Well that was rubbish opined the whole team following the absolute thumping draw that the Old Elizabethans inflicted on the Pelicans.

With rain following sunshine following rain following sunshine, Skipper had only one thought on his mind as the toss was tossed, bowl first, and so it came to pass as the oppo called tails and the coin ignored such a call and came up heads.

Opening up for the Pelicans was the usual Toobes and the not so usual Rags. With Toobes bowling we had the usual deliveries, full toss, follows leg side ball follows full toss, eventual straight one wicket. Such is the variation the straight one always catches them out. With 6 overs bowled Toobes was put out to grass with 1 for 34, meanwhile Rags who was in particularly mean mood continued his spell. Now when I say mean mood I don’t just mean the amount of runs being taken off his bowling but also his general demeanour as our mild mannered surgeon had suffered the wrath of the umpire. Let me explain. With Rags steaming in he unleashed a ball which moved away from the bat and according to Asad our wicketkeeper hit the ball straight into his gloves, hence loud appeal and general jubilation, only for the batsman to stand his ground and the umpire’s finger to remain resolutely in his pocket. This didn’t go down well with Rags who explained his general disbelief at such a decision, in a way that resulted in an umpire’s warning to Skip, unbelievable.

After an initial 9 overs Rags was duly rested primed for a return.

The new bowling line up according to the score book was Pete from the Railway end and Webber from the Nags end, well according to the Pelicans the new bowling line up was Nico and Adam, the Pelicans were bringing out the big guns and one half of the 4 tenors.

Nico did what Nico does although this time there was not the plethora of wickets, 4 overs of something very tight and then a cliff edge anyway his 5 overs were well bowled for a total of 30 runs.

Adam decided he would work it the other way with a cliff edge first over going for 18 and then 6 further overs of twirling whirling lobby lowwy on side off side stuff. Importantly it was Adam’s second over that saw him take the wicket of the OE bat who Rags had missed earlier. He had only added another 60 runs to his total of 4 when Rags had him. Adam finally finished his 7 overs with a very respectable 1 for 47, meanwhile taking over from Nico we had Kepa, or as we know him Jaffar.

It didn’t take our third tenor long to get into the swing of things, indeed second over and first wicket bowled, meanwhile making a welcome return to the Nags end we had Rags, who finally added a wicket to his bowling, a fine ball delivering an LBW decision, eventually Rags finished with figures of 13 overs 1 for 58.

Meanwhile from the Railway end Jaff continued on with what would be a 10 over spell, his second wicket a catch the first one of the day and after many oooohs and Ahhhhs Jaff finally finished his bowling spell with two wickets for 59 runs.

Now the elephant in the field was the Pelican fielding, to say we left a few runs out in the field would be an understatement, we left a bucket load as balls went between legs, under feet, rolled to a standstill as Pelicans stood and watched, dropped catches, failed to get to catches, failed to get, failed, fail, fa,f
We were rubbish and we would agree this at the end of the game, how could we not.

One area where we did not leave anything out was the tea, a magnificent affair from Nico, chicken in a wrap followed by three cheese bread, cakes, biscuits a fantastic spread which buoyed the spirits after such a fielding display.

With tummies full the Pelicans sat back and sent out Asad and Raheel to chase down the 242 posted by the OEs

Asad in imperious form made his intentions known as he slapped 4 followed by another 4 followed by a 6 and then another one, Raheel kept the run rate going with quick singles.

Unfortunately though the run rate just wasn’t fast enough as after 20 overs the Pelicans had posted 68 runs, Still Asad and Raheel continued and soon Asad was taking the applause for yet another 50 amazingly without a petulant flounce and swish of the bat.

Unfortunately this steady foundation came to an end with a run out. Now generally run outs tend to be somebody’s fault, in this instance there could be no blame attributed as a ball thrown in from the boundary amazingly hit the wickets and sent Asad back to the clubhouse for a lovely 87, as usually happens the next over saw Raheel packing for 42.

Standing out at the wicket the new Pelican batsmen were Clive and Shezad, with words of encouragement from Jaff, Shezad took the calls of “come on fatboy” as inspirational, so inspirational that he went for a run which Usain Bolt would have found difficulty making, unfortunately Shezad is our fourth tenor and his 0 to 60 possibly isn’t as rapid as Usain’s, consequently he fell victim to a run out. Meanwhile Clive looked to be in fine form as he slapped a beautiful cover drive for 4, unfortunately having only managed half a shredded wheat for breakfast his next shot was into the bowler’s hands where it stayed.

The new Pelican partnership was now Niron and Rags, the talk in the clubhouse was “we are not going to lose this”.

Unfortunately Niron didn’t quite read the script as after what was a lovely flick off his pads for 4 and all looked good in the garden he then lobbed one up to mid wicket.

With 4 overs to go and over a hundred runs needed it was fair to say that victory was possibly going to be out of reach, so a draw was the only solution which was indeed brought home by Toobes and Rags.

With the game over the Pelicans sat in the clubhouse and to a man agreed, we were rubbish

Widmer End must bear the brunt of this.

Reports are intended to convey an entertaining picture of the day’s play. No disrespect is meant, but if on occasion we misjudge matters, please take it in the friendly and humorous spirit in which it is intended.