1st X1  v Perkins  22nd July 2006

Madeley made the trip to Perkins and after winning the toss decided to have a bat. On a good wicket and a warm afternoon this looked a good decision.

Unfortunately this was to prove one of the poorer performances of the season. Things got off to a rapid start with Rico hitting Shane Gwilt for a six and two fours in the opening over. The warning signs were there however as the umpire who had left his walking stick (painted white), in the car, decided that the six was in fact a four. The ball had sailed above both the trees and a high fence before landing in a garden. Sure enough in Gwilt's next over the ball brushed his pads and he was given out caught behind.
Steve Pugh then mistimed a pull and got caught and bowled. The bowler had managed to catch the ball without using his hands. He had in fact held it between his side and his upper arm.

                             Jason puts some runs on the board

Verbal then decided to do an action replay of his dismissal the week before and Pete Smith also joined in on the act by not troubling the scorers. The score was 25 - 4 and only eight overs gone. The next pair of Andy Pugh and Jason Willets then took the score along to 74 before the spinner induced Andy to a drive which he missed and the ball apparently must have hit the stumps. This was somewhat dubious as the ball had hit the keepers pads and certainly there wasn't any sound of stumps being hit. However that same umpire after a long delay decided that he was out.

Meanwhile Jason had been riding his luck but gradually  the ball started to find his bat more regularly and his score was building.
However wickets were still going down at the other end Steve Faux being bowled and Steve Maden  returning  to the pavilion after a silly run out. Just what we didn't want. This seemed to be a cue for Jason to just about try to hit every ball out of the ground. Although he had some success he eventually fell to a catch on the boundary for a battling 67 (seven 4's and a six). Who knows what he might have achieved if he hadn't had a cracked bat.

                                Another fine shot from Jason

The skipper then holed out on the square leg boundary and the last pair added a few more before we were all out for a paltry 134. This was never going to be anywhere near enough.

The best chance we had was of a storm developing but although the covers were put in place a couple of times the downpour never arrived and Perkins reached their target for the loss of only one wicket.

Both Serplet and Gwilt were put down at slip and short leg but these were indeed very sharp chances.

Overall this was one of the most disappointing performances of the season. This was a good track and 134 was well short of a decent total.

                                     Liam puts bat on ball