Haverhill Cricket Club

The annual pilgrimage to the loft to recover the cricket bag took place last weekend.The fact that this task in itself caused a pulled muscle and a strained neck did not bode well for the forthcoming season.

A quick check through the gear reminded me the trousers needed replacing and the boots had finally rotted.

A hasty email to 'cheapandcheerfulcricketstuff.com' and a payment of a fiver over the odds ensured the new gear was delivered by Friday and I was ready to go for the 2009 season.

Team selection for game one was finally concluded in the pub about quarter to twelveon Friday night when Carl agreed to play even though his big toe resembled the size and colour of a large plum.

The game itself brings up its usual prematch problems such as where did I put the bloody scorebook and why won't the boiler turn on.

A strange yellow glow washining from the sky and their was an element of warmth emitting from it so packing the bag full of every jumper I could find was a fruitless exercise.

Phil D. and Jon W. had done sterling work on the ground throughout the week to ensure our first home match v Kelvedon III was ready to roll.

We took the field resplendent in our new shirts sponsored by 'Woodlands Hotel Indian Restaurant' (Get yourself up there, its good and we get discount and Micky, our team gourmet, hasn't had a bad one yet)

Early season catching was up to its usual standard of 0 and 4 before yours truly clung on to a sharp one at mid on.It improved throughout the afternoon and the final count of 6 dropped and 6 caught wasn't bad in the end.

We managed to bowl our visitors for 99 with the main plaudits going to Martyn with 5 wickets. Special mention to young Kettle who has found a couple of yards of pace from last season and was hitting the gloves quite hard.

Whether it was the sumptuous tea prepared by Mrs P, Miss P and Mrs W or the lack of attendance at nets by our batsmen but some of the shots played in our innings can be described as 'somewhat lazy' and wickets fell regularly.The young Kelvedon bowlers showed admirable control and their fielding was very sharp but with the last pair at the wicket we were still 9 runs short of our target.

Our Antipodean opening bowler, who is finding his fitness in the twos, was at the crease and bellowed to the pavilion' Throw us me Slaz, mate' and two balls and two lusty blows later, we were home by 1 wicket and 20 points in the bag.

Peter Smith, a cricket watcher all over the country and connoisseur of the game commented to me 'You don't have to have a high scoring game to make an exciting match'and his words summed the whole day up as visiting skipper Bonvini agreed we would be hard pushed to have a more enjoyable match all season.

Peter will be back to wach, we hope to see many others down at Manor Road before too long