One for the record books

After losing the toss (again) on a track that was surprisingly dry given the amount of rain we have had, but looked like it would skid through, I was pretty happy that the Shenley Village skipper opted to bat first.

On a day where a number of records were broken, the first was that Shahme, Naz and Ali all managed to get to the game before it started! The Shenley skipper had warned me that the bounce could be a bit variable. 3 balls into the first over we saw exactly what he meant. Liam's second ball didn't get above ankle height but his third after pitching in an almost identical spot popped catching the glove and looping through to Skippy.

Then the Chalky Cara show began, with the specialist second slip fielder taking his first of three catches off Naz. At 0-2 the pressure was really on and Shenley capitulated underneath it, 0-2 became 0-3 before the first runs were scored from a leg bye. The Shenley number 4 chanced his arm getting the ball over the infield on a couple of occasions before picking out Dan Butcher off Liam's bowling.

Regular wickets fell with Chalky picking up a screamer diving full length and a more regulation chance both at slip. The only sloppy piece of cricket then followed with Skippy failing to stop the ball after it passed between middle and leg stump (I'm not making this up, the stumps were far enough apart for the ball to comfortably fit between them!) and allowing the ball to go through for 4 byes.

Naz then took a stunner at close range off Liam to what we thought was the final wicket (Shenley's 11th player still hadn't arrived). As it was unlikely to change the game, the 11th player arrived as the batsman was departing so we allowed him to get changed and padded up. 3 balls later Liam returned the favour off Naz and at just 14 all out it was the lowest score for or against the village in most people's memory. (Naz Asif 5-6, Liam Maloney 5-3)

Shahme and Matin had little problems in knocking off the runs, and we were finished at 14.18. As this was just too early to go home we arranged a 20-20 game with Shenley which we also won comfortably.

MHV 124 all out, D Butcher 31*
Shenley 89 all out, Matin Khan 3-13, Chalky 3-10