A scorching early season Saturday marked the trip to Ancaster, with more changes to the Baston side. There were debuts for father and son Sanjay and Eshan, as well as a few notable returnees to the team. Former all-rounder and fraud Jules made his first appearance of the season, while Roffy’s girlfriend had signed his permission slip allowing him to play. It turned out the reason Lamin was available this week was his plan to meet up with an old flame. He explained that he’d courted Marie during his playing days at Ancaster. He was devastated to find out she had died 70 years ago, though you wouldn’t know from his face, which looked no more miserable than usual. Thankfully, Ben won the toss, and the good doctor went out to bat with clean shaven Micky Flanagan lookalike Alex.
Lamin's old squeeze lived the other side of these trees
The pitch had some life in it early on and made the going tough for the openers. The outfield was slow, and the batsmen were even slower. Baston reached a very pedestrian 29-0 after 15 overs.
Things didn’t improve too much after drinks, until a big moment in the 22nd over as Alex struck Baston’s first boundary of the day, a strong drive down the ground. Anthony departed shortly after, cleaned up by Hogben for 16 (off 65 balls). Fraudster Jules was in at 3 and batted well with Alex, at a much better rate than had been seen previously. Both batsmen were given a life or two (some thought that the fielding side were trying to keep Al out there), but also found a few boundaries as they put on a very good 89 run partnership, with Alex reaching his first Baston 50 on the way.
As the innings went on and hindsight came into play, there was a general feeling that more runs could have been scored earlier, and that it wasn’t a 140-150 pitch, emphasised by the big hitters still sat on the boundary, and only 1 wicket fallen. Jules (39) hurt his knee while batting, probably when playing one of his reverse sweeps, and was run out hobbling back for a second run, a fine knock from Harrison Fraud, surpassing anything he contributed with the bat last season.
Alex with an excellent 74 not out out
Liam (6*) joined Alex with just 3 or 4 overs left, but catastrophically pulled his hamstring as he attempted a quick second run, and limped off the pitch, leaving Dangerous Dave (3*) to partner Alex at the end. Like one of the Japanese soldiers still fighting in a deserted jungle island long after the end of WWII, Alex was still batting like it was the first morning of a test match, as he reached a very respectable 74 not out at the close of the innings. Baston finished 165-2.
The scourge of Baston, Anthony ‘Fish’ Richardson opened for Ancaster, a man with an even better record against us than Moulton maestro Jack Barnett. The Alan Carr lookalike looked set for business and was joined by another familiar face; Joe Attewell.
Harrison Fraud as Indiana Jones
With a good score under his belt, were we finally going to see Jules McAlpine claim his all-rounder title back? No, bowling off a few paces due to his injury, he didn’t look nearly as dangerous as he usually does. At the other end, debutant Eshan was handed the new ball, and found some good early movement at a decent pace, taking a couple of early wickets, Attewell (11) and Lewis (1) both clean bowled. Eshan could have had another but his dad jumped out of the way at mid on to avoid catching out Ancaster’s number 4 Wetherill which would have made for an awkward conversation in the car on the way home.
Lamin replaced Jules and bowled 3 wides in his first over as he lacked his usual control, possibly distracted by the thought of Marie and her rack. Slip catches are rarely easy, but Lamin would have had an early wicket if Liam had held on to a simple edge in the cordon. Liam did what everyone expected and blamed his hurt leg for the drop.
left armer duo Roffe and Jules
With Liam injured, Roffy was thrown the ball to have a go from the other end. He surprised everyone with a tidy line and some good drift, taking two wickets in his second and third over, as both Wetherill (31) and Harley (0) tried to go over the top but found the safe hands of captain Ben at mid on. Ancaster were rocking at 85-5 as Rag’N’Bone Dan (1) was cleaned up by Lazarus Lamin. Things could have been even better as Fish gave away a couple of chances. Dave couldn’t hold on to a tough chance stood up, and some lazy running back for a third was nearly taken advantage of by Jules, who collected the ball on the relay and missed the stumps by a couple of inches from 25 yards away.
Ancaster captain and man mountain Probert came in at seven showing little willing to knock the required runs off at 3 an over as he went after the bowling at both ends. He should have been dismissed early had Ant Morris been watching at mid-on, as a soft chance went by him. At the other end Fish brought up his half century.
With just 20 needed, the wheels started to really come off. Captain Ben let through a dribbler on the boundary for four, before running underneath another that should have been a simple catch. Jules and Eshan returned but got the same treatment with the imperious Fish (68*) and Probert (41*) seeing Ancaster home to a comfortable 5-wicket win.
Former good fielders Liam and Ben
Baston had been unlucky with injuries during the first innings, severely blunting the bowling attack; Liam couldn’t bowl and Jules looked off colour throughout (only the second time he’s been wicketless for Baston) Despite having a sub-par score on the board, things could have been very different with a bit of luck when Ancaster were 5 down. Alex spent the next 2 hours buying people drinks so they would listen to him going on about his innings. Lamin was last seen trying to climb through a bush at the far end of the field.
Alex boring the tits off Sanjay
Scorecard - https://baston.play-cricket.com/website/results/5175397