Studley Home

Twelve hours of rain on Friday meant the home tie against bottom of the table Studley was a doubtful fixture for Blubbs this week but Potter and Potters old man managed to get a wicket into playable shape for the two o'clock start.

Stonewall finally made his return into the squad as vice captain to Tichie, Angry, Dicko and Splinter but despite his demotion still seemed in good fooling, trying to forget that the only win for Blubbs in the last six weeks was without him in the team, Mad Frankie was also in the squad for only the second time this year after finally being paroled by the Bus Stop Bobbies. Blubbs won the crucial toss and decided to let Studley have a bat, with a good forecast for the rest of the day the track was only going to get better, or at least that was the theory.

It was the familiar opening attack of Swing and Sherman who got the game underway but things didn't get off to a good start with both bowlers sending down loose deliveries at regular intervals which the Studley openers had no trouble in dispatching to the boundary. Blubbs came close to a breakthrough in the eighth over when a hesitant start from Coad saw him struggle to make his ground at the strikers end, fortunately for him Honey the Blue Peter guide dog was too busy watching Sherman’s mum cutting up the sponge cakes and held up the left paw signalling "Not Out" to the square leg umpire.

For ten over's Studley were on top pounding the Blubbs pair all round the park and Sherman was starting to think Stonewall was bringing the team bad luck, finally Stonewall decided he was up for a bowl taking off Swing after the sixteenth over.The change did the trick, sixty three on the board and Stonewall finally got the breakthrough when some foreign sounding geezer was trapped leg before for twenty nine and Stonewall went wild!

Blubbs didn't have to wait long for wicket number two, only nine more runs had been added when an Arngry-esque type call left the Studley number one three yards short of the crease and this time the finger had to go up this time.Studley started to crumble, the score still on sixty nine and Stonewall managed to cling onto a caught and bowled, the glass fingers held out this time and Stonewalls ten years of painful dropped catches from his own bowling had finally come to an end.

Sherman finished off his twelve over spell, which didn't finish up as bad as it had started, making way for Splinter who was eager to get amongst the wickets this week, after only a few over's Studley were four down with only two more runs added to the score, Tichie getting out his crocodile clip-like hands snapping onto a catch at mid-off and Splinter was up and running.

It was soon eighty three for five when Studley lost a bizarre wicket, Crewe trying to launch Splinter over cow corner only succeeded in chipping the ball to Angry on the boundary edge, Angry normally a safe bet for catching but today was obviously not a normal day. Angry put his left leg in, his left leg out, ran round Sherman, did the Hokie Cokie and ended up looking like a ballerina in a music box before finally watching the ball sail over his head, the ball stuck in the wet outfield and Angry still in a strop picked up the ball launching it at Splinter. Somehow Splinter managed to catch the wayward throw l, whip the bails off and Studley had lost wicket number five with just eighty three on the board.

Studley put up a bit of a fight for the sixth wicket and looked to post a reasonable one fifty plus score, Splinter had other ideas, a quick reaction caught and bowled took care of Strong then a "tempting turner" totally mis-judged by Harris earned Hebb another stumping and Studley were down to one twenty four for seven with still plenty of over's to bat out for a point.

Mad Frankie finally got the nod for a bowl after Bubba Potter failed to hit the target and was now struggling to run in with his lip on the floor, the wheelchair wonder got off to a good start with a brilliant caught and bowled to remove Galer and two over's later Lamb was for the chop mis-timing the on drive to Splinter at mid-on and it was one twenty six for nine, Blubbs had the bowling point in sight.

Splinter finally finished off the Studley innings bowling Schofield with no more runs being added to the total and one twenty seven was the target for victory. 

Normal service was resumed with the batting order this week with Stonewall accompanying Angry to the crease, things too a turn for the worse when Angry took a wild swing at one on the stumps, completely missing the ball which didn't miss the stumps and Blubbs were ten for one.

Potter was Angry's replacement at three, and got off to flying start, building a confident partnership with Stonewall who was a man on a mission this week hitting boundaries at regular intervals. A great partnership of seventy four finally came to an end when Stonewall’s luck ran out, caught for a much needed forty and Blubbs seemed to have the game under control.

Arnie had a night out round Otley planned which earned him promotion to four joining Potter in the middle the partnership moved the score along to ninety four before Potter had Lamb bleating after missing a pie ball on the sticks, bowled for thirty nine.

Surprise of the day was the number five, none other than Sherman who’d somehow managed to keep his number five spot from the Darley game despite Stonewall’s return although Sherman still thinks it’s because he helped do a last minute tea for the game, the two clubbers made short work of the thirty three runs required for victory, despite abuse from the motor mouth keeper Studley walked away with nothing and a relieved Stonewall walked away with six.

Points Awarded Blubberhouses:6 Studley:0

Fielding Points: Splinter, Hebb.

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites