Report by Daniel Mortlock:
Over the pre-match brunch Cliff suggested our side for this fixture was about as strong as FAS can currently put out. Even if that was clearly an exaggeration - FAS legend Joe White wasn't present, for a start - we did appear to have today's Temple Grafton side outgunned in the batting, bowling, fielding and even 'keeping departments.
To start with the latter, FAS first-timer Tom Cooper got the nod with the gloves, despite the presence in the side of FAS's all-time top two 'keepers: Chris Barras apparently felt like a graze in the outfield after his century yesterday; and James Houlder had one of his fingers in a splint after a tendon injury. Tom did a great job, standing up to everyone bar Jamie Dare, who kept beating the outside edge . . .
. . . which brings us to the bowling: Dares Jamie (1/43), Zoe (3/27) and Joss (2/43) kept taking wickets; and Daniel Mortlock (1/16) and Harry Houlder (0/26) were super-economical. They were well backed up in the field, where Jamie, Daniel, Tom Hall and Sasha Barras saved loads of runs and Sasha also took two very relaxed catches that would have had most of us getting The Fear. Indeed, we were so clearly in control that the most exciting development was the rapid-spreading rumour that we were bowling against an ex-international player - and so it turned out, albeit a footballer: TG's number four was Garreth Barry, who earned 53 England caps and currently has the record for EPL appearances. Fortunately, he was coming back to cricket after a long time off - as well as coming to the ground with a massive post-football hangover, to the point where he slept through the start of the innings and was at one point woken up by the ball bouncing into him after it crossed the boundary. Thus roused, he ended up top-scoring with 49 before finding Jamie a bit too quick, resulting in some wild swings and then a return catch.
Being on top of the opposition like this was great fun from our point of view, but did cause some difficulties for the game, as Temple Grafton found themselves squeezed between the need to give us a sensible number of overs to bat and the fact that they didn't really have enough of a total to defend. Finding a resolution to this dilemma was made more difficult by the fact that what runs did come seemed to be mainly in the form of huge straight hits into the borage fields at either end of the ground - at least an over's worth of time was spent repeatedly searching for the ball. (Of course it depends whose overs we're talking about: Cliff decided to put Daniel on the clock, the aim being to squeeze six dot balls into 75 seconds; he went close with a best of 85 seconds - but that over included a boundary which resulted in a fatal loss of 5-10 seconds while the ball was out of reach under a car.) In the end the TG skipper did the honourable thing and pulled the plug earlier than he would have liked, giving us what turned out to be 36 overs to chase a target of 164 - rather generous in the age of twenty/20 run-fests.
Still, TG defended their total very well initially, as our openers Tom Hall (12 off 27 balls) and Hal Dare (4 off 15 balls) each managed to score off just one the first 15 balls they faced. After 8 overs both had perished and we had just 18 runs on the board. We then started to accelerate a bit, after which the fall of a third wicket brought Tom out to join a now well-set Sasha. Initially the scene was set for a "yes, no, wait, sorry" run out, but they somehow survived this initial phase, after which they sensibly decided to start hitting boundaries instead. The result was an undefeated and match-winning partnerhip of 110 (off 188) balls: /.'s share was 76* (off 65 balls), which left Tom stranded on 49* (off 66 balls) - although, really, the fact that he got more of the strike really means it was his own fault that he didn't open his FAS account with what would have been a well-deserved fifty.
Report by Danny Caro:
FAS eased to a convincing 8-wicket victory at Fladbury in an excellent all-round team performance at the Recreation Ground, Station Road.
Led superbly by El Capitan Campo, a side packed with youth and experience, a couple somewhere in between, saw the return of the Caro boys following a lengthy candle-enduced sabbatical, and it was the presence of three 15-year-olds that gave FAS a sprightly feel.
Prior to the start of play, there were comical scenes on the outfield as players adapted to Covid rules (with changing rooms closed). There were plenty of dancing flamingoes and crusty jockstraps (and other bits) on show, as the oldies hopped into their whites. Indeed yours truly almost toppled into a poorly placed vat of Lidl's finest taramosalata and elderflower infused squid putting on a second boot. Total carnage.
Beeker (1/32) and Aaron "Double A" Houlder (1/20) produced impressive bursts with the new ball, ensuring Deeker got a good workout behind the stumps.
First change saw Joe "Snow" White make a dream start with a first-ball wicket, and later two-wicket Teeker-Masala bowled served up some mouth-watering deliveries that the Fladbury middle-order were happy to leave alone, perhaps preferring to save themselves for the side dishes to follow.
White Lightning set the tone in the field with some classy stops and when "JDog" Caro junior was introduced into the attack, he forced a sharp one-handed chance that Fraser Houlder was unlucky not to hold on to.
Fladbury's answer to the Spice Boys were also coincidentally the village's top two players for the local football team - one a goalkeeper, the other the star striker - and the pair propelled the innings past the 100-mark.
The partnership was broken by a sharp catch at mid-wicket by Caro Sr., that had his teammates waxing lyrical, with top-scorer Dixon dismissed for 45 off the bowling of Kittow Jr.
Fladbury ended their 40 overs on 162/8, a wonderful effort that by FAS, with Caro Jr. rewarding a fine piece of captaincy by Campo by changing ends and claiming two wickets - his first on tour to cap a memorable debut. Toby "or not to be" Reynolds and Kittow Jr. (again) chipped in with further wickets.
After a quickly forgettable Covid-friendly tea of crisps and bottled water, openers Toby "or not to be" Reynolds (62) and DC (40) produced a decisive 119-run partnership to lay the foundations for the victory charge.
Not even a customary hamstring strain to the latter, rumoured to be via the village sniper, could stop them in their tracks.
It was left to the uber experienced pairing of Nigel Reynolds and Deeker (29*) to guide FAS over the line and left captain Campo flad all over.