Youngsters come out on top!
So the afternoon of the much anticipated oldsters v young pups match arrived. After a bit of bargaining Dom and Mahender, the respective skippers, finalised the line ups. A great turn out of spectators and better halves provided a lot of banter. Nick Swinburne , Richard Bielby and Pat came along to catch up.
Amongst the oldsters were Jason Groves , Andy Whitmore , Myall Hornsby , Shane , Andy Q , Jonners and Noddy (as ever nursing various injuries!) More recent players were Leo, Manish and a poached Dean!
40 overs was the format and the pups were soon in trouble as Mamun and Matthew were back in the pavilion with the score on 16 as Andy Whitmore’s bowling nous hasn’t been lost picking up both their wickets. Sam & Stuart steadied the ship taking the score to 61 – Andy W again in the action catching Stuart on the boundary for as ever an entertaining 26. Kosala and Stuart S batted well with some nice strokes taking the score to 104 for 5 off 20 overs – the oldsters thought a nice containing job had been done and looked forward to Dom’s astonishing spread at the break.
However , Mahender and Newton , having only one setting – competitive! – then proceeded to batter the bowling for absolutely tons of runs with a range of punishing strokes. The fielders were pegged back on the boundary and did a lot of chasing as well as collecting a lot of bruised fingers as the onslaught continued. Eventually having added almost 100 runs in only 8 overs they retired bringing in Scott (playing with a broken finger) and Assad. The final score was 283 which looked out of sight!
The weary oldsters then collapsed around Dom’s great picnic to nurse their injuries. After a lot of chat and scoffing Manish and Jonners opened with a stand of 50. Andy W and Dean then took up the battle and soon began to emulate Mahender and Newton with multiple boundaries taking the score to 183 in the 30th over. The youngsters, who had been very confident, then started to get a bit worried as the boundaries racked up.
Andy was eventually run out for a fine 49 – Shane came in and provided a supporting role as Dean continued to a remarkable century before retiring. After Shane was out Jason Groves came in at 6 and proceeded to score a quick fire 30 with some fine shots including a six over extra cover off Newton!
The oldsters finally ran out of overs finishing on 260 for 5. So a thoroughly entertaining match that was surprisingly competitive! It was great to catch up with players from early in Graces’ past – hopefully they can be lured back!