Flyford survive early scare to secure well deserved victory

 

Report by Joe 'Chappers' Chapman

 

It's been a fruitful few days for the Fly, who having posted a highly impressive win on Sunday were able to follow it up with another richly deserved and hard earned six-wicket success in the T20 sphere against Bosbury at Cutnall Green on Wednesday.

Village cricket was the winner, first and foremost. Our visitors only had eight players signed up, but Connor Andrews and a couple of the other young lads generously agreed to represent Bosbury in order to get a competitive game on. Both teams had ten so, while neither had the full allocation, it was a fair match.

Cutnall is finally looking summery. The labour of Derek - and Steve Nullis for a couple of days - is finally bearing fruit, even if nothing can be done about the temperature, which seemed to plummet when the sun disappeared and while the teams enjoyed a post-match beer on the pavilion patio!

Flyford bowled first. Yours truly was thrown the ball by our stand-in captain George 'Tealer' Teal, while Paul 'Ollie' Holland opened from the opposing end. Between us, with Josh Nullis', erm, worn cherry, wickets fell in the 'power play'. Myself and Ollie had a couple apiece to our name, one of Ollie's coming as part of a tight-as-you-like wicket maiden, and the screw was well and truly turned on Bosbury.

Young A Ward, who opened the batting, did lift Ollie for one mightily impressive six through deep mid-wicket, but the Flav were otherwise well on top. Next, Tealer turned to Pete Odell (thanks for coming) who bowled a very disciplined spell of line and length bowling and claimed impressive figures of 1/4 from three overs. He also quirkily encountered his son Sam, who was batting in the middle order.

Josh, meanwhile, tempted T Trueman (a descendant of Fred, perhaps?) to deep extra cover, where he was held by the safe hands of Steve Beavan. After four consecutive full tosses, he just couldn't help himself. It was an impeccable trap set by Josh.

Scritty Clarke, Tealer and Bev himself all bowled before the end, Ollie taking an impressive catch at long off, a take which required plenty of concentration, to hand Bev what is a rare wicket these days. Steve also chipped in with an over, too, and for someone who wouldn't consider bowling his forte was vigilant and didn't allow for a flow of late runs.

Flyford were chasing 89, then. It appeared on paper to be a routine chase and simple target to reach, but the Flav have historically been masters of clinching defeat from the jaws of victory so every target these days must be treated with due respect. Indeed Bosbury's opening bowlers bowled with a similar level of frugality to ours. They struck early, too.

Scritty, who was coaxed into opening the batting, couldn't replicate his daddy hundred career best and departed for 2 when bowled. Steve strode to the crease but, after a cut for one, couldn't add any more to the score. Tealer, who pencilled himself in at four, didn't manage that and was clean bowled when aiming for the stars. The unenviable duck t-shirt awaited our captain for the night.

At 17/3, the result was anything but a formality. Luckily, we had an experienced head in Bev heading out to the crease, and an opening batter in Ash Rahman who was getting his eye in. The pair played some lovely shots, with Ash cutting regularly for four and Bev producing some lovely drives - including one up the hill, perhaps the shot of the night, which abruptly stopped before the boundary line.

Ash (33) and Bev (41*) put on 56 together for the fourth wicket. After the early collapse, Josh, Pete and Walks (thanks for coming) developed a nasty case of pad rash which I can only imagine was contagious. Ash did eventually hole out, caught behind square leg, but it was a vital contribution and went a long way to earning victory.
Josh, with a prime 1 which would've turned Jack Leach a shade of green with envy, assisted Bev at the end as he hoiked another beautiful pair of fours to carry us over the line and generously help his season's batting average. A good time was had by all. As Jose Mourinho would say: This is cricket heritage.

 

Awards:

 

MOTM - Bev, 41 not out, a wicket and a catch

Champagne moment - Ollie's catch

Tit - Scritty for dismantling the changing room

Thanks for coming - Vern and Smudger, who made the evening by coming along to watch and, in Vern's case, guest umpire