OIllerton, Notts, 1st July 2001
Guest match report by J Smith, all those who think he's much better than me, please email in and let me know!!
Weather - warm and sunny
Toss - tails never fail - we'll have a bat then
Off to Wellow, well Ollerton to be precise, to play Wellow Exiles at a ground which must have a bigger square than Trent Bridge. I'm not kidding, there must have been room for about 20 wickets at least. Paul did the honourable thing and won the toss and decided to drop himself from opening bat in order to try and discover some form prior to Skegness. Oh dear.
In Rob's absence, Smudge decided to pay some degree of attention to proceedings in order to give the following match report some degree of truth.
Steve Gaunt and Jamie opened up and took control from the off on a wicket that was almost as green as Alec's hanky. Steve was particularly punishing of some average bowling from the opposition whilst Jamie kept in close pursuit with some lusty blows of his own. By the time Jamie was caught out in the 18th over for a quality 38, the score was already 102 and a big one looked on the cards.
Crossy was next in and the scoring rate was maintained for the next 10 - 15 overs with Steve completing another (!) well deserved ton. The final few overs saw the run rate slow somewhat as both batsmen decided on a course of average protection although why Steve needs to protect an average of around 540 is beyond me. This approach did backfire somewhat for Crossy though as he batted the last over out for a mere 2 to leave himself 2 short of a half century with Steve unbeaten at the other end on 125. Anyway, 216 for 1 at tea looked a reasonable score but skip was maybe ruing his decision to drop down the order.
A mention at this point of the ensuing tea. No plates but hot dogs aplenty to supplement the numerous sarnies, cakes, scones and some quality pork pie. No plates though. Bit strange that.
Anyway, back to the action. Andy and yours truly opened the bowling due to Alec suffering a bit with a bad chest but managing the finest impression of Bob Fleming (of Fast Show fame) I've ever heard. Wellow were soon in trouble with first Andy, then me with a couple pegging the home side back. A 4th wicket partnership of 62 put Wellow back in it despite some tidy bowling from the spin twins, Benno and Ant. A drinks break just past halfway seemed to work in Dorchester's favour however, with Steve claiming a wicket almost immediately after and Ant collecting a brace. The wickets fell fairly regularly after this with only the big left handed chap standing in the way of an early pint. He was last man out for 98 with Paul (2), Jamie and Bob, sorry Alec, claiming the other wickets as everyone except points bandit Gaunty got a bowl. A final mention to Benno for a (second) quality catch at mid wicket, especially as it was a mate of his whom he caught out.
So, there we go. Wellow all out for 159 in the 38th over and off to the Durham Ox in Wellow village for a pint and yet more hot dogs, and chips. Fantastic. It's going to take a good tea to beat this. (Ed's note - Apparently, several players can't believe that Retford got a higher tea score. Will there be a recasting of votes? Or a play off (tea-off?) type system? Who knows? More on this later....
DCC 216-1 in 40 overs (S Gaunt 125*)
Wellow 159 all out in 39.1