Report by Daniel Mortlock:
Having repeatedly been, er, slaughtered by Slaughters United we put out a seriously strong side today, with lots of batting and bowling options - and even four plausible wicket-keepers. However, from the moment the Slaughters side headed out into the field, it was clear that the fixture was again going to be one-sided, albeit this time in our favour: half their side were 13-14 year-olds; and the adult players all seemed to have back-stories along the lines of "haven't played for decades", "just got the afternoon off work and doesn't have whites" or "is only playing to have a game with his son".
Other than the early loss of yesterday's hero Will Crossley for 9 (off 15 balls), it was runs for fun as Kittows Dave (82 off 59 balls) and Ben (22 off 36 balls) trialled their new telepathic approach to run calling. There was no escaping the fact that the bowling was pretty poor during the first half of the innings, with lots of short and wide balls, which DK in particular punished to the full as he hit 14 fours and a six. The only real exception was the spell of excellent leg-spin from Harry Rollinson, the most extrovert of the Slaughters' junior contingent, who provided the absolute highlight of the game when he induced a mis-hit from Ed Crossley (1 off 3 balls) which flew to the right of his non-cricketing father, Tom, fielding in a flat cap at mid-wicket. The ball was in the air long enough for Harry to shout "please Dad!" as Tom made good ground and eventually completed a superb running catch (apparently his first in any cricket). The bowling improved in the second half of the innings, although Harry Houlder (34 off 35 balls) and James Wyatt (29* off 36 balls) were up to the task, eventually taking us to a surely winning total of 216/8 from our 35 overs.
Our time in the field was defined by a steady turn-over of batters as Daniel Mortlock (2/12), Ed Crossley (1/15), Will Crossley (1/7) and Joe White (2/5) all got wickets with their medium pace, well backed up by some (mostly) good catching. The absolute highlight was James Houlder's brilliant grab off Joe fielding close in at gully, although perhaps more enjoyable was when Ben held onto a high drive at mid-off, despite an inner monologue Ben himself admitted was "shit shit shit shit . . .", and then shelled a near-identical chance off the next ball. Harry Houlder (4/17) then completed a superb all-round performance, mopping up the tail with a combination of big-turning leggies and surprisingly effective full-tosses. The star of the innings, though, was the Slaughters opening batter Riley Bates, who carried his bat for a superb 72* off 91 balls.
The early finish - we bowled only 28.5 of our 35 overs - meant plenty of time to have a drink with the oppo. The main topic of discussion being how we can try to organise a balanced game between the two clubs: including today's result, the five completed FAS vs. Slaughters games have seen runs margins of 48, 72 and 84, and successful chases with around 5 overs to spare.