russ took an early lead, Psycho had an ice cream and in a mere hour and a half it was time for round two. Matt threatened Russ’s lead briefly, Psycho had another ice cream but, in the end, Russ romped to victory and everyone got thoroughly sunburnt. Whilst some went for a dip in the Channel others had a drink in the delightful Chine Inn, Psycho had another ice cream, then all climbed the 200 or so steps as ideal preparation for 40 overs of cricket.

Despite Gary’s clear communication that we were a pub side who had been on the p*ss for nearly 48 hours, once again the message hadn’t landed and we were presented with another bunch of lads who looked disturbingly like they might be more than handy at cricket in general and tonking 50+ year old pub teams from the mainland in particular.

Timms lobbing down some tarts.

Whilst the FFTMCC ‘quicks’ enjoyed little success, with Darley, Emerson, Shorten, Reeves and Bateman going for around 10 an over each, the spinners of Timms and Hoskins fared much better, picking up three wickets between them as the S&G batsmen had their own competition of who could get to the 30 retirement the quickest. Good work from Geoff behind the stumps to pick up two stumpings. S&G achieved 182 in their 20 overs, which was always going to be way too many.

During the reply, S&G dialled down the bowling to at least make a game of it, and to ensure that nobody got hurt allowing the opening partnership of Williams and Bateman to put on a decent 51 for the first wicket, Bateman in particular continuing his rich seam of form. Throughout the innings we were informed about 50 billion times that ‘it’s got to go’, although what it was and where it had to go, was never made clear.

Keeper Carter watching another one smashed into the sea.

The game was petering out when (captain for the day) Dave Shorten strode to the crease. Dave must surely now be on everyone’s list for Tour joker, driving today and in any case avoiding the alcoholic excesses enjoyed by most of the others. Here again he didn’t disappoint, winning the race to 30 in just 14 balls including two sixes, one a massive one, hitting a tree, frightening a red squirrel, then rebounding back on to the pitch. In the end the FFTMCC achieved a credible if not competitive 137.

Afterwards a few of the S&G lads hung around to keep the bar open for us, which was very nice of them, cheers guys, you were way too good for us, but thanks for putting a team out on a Friday night against less than stellar opposition. All too soon the day was done, and 14 extremely red faces were back on the bus / van, across the island to see what Newport had to offer on a Friday night. Psycho had another ice cream….

‘Reevsie’

*

Statto Scorecards

Far From the MCC versus Shanklin & Godshill CC Played at Westhill Road, Shanklin, 29 July 2022 Shanklin & Godshill CC won the toss and elected to bat Shanklin & Godshill CC won by 45 runs Far from the MCC debuts: n/a

22 / 575 20 over match

Team	Shanklin & Godshill CC
#	Batsman	How Out	Total	Balls	4s	6s	FOW
1	R. Le Sueur †	c Shorten b Darley	0		-	-	1-9
2	B. White	retired	33		5	1	-
3	S. Billington	retired	32		5		-
4	G. Niemich	lbw b Reeves	14		2	-	2-81
5	O. Niemich	c Bullock b Bateman	19		4	-	3-111
6	R. Lloyd	st Carter b Timms	12		1	-	4-168
7	H. Moore *	retired	32		4	-	-
8	J. White	not out	9		-	-	-
9	D. Drudge	c Bullock b Hoskins	1		-	-	5-171
10	H. Waters	st Carter b Timms	2		-	-	6-174
11	J. Newman	run out (Shorten/Reeves)	4		-	-	7-182
		NB1, W19, LB5, B2	27
	TOTAL	(for 7 wickets, 20 overs)	185

#	Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wkts	Econ
1	Darley	3	0	36	1	12.00
2	Emerson	3	0	30	0	10.00
3	Shorten	2	0	26	0	13.00
4	Reeves	4	0	38	1	9.50
5	Bateman	3	0	22	1	7.33
6	Timms	3	0	15	2	5.00
7	Hoskins	2	0	9	1	4.50
Note: B. White retired at 51-1 (5.0 ovs), S. Billington at 122-3 (11.1 ovs) and H. Moore at 164-3 (16.1 ovs)

Team	Far From the MCC
#	Batsman	How Out	Total	Balls	4s	6s	FOW
1	C. T. J. Williams	b Waters	29	(40)	4	-	1-51
2	J. C. Bateman	retired	32	(29)	6	-	-
3	D. Emerson	b Drudge	15	(15)	-	-	3-105
4	A. Darley	b O. Niemich	8	(7)	1	-	2-93
5	D. Shorten *	retired	32	(12)	3	2	-
6	M. K. Reeves	b Lloyd	3	(6)	-	-	4-110
7	G. J. Timms	not out	2	(2)	-	-	-
8	J. D. Hoskins	b G. Niemich	0	(3)	-	-	5-134
9	M. Bullock	c and b Moore	2	(3)	-	-	6-137
10	R. P. Turner	not out	0	(3)	-	-	-
11	G. Carter †
	Extras	W3, LB2, B9	14
	TOTAL	(for 6 wickets, 20 overs)	137

#	Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wkts	Econ
1	Newman	2	0	16	0	8.00
2	J. White	3	0	19	0	6.33
3	Waters	4	0	14	1	3.50
4	B. White	4	0	19	0	4.75
5	O. Niemich	2	0	23	1	11.50
6	D. Drudge	2	0	22	1	11.00
7	R. Lloyd	1	0	3	1	3.00
8	G. Niemich	1	0	7	1	7.00
9	Moore	1	0	3	1	3.00
Note: J. C. Bateman retired at 79-1 (13.0 ovs) and D. Shorten at 134-4 (18.3 ovs)

MOTM: D. Shorten Champagne Moment: D. Shorten huge straight six into a tree (to applause) Buffet Award: D. Shorten’s free range chicken and asparagus soup (home made bread) MAD Moment: R. P. Turner’s diving inside the ball (fielding)

Opposition: V126 / 01 Ground: G113 / 01 Captain: C016 / 43 Match No: 20 / 167