Baston Back on Track

By Ben Hudson - July 13 2010
Baston Back on Track
20 years of hurt
Baston travelled to Timberland needing to get rid of last week's Stamford nightmare. Tim won the toss and chose to bat. Read about it here....

On yet another baking hot summer Saturday, the Baston boys travelled north to play recent strugglers Timberland. Jon, Ben & Felix arrived early, and took some traditional photos with the famous sign. Tim suggested that Lembo’s involvement with the village from 1991 was the reason it wasn’t as well kept as it used to be.

The boys got changed in the nice cool air conditioned changing room, while Tim won a toss and opted to bat. Missing Lloyd (injured), Paul (camping) and Liam (bored?), the top order took a different shape with Jono opening the batting with Ant. An unrecognisable & clean shaven Lamin at 3. Felix was promoted to number four following some good form in the midweek league. Number 5 saw the highly welcome return of Baston legend Rico, with new boy Chris “Bow Wow” Bower making up the top 6. Tim got caught chatting to new boy Bowser, and said “After 10 minutes of talking, I knew more about him than any other player in my team”

Thanks to some unpredictable bowling from Timberland debutant S. Lowe, Baston found themselves on 20-1 off 3.3 overs, before Lowe put one in the right spot and Ant nicked a drive behind to be dismissed for a duck, coming off a rapid 9 balls.

Baston were stuttering as Jon was dismissed in the next over, bowled off his pads by Timberland’s opener Eric Askin, despite skipper Mickleburgh doing his best to keep Jono in, as he claimed it may have been his pads that took the bails off. Jon (8) finally trudged off as Baston were on 20-2.

This game had it all, with new boy Lowe bowling a no ball off his first delivery from his next over, as he was removed from the bowling attack by the panel umpires, but surprisingly they ruled this to be a ‘completed over’ – bizarre!

In the tenth over, Lamin took objection to Askin’s first ball, dispatching it for a huge leg side six into a nearby dyke. As she wouldn’t give it back, the umpires let Timberland have a new ball. They must have thought they were umpiring at Wimbledon! Lamin didn’t have too many problems with the newer ball as he hit that for a six just a few balls later.

Another bleak summer anticipated for Lamin's Trees PLC

Following a couple of fours against Lembo’s uncle Paul Durward, Lamin (21) got a bad decision, as he was given out LBW. Rico seemed back into the swing of things, hitting a four but was stumped for 7 on his return to Baston cricket. New boy Bowser and Felix batted nicely together before Felix lost his off stump for an important 18.

Bowser "Enough about me, let's talk about me"

Doug and Jeff came in and, along with linchpin Bowser, put on some quick runs in the middle order, with Doug smashing one of the biggest sixes ever seen, deep into the nearby field. It took the whole Timberland fielding unit 10 minutes to find the ball.

Doug was stumped for an explosive 23, though he claimed the decision was poor. Jeff scored a quick fire 10 before being ousted by Harry Hill look-a-like A. Lowe; leaving Baston on 137-7.

Bowser scored a solid 34 as he marshalled the Baston innings, batting for nearly 20 overs. Tim came out and bashed a quick fire 13 including a huge 6 over cow corner, before he was bowled going for the same shot again. Sporty Scotty came in at 11 and finished on 2* but was cautioned by the umpires for running on the wicket, even though he didn’t really know what they were talking about. Ben (with new bat) was the last man out for 9 as Baston finished on 178 from 43.1 overs.

There was a wait for tea as stupidly, someone had put Felix in charge of putting the kettle on. Everyone was in good spirits, especially when Lloyd turned up and paid the umpires out of his own pocket. Thanks Lloydie!

The Timberland fans were out in full force to support the struggling side, covering one part of the boundary. It resembled a scene from The Young Ones, with Rick, Neil and Vyvyan look-a-likes on show. Timberland scored a poor woods rating of 2/10.

Big Timberland Fan Club Members

Tim gave the new ball to Doug and Jeff, with few expecting what happened next.

“Whispering” Doug was bowling like a God with Tim putting more and more men in the slip cordon after every delivery, with the ball seaming around at very fast pace. Most of his balls were far too good for the batsmen facing.

Meanwhile Jeff was bowling into the wind with the ball pitched up and swinging all over the place, as he took wickets in each of his first three overs, an LBW, a bowled and then Jono taking a thin edge behind.

Doug finally got in on the act in his third and fourth overs as he took 3 wickets, with an LBW, a bowled and a catch at square leg for Mr. Universe Scotty. Jeff bagged his five-fer in the next over as fans favourite Warren gave a simple catch to Ben, and then clean bowled last year’s Baston nemesis Paul Durward for a golden duck with the ball of the day. Jeff finished with impressive figures of 5-17 off 7 overs, and Doug 3-19 off 9 overs, before both asked to be withdrawn for age reasons!

Jeff and Doug: Excellent opening bowling partnership

Tim chucked the ball to Rico, who’s first over got a wicket, although it was a run-out as Anthony at midwicket picked up and fluidly slung the ball like a laser to Jono who whipped the bails off to run out debutant S. Lowe (9) no thanks to his skipper who sent him back.

Tim had the ball from the other end, and whilst there was good resistance from experienced pair Mickleburgh (36*) and Askin (14) to take Timberland from 34-9 to 83 all out, there was never any doubt of the result as Tim bowled Askin to finish the match.

Everyone fielded faultlessly with a few special mentions: One going to new boy Bowser who was diving around all over the place to full effect stopping all sorts of thick edges in the gulley/backward point areas. Lamin said that it was because he treats the ball as a cake and that’s his motivation. Lamin fielded well, including a smart run around a tree, and also some good ball retrieval of one that went under the covers. Sporty Scotty bagged a good catch at square leg, while Jono was superb behind the stumps and held onto pretty much everything.

The boys left with the intention of getting a pint in on the way home. Unfortunately the haunted Penny Farthing Inn at Timberland looked like the Mary Celeste so the boys gave it a miss and went to the Royal Oak in Scopwick which scored an impressive 9/10 for the boys, before the long trip back to the Spinner.

The Royal Oak at Scopwick

Jugs were back on at the Spinner, as was Lembo who can’t keep away. Felix took a world record one hour to balance the tea money he’d collected for Banksie. Scotty was full of beans following his 2 not out, before making up another excuse before sneaking off at 9.50. Lembo and Ben stayed at Tim’s and ordered a couple of late night pizzas and chips for the amazing price of £8.50 from the Banksie recommended Curry Hut.

http://baston.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/scorecard.asp?id=10891856