Bedouins v Kinlet at Kinlet – Sunday July 10

Bedouins lost by 5 wickets

“Sheep may safely graze.” That’s as may be, but when they start to show signs of ganging up on the skipper’s parked car – again! – the line has to be drawn. The attractive Kinlet ground at Moffat’s School is surrounded by wide open grazing land and vast numbers of sheep. They wander unmolested, munching a bit of green stuff here and there and pooing pretty freely.

The parking area at the cricket ground is open to their ministrations, enabling many to wander among the Rollers and the BMWs. They appear to be particularly attracted to the skipper’s shiny plaything, as they were a year ago. Having been spotted from the pavilion, this time they wandered off, rather “sheepishly”. (No, it didn’t get much of a laugh at the time either!).

We hear that one of the ewes now has mastered the art of jumping the 3-foot fence in order to get to the lush outfield of the cricket ground, resulting in one member of the home side being deputed, just before the game, to wander the ground with bucket and fork, gathering up offending items. Nice work if “ewe” can get it.

This meandering had better stop, in favour of reporting the fact that the Bedouins actually managed to get out on the cricket ground and complete a game, albeit heavily interrupted and truncated by the rain. After a disastrous start to the season, caused by cancellations due to weather and some teams not being able to find enough players, it was a treat to be out there again.

A 40-over-a-side match was finally reduced to 30 overs, as players came and went during the rain-soaked afternoon. Shots which would normally have found their way to the boundary went for ones and the occasional two, as the lush outfield and wet conditions stopped the ball in its tracks.

Invited to bat first, the Beds lost opener Paul Lippitt to the first ball he faced, unluckily played on. Skipper John Branch went for 8 and John Howells for 11, before Jon Stanier and Adrian Susman put a decent stand together before falling for 21 and 25 respectively. It was left to Jono Hill (35 not out) and Tony Hancock (16 not out) to add 36 runs in the last three overs of the allocated 30, to bring the score up to 128 for 7. Jono hit the only six of the innings, and the hon. treasurer recorded the shot of the innings with a meaty straight driven four that fell inches short of the boundary.

For Kinlet, Julian Engleheart and Andrew Mooney both had three wickets, the latter with the excellent figures of 3 for 9 in 7 overs.

The Beds suffered the misfortune of losing opening bowler Spratters, who had to disappear home with one of his frequent migraine attacks. That weakened the bowling department considerably (oh yes, it did, Spratters). However David Pearson made one of his infrequent but most welcome appearances, completing six tidy overs.

Mike Moody made his customary good score for the home side, hitting 34 of the first wicket’s total of 48. His opening partner, David Alsop, went on to register the game’s only 50, and Andrew Mooney added an accomplished 21 not out, as the Kinlet XI won the game with five wickets but less than three overs to spare.

Another classic encounter between Bedouins and Kinlet, and we are already looking forward to the next!

Bedouins 128 for 7 (Hill 35 not out, Susman 25, Stanier 21, Hancock 16 not out)

Kinlet 131 for 5 (Stanier 2 for 22, Branch 1 for 15, Lippitt 1 for 20, Susman 1 for 32)