Hello dear reader. Well after Friday’s weather forecast on the BBC I thought there was more likelihood of a game of water polo rather than a game of cricket. So can you imagine my surprise come Saturday morning on pulling back the bedroom curtains to find the sun shining and clear blue skies?

For the first time this season we made the short journey up Mill Lane to play our nearest and dearest, Irby 3rd XI. We were all looking forward to the game as in addition to it being Zee’s birthday, who I'm sure was hoping for a nice present in the shape of plenty of wickets we welcomed back to our starting XI the good doctor after a period of exile in the 3rd team. The only other change’s to last week’s starting XI were the inclusion of the promising young off break bowler Tom Blake and for the first time this season the appearance of the Maltese Falcon, Phil Wood. The Pope also returned to the side after a week away on Papal duties?

With the Duke losing the toss, Irby’s skipper Bryan Price had no hesitation in inviting us to bat on what was a very firm wicket having benefited from being covered for most of the week. The remark was made that “it appeared that the covers had prevented the grounds man from mowing the wicket” which I think was a little harsh? The polite thing to say would have been that “the wicket would have benefited from another cut”! Ian opted to open with the good doctor and Sherlock, both of whom took an instant liking to the hard fast track with a succession of boundaries. It wasn’t long before Irby started to employ a number of boundary riders, resulting in Akhtar and Sherlock changing tactics, going for the quick single’s which were now on offer. It was after several quickly taken singles that Akhtar had to remind his colleague how old he was! Both batsmen looked at easy with the Irby attack, averaging just over four runs an over. The breakthrough came with our score on 78 when Ian eased the ball into deep mid offs hands and returned to the pavilion with a well made 33 to his name. The fall of the wicket brought big Phil to the wicket. Now Irby couldn’t have seen Phil bat before as those fielders employed as boundary riders came galloping into more traditional positions. The first ball Phil received was dispatched over mid wicket for four. Before the next ball had been bowled the boundary riders had returned. Two over’s later unfortunately for Upton and Phil he played down the wrong line and was bowled for 9. I’m sure when work permits a big score is there to be had? Mohammed was the next batsmen to the crease but he decided to play back to his very first ball and was hit right in front of his wicket. A clear LBW and one Arthur would find hard to turn down! Upton now 86-3. There now followed the usual 4th XI middle order collapse which saw the Duke and the Pope back in the pavilion in very quick time. The Duke was unable to resist a juicy long hop and was caught at mid off while the Pope was bowled neck and crop! Upton now 105-5 and this was soon to become 115-6 when young Tom was caught. Fortunately for us Akhtar was still there and with the help of our youngsters, Callum and Nathan, Akhtar was able to milk the bowling adding valuable runs to our score. By the time our innings had ended we had reached 144-7 with Akhtar still there on 70 not out. The consensus of opinion was that while 144 was a competitive score we were still 20 -30 runs short given the start we had had. And so to tea.

Now something strange happened during the tea interval, summer disappeared and winter returned. The temperature must have dropped by some 10 degrees and from nowhere a cold wind was now blowing. Our changing room was a hive of activity as players hunted through their kit bags looking for warm items of clothing. Those sensible enough to have packed a sweater left while those who hadn’t begged those with more than one jumper if they could borrow said item. We hadn’t gone very far onto the pitch when the Duke called us all together and we formed a group huddle. Initially I thought this was for us to keep warm but not so, the Duke was about to deliver a motivational speech, somewhere between Winston Churchill and Glen Hoddle? While I can’t repeat the speech verbatim the gist was “I’m going to start with two slips, a gulley and some close fielders. I don’t care if they decide to hit over the top; I’m after early wickets as I want to win this match”. Feeling duly moved by this passionate speech we took to the field. Ian once again opened with that now well and truly tested opening bowling attach of the birthday boy and Sorry John. In typical Irby tradition it was the ninth over before their score had reached double figures, then courtesy of four leg byes. The breakthrough eventually came in the eleventh over when Zee trapped Bryan Price LBW for four. After six over’s Sorry John was replaced as he was proving to be too expensive going for 9.This turned out to be an inspired change as in his first over young Tom had the other Irby opener well caught by Nathan at deep mid on, Irby 26-2. The next four wickets all belong to the birthday boy. While two were bowled the other two were caught by Mohammed fielding at first slip. In both cases the ball travelled to him at a right rate of knots, both were taken low down and in both cases the Irby batsmen stood in total disbelief. Now at fourth team level we are use to catches being spilled, usually by the wicketkeeper, but to see these catches taken we thought that Zee had promised Mohammed some birthday cake? Drinks were taken after 23 over’s giving the opportunity for certain Upton players the chance to return to the dressing room for further items of clothing. Now it would be wrong for me to name names, but I must say Akhtar looked very fetching in his hoodie discreetly worn under his sweater. While Sherlock reappeared wearing even more jumpers.

So Irby had quickly gone from 26-2 to 41-6 and it was then that they decide it was now time to bat out for a draw despite there still being some 26 over’s of their innings left. In an effort to take the remaining four wickets Ian rotated his bowlers giving Callum, Nathan, Mohammed and Phil three over spells. It was the reintroduction of young Tom however that finally capture the seventh wicket, but it was all too little too late as Irby closed their innings on 102-7. Credit to all the lads who never stopped trying with words of encouragement echoing around the ground. And for the birthday a special day, after two blank weeks he returned figures of 15-7-15-5.
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On leaving the field our wonderful scorer Donna produced a tray of cup cakes, so it was birthday cakes all round. Now what Zee gave Mohammed on the way home we don’t know but all will be revealed hopefully next week. And as for next week we are back at the UCG when we entertain our friends from Haslington. Hopefully under blue skies with the sun shining and the return of summer. Well a boy can dream can’t he?