Instalment 6

Game 2 England

You'll all be relieved to know I'm still married. Buying the duck, eating the duck and seeing the duck did not eventuate in a duck on the cricket field. In fact, Gibbo was second top scorer of the day with 39 not out. He was sitting on 33 and knew he'd have to retire in 2 runs time so he just cut loose, went for it and hit a huge 6 to give him 39. No guts, no glory. Actually, he hit it so far that they lost the ball and had to commission a new one. That means he's now 146 runs from 4 games, no average yet because he hasn't been out. He thinks he might have to let the ball hit the stumps on Friday just so he can actually record an average.

Upon arriving at the field the pitch committee inspected the deck and felt that there were runs to be made. XXX batted first. The other team was from Killinghall and the game was played at their home field - except it turned out to be the Killing Fields. XXX made what they thought was a quite respectable score (205). Steve S scored 40, two others scored 36 and 32. Killinghall had an ex-county cricketer playing for them; he bowled screamers at 140 km/h. The boys did a bit of ducking and weaving (there's that duck word again). 

Lunch was an unbelievable spread and may have contributed to the final result.

XXX's premier strike force bowler, who always opens, was hit for 6 off the third ball of the first over, a straight drive back over the sight screen into the wind. Things didn't improve much from that point on. KHall had 5 players retired before XXX got their first wicket. Big Chissa finally hit the stumps and sent the middle peg cartwheeling toward the wicketkeeper. The XXX boys went berserk, finally having a wicket to celebrate. With 15 runs needed to win, the Master Blaster was called into action (Gibbie). He took a wicket in his first over. During his next over the opposition hit the winning runs off him. The game was finished with 12 overs to spare. A crushing defeat. 

They later found out that KHall had 3 underage players and 3 former County players. Everyone was saying in the dressing shed after the game that they'd never been so comprehensively beaten in their careers. Dennis Lillie reckons the best ball he bowled all day went screaming past his head at a million miles an hour for a six. Chissa couldn't believe that every time he got the ball to start a new over, it had a different colour on it from all the rooftops it had landed on.

Due to the early finish the boys were in the bar by 1/4 to 4 and drank the clubhouse dry of tap beer and almost finished the bottled beer. Drowning their sorrows. A timely lesson in humility. 

The only good thing about the day, cricket wise, was that Team Div 4 lost as well. The two teams play at different grounds so meeting up in the bar back at our hotel each game night is a bit of a laugh. Everyone is keen to see who is wearing the Yellow Duck proudly around their neck and who has won the Butterfingers glove. They cop heaps of friendly abuse.

Stewy, who plays in Team Div 4, was seconded to play for the opposition yesterday - and won their man of the match award. He opened the batting and scored a handy 28 which helped the other team beat his own team (they lost by 3). He also copped plenty of abuse, not all of it friendly! 

Meanwhile, I went off on the steam train trip to Goathland, which is the village used for the filming of Heartbeat and part of Harry Potter 1. We were only there for a short time then we bussed to Whitby, a beautiful, quaint seaside town. It was exactly as you see in books and on tv. I was very taken with the atmosphere - the buildings and boats and seagulls and fishing pots; kids dropped lines over the edge of the wharf and tried to catch a fish or two. I took a walk to the old part of town, with its' narrow cobbled streets and little alleyways. Charming. I didn't have the recommended fish and chips, I grabbed a cornish pasty at a bakery and ate as I walked; as we were on a time limit I didn't want to waste it by sitting and eating. The only downside was the crowds of people; everywhere was packed with men, women, kids, dogs, prams etc. In some places you could hardly move. Captain Cook left from Whitby on his voyage to eventually discover Australia. Of course there's a pub called The Endeavour. I fell asleep on the bus on the way back and woke up 5 minutes from the hotel.

We rang home yesterday morning; the kids were at Mums. Drew asked me "Guess where I spent half the day?". I didn't really know what he was getting at, I figured he must have gone somewhere with school. Ah, no....he'd been at the HOSPITAL. I knew he was ok because he was laughing about it but I still went cold and clammy. He had been mucking around kicking his leg up in the air and the top of his foot connected with a steel bar on a desk. The office girls looked after him with ice and sympathy and his friends' Mum came and picked him up and took him out to the hospital for an x-ray. The doctor and x-ray man were both fathers of friends of his so he was in good hands. No bones were broken but it's pretty sore. 

It's Thursday morning; Gibbo can hardly walk after the game yesterday. We're booked on a trip to York that includes a 45 minutes river cruise and a two course buffet lunch in the private dining room at the Pitcher and Piano. I think I may need to park hubby on a bench seat (or in a pub) so that I can go off exploring. He won't be up to a big day of walking.