Bedouins v Fossils at Birlingham
July 14th, 2019 – Bedouins won by 111 runs
“Engerland swings like a pendulum do; Bobbies on bicycles two by two” – shows how long ago those were the words of a current pop song (a major prize for anyone who can name the perpetrator of this 1960s hit, without looking it up). But “Engerland” definitely did swing on one famous weekend in July 2019.
In-car on the way to Birlingham, Aggers was on the radio saying words to the effect of “What a weekend of sport. England v New Zealand in the cricket World Cup Final at Lords; Federer v Djokovic in the men’s final at Wimbledon; F1 British Gand Prix at Silverstone (AKA the Lewis Hamilton procession); and the World Netball Finals.” What he forgot to mention was the Bedouins playing against the Fossils. Tut tut, Aggers.
It’s always a pleasure to be on the beautiful Birlingham ground, and to be meeting our good friends from the Fossils. We fielded a strong batting line-up, which, as it turned out, performed pretty much to its potential; and our bowling attack wasn’t that dusty either. As for the fielding – well, there weren’t too many dropped catches this time.
Batting first, the Beds got off to a cracking start, with Paul Lippitt and Andy Hill putting on 50 runs for the first wicket in just 7 overs before Lippo went for 21. Hill senior, now joined by Hill junior, stayed true to his belief that running between wicket is for numpties, hitting 8 boundaries in his retirement score of 41 – a total that was matched by Jono Hill, who did his best to match the old man’s prowess with 6 boundaries.
Lee Bywater was fresh from his prodigious efforts the previous day for Oldswinford CC, when he hit 130-plus not out at Pedmore, and carried on the good work with 40 retired. Not to be outdone, Adrian Susman also reached the 40-run retirement score and, with Jono’s mate Jake Somerville hitting a late six, the total finished on a healthy 231 for 6 after 35 overs. The Beds’ 29 boundaries and one 6 must surely constitute some kind of record?
So the batting was good – but there was a “Man of the match” performance in the bowling of “Dangerous” Dave Pearson, who had made his usual devoted trek for a Beds Sunday game and was rewarded with two wickets in two balls and an overall analysis of 2 for 19 in 7 overs. Don’t know what he’s on, but many of us would like some of it.
There was a wicket apiece for Messrs Somerville, Susman, and Stanier, with 7 parsimonious (look it up) overs from Mick Robertson for just 15 runs. At the end, Fossils were well short of the target at 120 for 5. And that got us all off the pitch just in time to see the drama of the tie-break over that resulted in an England win in the World Cup. Quite a day!
Bedouins 231 for 6 (A. Hill 41, J. Hill 41, Bywater 40, Susman 40, Lippitt 21)
Fossils 120 for 5 (Pearson 2 for 19, Somerville 1 for 23, Susman 1 for 24, Stanier 1 for 27)