EVERY DOG HAS HIS DAY……….           

 

………… however that dog has barked, and luck favoured the brave 10 that departed from Finchampstead CC to Dogmersfield.

 

With availability picking up on the morning of the game and then fluctuating as the day progressed, before taking a nose dive at around 5pm, those with Black and "Finchampstead" Gold blood identified themselves. Luck favours the brave, and you would have to be either very brave or very stupid to turn up to a Twenty20 game a, man short, at Dogmersfield, the scene of our famous slaying 2 years ago.

 

So stupidly we arrived, in dribs and drabs, some smelling of cider, some smelling of a hard day at the coal face and some just smelling.

 

“Tails” was called by the Captain at the toss and “tails” was how it landed, never a deeper sigh of relief had been heard as it echoed of the surrounding trees.

 

“Thanks, we will bat!” – It didn’t take long to decide on that one.

 

So, off we went, the returning Anthony Parson already with pads on, did he know something I didn’t? Out they wandered AP and Ed, off Ed wandered after being called through and then sent back by Parson, do not fear he had a plan! In walked Shep, rosey cheeked and full of loud mouth soup! And then it started……

 

……..We were dropped into Johannesburg on the 11^th of July, was this the World cup final? with claxons, flares and rolls of toilet paper being thrown onto the pitch, with verbals ringing out from the fielders, and with Shep realising that it was actually 7.4%! We were in a game, Dogmersfield, tried what they could, never one to let it go, the Budgies bit back, we were not going to roll over, we were going to stand and fight.

 

Shepherd and Parson ticked on, you had to play guessing games on this wicket, not wanting to disturb the birds nest on the seat of the roller, it has been left untouched for a considerable time, rusty and gnarled like Uncle Mark, but no doubt if it was to be fired up again, it would perform like it had never been away. These two guessed right, adding to the score, 100 looked reasonable, more than reasonable, maybe that was our target!

 

Still going, still talking, flares landing at the feet of the batsmen, lots of chat, lots of aggression, we were Shep and Parson, still in the middle of it, Was someone hit with a coin?! Was probably an acorn….

 

Shepherd is gone, 4 overs left… all rounder Ian Rose jogs out, unfortunately he guessed wrong! One went that way, one went the other, that one went underground, Rosey returns!

 

Skipper, Ansell walks out, AP still blazing along…. These two would not back down, it starts up again!! The whole family is here to watch, this is as good as it gets, this is your World Cup Final boys, not ours. We get on with it, and with Parson and Ansell still there after the 15, 8 ball overs, we walk back with 108.

 

The changing room was bristling, if we play cricket, we will win!... All 10 of us!

Gaffers, you go first old Chap! Perfect, spin wins on a day like today, when 3 is too much on the offside, you know you are in an odd cricketing place!

 

Ian Rose, from t’other end! And there is the first one, caught by Ansell at point, and who was it, yep it was the chatty one, departing for not a lot, this is your World Cup Final, not ours!

 

Tails now up, we were not going to lose this, Gaffney two tight overs, Rosey the same! Norm, all yours, he has played this game before… low full toss first ball, caught square leg by Parson. Bowlers chopping and changing, short spells here and there. Ed McGregor, that’s why he is here chaps, flat throw from the cover boundary, don’t move Shep, bails off, run out, nicely done!

 

Parson, for his first bowl for Finch this year, has he even been away and Dogmersfield FC struggling now, they need to go at 9’s, big ask in a World Cup final! Change of ends from Norm, change of ends from Rose. 21 of 16 balls to win, still only 10 fielders. Parson to bowl the penultimate over, 8 off it, tidy stuff AP. Gaffney, all yours for the last one, never in doubt, a wicket a 1 a 2, high to Fisher at long off, get behind it old bean, run it in…. Job Done. One short.. that’s it, not our World Cup Final, yours..

 

Thanks to: Mark Shepherd, Malcolm Blogg, Ed McGregor, Jonny Gaffney, Ian Rose, Scott Osler, Gareth Fry, Anthony Parson, Ben Fisher for all turning out for us, some at very short notice.