Sunday 20th May 2024
The Sunday 2024 season curtain raiser on the Wick village green versus Penarth. Thanks to Frasier, Kenny and the Vale grounds team for preparing a great wicket after the longest wet season on record. Thanks also to match sponsor Steve Richmond’s carpets – if you find yourself doing handstands in the wee hours of the night and that different perspective highlights the need for a new carpet, vinyl or laminate floor, Steve is your man.
The pre-match gathering was about one man, so if moustachioed strawberry blondes wearing tropical print budgie smugglers and camouflaged headgear is your thing then boy did you miss a treat. Iestyn was ready, the team was ready, the game was on.
Skipper Russ, who still claims to be able to control the toss of a coin, lost the coin toss. Wick were put into bat.
Wick CC - 178 for 8 (40.0): Rob Dixon 64, Russ Milne 54, Iestyn Jones 22
Penarth CC - 131 all out: Kenny Thomas 3-13, Josh Milne 2-14, Andy Ellis 1-8
Dicky and Steve opened well until Steve mentioned things were going well and got out next ball. Enter Russ and he and Dicky, who would both physically deteriorate throughout the game, got to the 20 over drinks break with Wick at 87-1 including Dicky getting to 50 with a six.
There was a time in Wick CC history where half of the line up were Williams’s and they included a Gary, aka Smurf, who turned out for Penarth. Thanks to some great catches he managed two wickets including Dicky.
There was a flurry of wickets, Andy, Leo and Chris. Chris is of a certain vintage where no one knows what to get you for Christmas/Birthdays and if you show a sniff of interest in anything you get bought all the gear – well if you did buy Chris anything Cricket related, good news, it’s still in pristine condition.
The tightness of the budgie smugglers focussed Iestyn’s mind as he and Russ steadied the ship putting on a 50 run partnership, Russ’ physical condition worsened as he clattered into the stumps avoiding a run out but he matched Dicky with a six for his 50. A nice moment for Russ with his family there supporting and enhanced by Kenny shouting “Well done my little Jack Russell”. Whether he means the Terrier of the Cricketer, it matters not. Penarth got both batsmen out leaving lefties Owzio and Josh to finish the innings with Wick scoring 175-8.
Leo, the ball shiner and an inked up Owzio opened the bowling. He bowled to the left, he bowled to the right, that Owen Thomas his bowling …turned out alright! He got an early wicket when the Penarth opener feathered an edge to Dicky behind the stumps. The Penarth batsmen started upping the run rate, Russ inevitably, turned to one man. Kenny Coaching dot com has launched, albeit offline. Lesson one- Take wickets by unleashing the bamboozler (3 wickets just 13 runs). Lesson two- Don’t bowl wides for the eagle song and dance will occur (Ka-kaa, ka-kaa).
As for the fielding, Wick took their catches, Josh and Steve showing safe hands. Owzio handed out a fielding masterclass; dive over ball, crawl like a dying man in the desert to the ball, fumble ball over the boundary. Paul was back in the fold, warmed up like a goalkeeper and almost took an epic diving catch off his own bowling that he would have taken in his forties. Penarth got to the twenty over break at 74-5.
Kenny’s cull had opened up the Penarth middle order and Andy got a wicket with a ball that he humbly said was so good it would have even have got him out. Steve, and a bail shattering Iestyn, chipped in with wickets. Great death bowling by Leo with a wicket maiden in the 36th over meant a Wick victory was looking good. Time spent in the nets by Josh paid dividends with two wickets including the final wicket of Smurf to end Penarth’s innings on 131 runs.
A great win for Wick, thank you to Penarth for the game, a lot of good young players. Thanks to the Lamb for putting on a spread and where we sipped a victory beer.
-Rob Dixon
