02/06/2002 v MARLINGFORD

Won

After being warmly greeted by our hosts, who insisted on a quick beer (or two) before the game. Richard dutifully lost the toss and the home side decided to field.

Richard and Neil opened and with a lively young pair of bowlers and a pitch with a slightly uneven bounce they took a sensible option and went for a slow and steady start. Neil was finding a few good shots but being tempted by a short one he clipped it to the keeper and was out for 20 with the score at 35. Mark then joined a determined looking Richard and soon started scoring as effortlessly as usual with no obvious signs of tiredness from his impressive 'cuttin' shapes' on Brannigan's night club dancefloor 12 hours earlier. The first bowling change saw the introduction of a young fella who was getting quite a bit of swing. It wasn't long till Richard was tempted by another shorter one that he never really got hold of, and was caught at square leg. Adam came next and the first fifty came off 14 overs however he was unlucky to get out caught and bowled at exactly the halfway stage even more unlucky was the fact that this meant he missed the 'beer break'. Then followed the tight-trousered Scott 'I'm getting dirty for no-one' Stanton who faced a few but unfortunately didn't last too long. Pete replaced him and with Mark got the score ticking over again showing remarkable restraint against the spinners. Mark eventually fell to a good catch after boosting one to deep square leg for 25. A great knock but no doubt ruing a missed opportunity for a big score.

That saw the brief introduction of Darren 'Open the gate and let in the cattle' Stanton for his customary two balls. Which he had a good swoosh at only to hear the familiar clunk-click of stump and bail, and departed with as big a grin on his face as the one he had on his way in!

Colin was next at the crease and he and Pete soon had the score creeping up again. Pete fell next lbw to a well pitched up ball that struck him on the foot for a steady 18. Then came our very special Guest star - Henry, who with us being a man short kindly offered to play.

15 year old Henry is quite obviously Norwich's future answer to 'Del-Boy' and saw it as less an opportunity for a game but more of a chance to sell from his kit bag of booty that he had 'won' in previous betting scams. Despite his appalling geography and his failure to sell Martin a pipe!!! It was quite apparent that he sat comfortably in the ODCC fold. Honorary membership has been confirmed. He stuck around with Colin for a while but with a dodgy bit of calling - forcing Colin into a diving sumo impression amid the cries of 'My new shirt!'.

He seemed a little relieved to see Henry depart and the (slightly) less scatty Martin come in. However it wasn't long before the inexplicable sight of Colin doing a Michael Flattley - Lord of the Dance impression led to an lbw which he hotly disputed as if Irish jigging produced some sort of immunity. John came in and unfortunately got a first ball pearler that saw the score finish on a reasonable 126 off 38.

The turn round saw Neil and Martin open the bowling and immediately both got their respective eyes in. Keeping the batsmen restrained with good line and length they found the bounce as tricky as we had, and with some good fielding - found scoring slow. Martin broke through first tempting the opener into missing and clipping his leg stump. Richard followed up soon after having taken over from Neil who had the batsman on the back foot often and was unlucky not to have taken a couple. Martin carried on and bowled out his overs having had a couple of sharp chances put down by Adam this saw the introduction of 'The Utterly Butterly club' More details later. Luckily Richard was not a member and took a great catch of Martins teasing ball, which was hit deep into the offside.

Mark and Adam took over and once again got straight into a good line and length and at exactly halfway saw Colin (on stumps duty) make a good take on a rising ball which took a snick on the way through. This left the home side on 63 for 4 after 20 overs - and so it followed in the last half with it being 50-50 almost to the end The breakthrough however came with Mark and Adam bowling four Maidens in a row with a wicket each in this small spell the pressure was really starting to tell. A couple of big hitters came in and this is where the Utterly Butterlys really came to the fore. Scott (Club president) managed 3 misses with Adam

(Chairman) with two earlier. Colin, Martin and Pete (paid up members) misjudging one each.It could have been disastrous. But patience prevailed with Richard and Mark bowling one each (Richard described his as a vicious in-swinging yorker - some described it as a Donkey drop), Neil took a big catch off Mark long on and with (Man of the match) Mark polishing off the last by demolishing the off stump. We were left with a very enjoyable win with a little to spare.

This was a terrific match with lots of very funny, friendly banter throughout. And with our new friends in Norfolk inviting us back next year this will be a fixture that many who played this year im sure will jump at the chance of playing again.

What followed that evening was more crazy dancing and shenanigins in Norwich City Centre including Colin showing all and sundry a re-run of his polished Riverdance skills at a club night called Cheezy Choons! Top Stuff!